ND Currently a 4/4.5 Point Favorite for Saturday

Submitted by bklein09 on

Not sure if this is thread worthy, but I heard the line moved from ND -3.5 earlier today to where it is currently.

IMO, this is the perfect situation.

ND lost last week, which I was thrilled about.

But they are still the favored team coming into the Big House and a particularly hostile environment.

The pressure is on ND more than ever now, considering they are still favored, can't afford to go 0-2, don't want to drop 3 in a row to us, and have a coach that may murder them in their sleep if they make a mistake. 

Michigan on the other hand has the home-field advantage and can continue to feel like they aren't getting any respect. I'm really hoping that they come out and play fast and loose on Saturday.

I think the game will come down to whoever makes the fewest big mistakes. And hopefully all of these intangibles will result in that team being Michigan.

MGoBlue96

September 5th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^

coaching staff will bottle Denard up against ND? It seemed like they were keeping things vanilla against Western and the offense only had 39 snaps, which was a contributing factor to Denard having a low yard total. Also keep in mind the staff wants to spread the wealth around a little bit more this year, and get the RB's more involved . Hopefully Denard won't have to be a one man show with the RB's picking up more of the slack. With that said if the game dictates it and ND is taking away the other players,  Borges will most likely utilize Denard more, if that is what it takes to win.

jb5O4

September 5th, 2011 at 6:53 PM ^

The players probably don't pay attention to the Vegas lines week to week. Seems like the talking heads on ESPN are being vague on who they think will win. They are more or less pointing out weaknesses for each team.

MichiganMan2424

September 5th, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^

The I only thing sloppier than that line are he words that come out of Lou Holtz's mouth. Easiily the stupidest college analyst alive.

ChalmersE

September 5th, 2011 at 7:31 PM ^

The bookies in Vegas could care less who wins the game. The only thing they're interested in is getting the same amount of money wagered on each team. The fact thatvwe think the spread is out of line is a reflection of the inclinations of the betting public and nothing else.

Indiana Blue

September 5th, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^

which by the way love the pre-game player introductions which were eliminated 3 years ago.

The pressure is all on Brian Kelly and nd.  0 - 1 with very poor execution ... total yards as we ALL know by now means little.  I think Hoke and Co. can use the "vegas" disrespect as motivation for the week and preparation for the game Saturday should be stronger on U of M's side than a team that is changing QB's and questions about Kelly's sideline conduct can't help either.

Go Blue!

bryemye

September 5th, 2011 at 9:48 PM ^

Clearly the gamblers are not convinced our defense or kicking game exist. Which is fair, honestly.

Won't break my heart when people who bet on the Irish are crying into their beers!

I think Rees gets hurt, Crist goes in and plays poorly until he's actually sobbing on the sideline while being berated by BK, and we grind ND's third QB into the ground.

doughboy

September 5th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^

I have a hard time believing ND is favored by 4 to 4.5.  By design, Denard showed very little against WMU and the defense, although slow in the first quarter, only gave up three points the rest of the game.  UM will improve throughout the season as they become more familiar with Hoke and his schemes.  But this is Michigan and to think that an ND team that has QB issues and O-line issues is poised to win this game by a touchdown (+3 for home field) is a little unrealistic. 

Tater

September 5th, 2011 at 11:07 PM ^

I would have made it ND by 4 (1 TD minus M home advantage) last week, but now I think Michigan should be favored by three (toss-up plus M home advantage).  I'm even more surprised the public hasn't bet the line toward Michigan.  

Cliche James and MIke Patrick pulled out forty years' worth of "Michigan is playing power ball and therefore is back" cliches, and ND looked terrible.    ND's performance even made me change my mind.  I can't imagine more of the general public looking at this and changing their minds, too.  

The current spread made sense last week, but not this week.