Two undefeated teams square off on Saturday night when the seventh-ranked Stanford Cardinal travels to face the eighth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Kickoff from South Bend is at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Cardinal kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive with a dramatic overtime victory against Oregon last week. Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish, who decided a change at quarterback was needed, produced their highest-scoring game of the season with a blowout win against Wake Forest. In the latest Notre Dame vs. Stanford odds, the Fighting Irish are favored by 4.5-points. The over-under, or total number of points Vegas believes will be scored, has moved from 50 to 52. Before you enter your Notre Dame vs. Stanford picks, check out what SportsLine college football expert Emory Hunt has to say.
Hunt is the founder of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of college football since 2007. Loaded with decades of college football expertise, including playing running back at Louisiana-Lafayette, Hunt is an incredible 7-2 in his previous nine picks against the spread involving Stanford. Now, Hunt has scrutinized Stanford vs. Notre Dame from every possible angle to reveal a strong point-spread pick that he's revealing only at SportsLine.
Hunt is well aware that one of the most explosive stars on Stanford's efficient offense is wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside. The dynamic wideout has racked up seven touchdowns on 408 receiving yards this season. Blessed with blinding speed, the 6-foot-3 senior possesses powerful mitts to latch on to balls and provides a large catch radius for quarterback K.J. Costello.
Costello would be wise to target Arcega-Whiteside as often as possible on Saturday night against a stingy Notre Dame defense. After a slow start, Costello put forth his best performance of the season last Saturday, when he threw for 327 yards and three scores. For the season, he has more than 1,000 passing yards and 10 touchdowns.
But just because Stanford's offense features a plethora of talent doesn't mean it will stay within the spread against Notre Dame on Saturday.
Notre Dame's offense showed plenty of life under new quarterback Ian Book, who was nothing short of spectacular against the Demon Deacons. He completed nearly 75 percent of his pass attempts for 325 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for three more scores as part of his 43-yard rushing performance. Book got plenty of help from the backfield tandem of Tony Jones Jr. and Jafar Armstrong. The two backs combined for 137 rushing yards and three scores against Wake. However, the Fighting Irish will be without Armstrong against Stanford on Saturday night due to a left knee infection.
We can tell you Hunt is leaning toward the under, but he has uncovered a crucial x-factor that makes one side of the spread a must-back. He's only sharing it over at SportsLine.
So which side of the spread should you back for Stanford vs. Notre Dame? And what crucial x-factor will decide this eagerly-anticipated contest? Visit SportsLine now to see which side you need to be all over, all from the expert who's riding a spectacular 7-2 streak involving Stanford.
