(OddsShark.com) The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be looking to extend their current straight up winning streak to five games on Saturday when they play host to the Massachusetts Minutemen as 29-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Irish continued their climb up the AP Top 25 with a 30-22 win over No. 14 Georgia Tech in Week 3, picking up the against the spread win as slim 1-point favorites, and boosting them to No. 6 in the national rankings.
However, Notre Dame continues to lag behind the leaders in the OddsShark College Football Power Rankings, where they have risen just two spots, to No. 50, ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Minutemen vs. Fighting Irish betting matchup at Notre Dame Stadium.
The greatest challenge in the Irish’s quest to qualify for this year’s College Football Playoff has been the rash of injuries that has sidelined six players for the remainder of the season.
Most notable are running back Tarean Folston, who went down with a knee injury in the squad’s 38-3 win over Texas, and starting quarterback Malik Zaire, who briefly joined the favorites in Heisman Trophy prop betting before suffering a season-ending knee injury a week later, in a 34-27 win over Virginia.
But pivot DeShone Kizer stepped up in Notre Dame’s win over the Yellow Jackets, throwing for 242 yards and one score, while CJ Prosise‘s three rushing touchdowns lifted the squad to victory.
Wide receiver Will Fuller continued to justify his consideration as this year’s Heisman winner, tallying over 100 receiving yards for a third straight game, and fifth game in his last seven, cementing his 33/1 odds on those prop lines.
The Minutemen make their first-ever visit to South Bend riding a four-game SU losing streak, 1-3 ATS.
Massachusetts has been particularly brutal on the road, claiming just one SU win in 13 contests since the start of the 2013 season, but are 6-7 ATS during that stretch, 4-6 ATS as double-digit underdogs according to the OddsShark College Football Database.
September has been equally cruel for the Minutemen, who are 0-23 SU in their last 23 September dates, including last week’s 25-23 loss to the Temple Owls, while covering as 13-point home underdogs.
The Minutemen are 0-7 SU in their last seven against ranked schools, with their most recent clash with a Top 25 team coming in 2013.