USC at Notre Dame Free Football Picks

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and USC Trojans will resume their alleged rivalry on Saturday with the Irish fans hoping they can finally win one and make into a actual rivalry yet again.

There’s no better year than this season for Notre Dame to finally get the best of their hated enemies from the west as the Trojans are having a rebuilding year while Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis’ squad has finally matured and has an upperclassman leader at QB in Jimmy Clausen.

Clausen is still in the Heisman race according to some people and he has a sizeable chance to stake his claim for the prize against a tricky USC defense on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.

The Irish will take the field for this college football game as dark horses against the football spreads yet again,with the line set at Notre Dame +10 ½ against the favored USC Trojans.

The over-under for the game is 50 and Notre Dame might want it to be a shootout because they have the most experienced offense and are in all probability capable of leading more scoring drives in the clutch than USC with freshman QB Matt Barkley at the helm.

At the same time, however, Notre Dame wants to nullify the speed edge Southern Cal has in this game so anticipate to see the grass grown long like it has been in pass USC-ND clashes in South Bend. That could lead to a combined score that ends up under in this college football game and could help Notre Dame cover the spread as well.

Notre Dame is 2-4 against the spread in its last 6 at home against USC and the Trojans are 6-1 ATS in its past seven college football games against the Irish, but those were in games involving much better USC squads and in most instances a worse Notre Dame team.

In this one, anticipate the Heisman prospect Clausen to use his passing to at least keep the game close against USC.

Notre Dame’s defense isn’t as good as Ohio State’s, who kept USC in check almost the entire game until the game-winning drive, but it is adequate and better than people think it is.  Notre Dame could very well hold USC to 25 points or less in this game considering it’s on the road.

The Irish offense should be capable to score some points and Charlie Weis most likely has some antics in store for USC as this is pretty much his last stand as Irish head coach. If Weis doesn’t at least come close he could be on the way to a sure firing in the next few months.

With that threat as a motivator anticipate for Weis’ Irish to come out and play USC close before coming up short late due to a defensive breakdown.

The pick: Notre Dame +10 ½ and the under (50).

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