Cincinnati Bearcats at Notre Dame Fighting Irish Betting Preview

The Cincinnati Bearcats will travel to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish, which will be their biggest, the most pivotal game of the season. A loss would ruin any chance for Cincinnati to make the College Football Playoff. A win would prove legitimacy for this Bearcats team who has been starving for a chance to prove themselves.

This will be a battle of the undefeated in this game. The Bearcats come into this game at 3-0 after having a much-needed bye week this past week to help them prepare for this matchup with the Irish. Their three wins have been against Miami Ohio, Murray State, and Indiana.

Notre Dame has won every game this year, including Week 4 match against Wisconsin to put them at 4-0. They have been very inconsistent week by week but were able to get a commanding win against a good Wisconsin team in Week 4, 41-13. Notre Dame took care of Florida State, Toledo, and Purdue in the weeks prior.

Odds

Cincinnati is a 1.5 point favorite for this away game with odds of -110. Cincinnati fans may not feel like the favorites in what is expected to be a very tough matchup in an atmosphere that this team has never seen. Notre Dame at +1.5 has the same odds against the spread at -110.

The over/under for the game is set at 51 with -105 and -115 as the odds to bet the over and the under, respectively. The moneyline for the Bearcats is -120 and +100 for the Fighting Irish.

Cincinnati Keys to Victory

Cincinnati struggled early against Indiana, especially being away from their home crowd. The Bearcats will need to figure this out early in what is expected to be a large crowd in South Bend. Weathering the storm and taking the crowd out of this game early will be Cincinnati’s first key to victory.

Again, as is the case in most games, the Bearcats’ success will rely heavily on the performance of quarterback Desmond Ridder. When Indiana got their early lead in week 3, Ridder was not playing well. He will not be able to take his time getting comfortable in this game as the Bearcats face their biggest test of the season.

The defense needs to limit the big play against the Notre Dame offense. If they are able to force the Irish to convert on 3rd down, they will have a much better chance to limit their production and get the ball back to the offense.

Notre Dame Keys to Victory

The Irish will need to pressure Desmond Ridder early and often. If they took anything from the Indiana game, they should take that Ridder was uncomfortable early. They shouldn’t give him the opportunity to get in a groove by bringing pressure and getting him rolling out of the pocket.

Notre Dame has some knowledge in the Cincinnati offense by having Marcus Freeman as their defensive coordinator in this game. Freeman was the defensive coordinator for the Bearcats in 2020 before leaving for Notre Dame in the offense. He will need to use his prior knowledge of the Bearcats offense to send the right pressure throughout the game.

Jack Coan will need to be on his game coming off an injury. He has gone for 828 passing yards and eight touchdowns this season. He will need to find his favorite target, tight end Michael Mayer, who is leading the team in receptions and receiving touchdowns.