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Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M prediction, odds, line, spread: 2024 college football picks, bets from proven model
By CBS Sports Staff,
14 hours ago
Teams with high aspirations this season will collide when the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish square off against the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. The Fighting Irish are coming off a 10-3 season in coach Marcus Freeman's second full season as head coach at Notre Dame. They finished last season on a three-game winning streak, including a 40-8 victory over No. 19 Oregon State in the Sun Bowl. Meanwhile the Aggies will be playing their first game under new coach Mike Elko. He replaces Jimbo Fisher, who was fired during a 7-6 season despite a $76 million buyout.
The model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a profit of well over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is also coming off a profitable 13-9 season on top-rated spread picks. Anyone who has followed it has seen strong returns.
The Aggies will face a Notre Dame team that will start two freshmen on the offensive line. Because of departures to the NFL and injuries, true freshman Anthonie Knapp will start at left tackle, while redshirt freshman Sam Pendleton will start at left guard. The five linemen slated to start on Saturday have combined for six career starts. That bodes well for a talented A&M defensive line led by senior Shemar Turner .
In addition, quarterback Conner Weigman is back at the helm for the Aggies. Last season Weigman passed for 979 yards and eight touchdowns through four starts before going down for the season with a foot injury. Five of the team's six losses came after he went down. See which team to pick here .
Why Notre Dame can cover
The Fighting Irish have one of the best defensive players in the country in Watts. Last season the 6-foot, 203-pound Watts led the nation in interceptions (seven) while also making 52 tackles. For his efforts last season he earned the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation's best defensive player and was named a unanimous first-team all-American.
In addition, Notre Dame has a dual-threat quarterback in Riley Leonard . One of the top quarterbacks available in the transfer portal after last season, Leonard passed for 1,102 yards and three touchdowns in just seven games last season for Duke , where Elko was his coach. He also rushed for 352 yards and four touchdowns. Two years ago, he was one of three FBS quarterbacks to amass more than 2,900 passing yards and 695 rushing yards. See which team to pick here .
How to make Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame picks
SportsLine's model is leaning Over the total, predicting 51 combined points. The model also says one side of the spread hits more than 50% of the time. You can see the model's CFB picks at SportsLine .
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