New Mexico won their season opener, but they were not impressive doing it and they are huge 34.5-point betting favorites facing a ranked Notre Dame team with a total of 61.
New Mexico is coached by ex-Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie, who was hospitalized after the Lobos last game and will not be traveling with the team to South Bend.
This is the first ever meeting between these teams.
The Lobos are only 3-7 ATS in their last 10 road games while Notre Dame has covered the spread in their last four games facing teams from the Mountain West Conference.
This game is “supposed” to be one of the easier ones on Notre Dame’s schedule, but they cannot overlook to Lobos to their next two games facing 3rd ranked Georgia and 25th ranked Virginia.
Lobos Must Play Better D
In their season opener New Mexico beat Sam Houston State 39-31 and they have to play better D in this game after giving up 558 total yards. New Mexico had a slightly better balanced attack on offense, and they forced the games only turnovers, but you give up over 550 yards and hope to win on the road against Notre Dame? Good luck.
Not only did New Mexico give up a ton of yards in their season opener but starting QB Brandt Hughes was injured and may not go in this game. He played pretty well and when he went down Sheriron Jones came in and passed for 122 yards.
For the Lobos to make this a game they have to run the ball and that falls on Ahmari Davis, who rushed for 107 yards in the win over Sam Houston State. He will get the rock early and often facing a Notre Dame defense that gave up 249 rushing yards in their season opening win over Louisville.
New Mexico was torched on D in the San Houston State game but did hold them to 115 rushing yards on a 3.3 per carry average.
Don’t Overlook UNM
It was mentioned before but it is key that Notre Dame does not take UNM lightly. The Fighting Irish gave up a lot of rushing yards in their 35-17 win over Louisville and did not get off to a great start giving up 14 first quarter points. However, they did hold the Cardinals to only three points after the first quarter and forced three turnovers.
Ian Brock played pretty well for the Irish in the Louisville game passing for 194 yards with a TD and no picks. Chase Claypool led the team with 94 receiving yards and Tony Jones Jr. led them with 110 rushing yards averaging 7.3 yards per carry.
Notre Dame only faced two teams last season that were not from a major conference and they went 1-1 ATS in those games.
Our Prediction
While Notre Dame is 4-1 ATS in their last five games facing a team with a winning record they are only 1-4 ATS in their last five games after giving up more than 200 rushing yards in their previous game.
Last season New Mexico lost both of their games facing ranked teams and they lost both games badly. They will lose this game badly as well in South Bend, as the Irish should be able to name the score, providing they don’t get caught looking ahead.
Our Pick – Notre Dame -34.5