A pair of undefeated teams square off when the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0) host the No. 8 Cincinnati Bearcats (3-0) Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET. Below, we look at the Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame odds and lines; check back for our college football picks and predictions.
Rankings courtesy of the AFCA Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports.
Cincinnati had a bye last week but took down the Indiana Hoosiers 38-24 as 4.5-point road favorites Sept. 18. The Bearcats are led by preseason mid-tier Heisman Trophy favorite, QB Desmond Ridder, who’s completing 65.1% of his passes with a 7 TD to 2 INT ratio and a 163.8 passer efficiency rating.
Notre Dame upset the then-No. 15 Wisconsin Badgers 41-13 as 6-point underdogs Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago. Fighting Irish QB Jack Coan exited the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury, and his status for this game is questionable. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly passed Knute Rockne for the most wins in program history.
Cincinnati at Notre Dame odds, spread and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 1:30 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Cincinnati -135 (bet $135 to win $100) | Notre Dame +110 (bet $100 to win $110)
- Against the spread (ATS) Cincinnati -2.5, -110 (bet $110 to win $100) | Notre Dame +2.5, -110 (bet $110 to win $100)
- Over/Under (O/U): 50.5, O: -112 (bet $112 to win $100) | U: -108 (bet $108 to win $100)
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2021 betting stats:
- ML: Cincinnati 3-0 | Notre Dame 4-0
- ATS: Cincinnati 2-1 | Notre Dame 2-2
- O/U: Cincinnati 2-1 | Notre Dame 3-1
Cincinnati at Notre Dame head-to-head
This is the first Cincinnati-Notre Dame meeting since 1900 when the Fighting Irish shut out the Bearcats 58-0. That was probably a decent precursor of things to come for each program.
Since then, Notre Dame has won the second-most national championships (Cincinnati has none), the most consensus All-Americans, the most Heisman Trophies and the most players selected in the NFL draft.
However, since Kelly took over the Notre Dame program in 2010, the Fighting Irish are 22-25 overall (26-21 ATS) vs. ranked opponents and 5-2 overall and ATS as a home underdog.
On the other hand, Cincinnati has distinguished itself as perhaps the best Group of 5 football program since hiring head coach Luke Fickell in 2017. The Bearcats are 38-14 overall since 2017 and are 2-1 in bowl games. Against ranked opponents, Cincinnati is 4-8 overall and 7-5 ATS over that span.
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