Notre Dame Fighting Irish Odds to Win the 2016 College Football National Championship

by George Monroy - 7/20/2015

Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Malik Zaire

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish may no longer be in a major conference-they left the Big East and went independent two seasons ago-but the program loaded their 2015 schedule with marquee matchups against the ACC's and Pac-12's elite schools in order to stay relevant and make a national title push come late November. The Fighting Irish started off 2014 with a 7-1 record and were in contention for a playoff spot but lost four of their last five games of the year to finish with a disappointing 8-5 mark.

Injuries and lack of experience derailed Notre Dame last season, but Coach Brian Kelly believes 2015 could be a breakout year for the program. The offseason prognosis by most college football experts seems to be that Notre Dame has the deepest and most talented roster the program has seen during Kelly's six seasons with the team. Let's take a closer look at Notre Dame's 2016 national title odds with predictions and analysis. All odds come from Bovada.

Notre Dame 2015 Schedule

Sept 5: Texas Longhorns

Sept 12: @ Virginia Cavaliers

Sept 19: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Sept 26: UMass Minutemen

Oct 3: @ Clemson Tigers

Oct 10: Navy Midshipmen

Oct 17: USC Trojans

Oct 31: @ Temple Owls

Nov 7: @ Pittsburgh Panthers

Nov 14: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Nov 21: Boston College Eagles

Nov 28: @ Stanford Cardinals

Playing outside of a power conference could hurt Notre Dame, particularly because the playoff committee has already shown that it prefers conference championship games-which ended up being one of the biggest reasons why both Baylor and TCU, co-Big 12 champions, were skipped over last season. However, the Fighting Irish have set up their schedule in such a way that a one- or two-loss record keeps them in contention, and an undefeated season almost certainly earns them a Top 4 spot.

The squad's schedule is filled with tough matchups nearly every week and provides Notre Dame with plenty of opportunities to impress the playoff committee. The difficulty, of course, will be actually beating an ACC-heavy schedule while also managing to secure victories over USC and Stanford (on the road)-both being national title contenders.

Notre Dame 2016 National Title Odds and Trends

Title Odds: +1800

Notre Dame is currently receiving the six-best National Championship odds, according to Bovada, but the team is sitting firmly in the second rung of elite contenders with the TCU, USC, Baylor and a few other schools. At the moment, Ohio State, Alabama and Auburn are considered the front-runners and heavy favorites.

The Fighting Irish made a national title game appearance in 2013 and do have a championship pedigree, which makes +1800 an enticing bet. In 2014 Notre Dame had a talented, yet inconsistent, defense, which turned into a liability for the team. In 2015, the defense could be Notre Dame's biggest asset as many of the players will be returning with an added year of experience. Defensive tackle Sheldon Day and linebackers Jaylon Smith and Joe Schmidt are expected to be the anchors on defense

Notre Dame 2016 College Football National Championship Picks and Predictions

Notre Dame will enter the 2015 season with quite a bit of pressure to succeed, and another disappointing collapse might not end well for Kelly. The team does have talent, a promising young quarterback in Malik Zaire, and an offense with skill players at nearly every position. The difficulty for Notre Dame will be convincing the playoff committee that it deserves a postseason spot in the first place. Not playing in a major conference leaves the team in the position of almost having to go undefeated to secure a spot.

Yes, the Fighting Irish face a daunting schedule, and a one-loss mark will put the squad in contention. However, would that be enough to leapfrog a one-loss SEC, ACC, Big Ten or Pac-12 team? Realistically, not playing in a major conference hurts Notre Dame, and expecting an undefeated season is too much to ask of a good, but not great, team. There seems to be too much risk wagering on Notre Dame at +1800.

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Pick:	CHICAGO BEARS +3
Start:	November 24, 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Expert:	Doc's Sports

Analysis:

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. Take #256 Chicago Bears +3 over Minnesota Vikings (1p.m., Sunday, November 24 FOX) We used the Bears as a free play winner last Sunday and easily covered the spread and should have been an underdog outright winner. Now we will ride them for a second straight week against another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 8-2 on the season, yet are only around a field goal favorite. I still do not trust Sam Donald to win consistently over the course of a 17 game regular season. Minnesota is not as good as their 8-2 record would indicate and playing outdoors in Chicago on Sunday will cause issues for them on both sides of the ball. Chicago has been hit or miss this season, but they will be up to play another divisional rival and we expect them to take this down to the wire as well. Do not miss out on Doc’s Sports Weekend Card featuring top plays in college and NFL football. Read More Read Less

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