Notre Dame Eyes 7th Straight Road Win vs Virginia Tech

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-1 SU, 2-3 ATS) are 6-0 SU and 4-2 ATS in their last six road games. The Fighting Irish will try to bounce back from their first loss of the season Saturday on the road against the Virginia Tech Hokies (3-1, 2-2).

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The betting line on this matchup has remained steady with the Fighting Irish going off as 1.5-point road favorites. The total has also gone unchanged early in the week set at 47 points. Notre Dame is 1-6 ATS in its last seven games played in October.

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Notre Dame News & Notes

The Fighting Irish were totally smothered by the Cincinnati Bearcats defense in last Saturday’s 24-13 loss at home. Notre Dame was a home underdog for just the third time since 2014, going off at +2, and that line certainly proved to be justified. The team is now 3-5 ATS in its last eight games.

Jack Coan had a rough day at quarterback, going 14-for-22 with only 114 passing yards and an interception. He was benched in favor of Drew Pyne in the third quarter. Pyne went 9-for-22 for 143 passing yards and one passing touchdown.

Brian Kelly was noncommittal after the game about his team’s quarterback situation and said that he and his coaching staff would need to discuss who the team’s starter should be moving forward.

Virginia Tech News & Notes

The Hokies bounced back from their 27-21 loss on the road to the West Virginia Mountaineers with a 21-10 victory over the Richmond Spiders in their last game. It wasn’t exactly the dominant effort the team was looking for as a 29-point favorite, but it got the job done to get back into the win column. Braxton Burmeister went 17-for-27 with 212 passing yards and one passing touchdown in the win.

Burmeister entered this season with a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 4-to-7. He has performed much better in his junior year with a 5-to-1 ratio so far in 2021. The junior isn’t the type of quarterback who is going to single-handedly win games for the Hokies. But he doesn’t need to be; Virginia Tech’s defense ranks 11th in the nation in points allowed at only 15.3 per game.

Why Notre Dame Will Cover

The Fighting Irish are 17-3 SU over their last 20 games and all three of those losses came against highly ranked opponents in Clemson, Alabama and now Cincinnati. This year’s Notre Dame squad isn’t as good as last year’s, but there is still plenty of talent left on this team to beat Virginia Tech with a strong effort.

Why Virginia Tech Will Cover 

The combination of Virginia Tech’s defense and a hostile environment in Blacksburg could easily overwhelm whichever quarterback winds up starting for the Fighting Irish. Forcing a turnover or two could be all the difference in what projects to be a low-scoring matchup with points at a premium.

Computer Pick: Virginia Tech +1.5

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