2013 Record: 11-3

2014 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 7.5

2014 Season Win Total Prediction: 'Under'

Odds courtesy of 5Dimes.

Notre Dame's lucky trip to the national title game two years ago will be paying dividends for bettors for a decade. Long one of the most overrated teams in the country, the Irish will remain overvalued as the betting public buys into the storyline that this program is back among the nation's elite.

They are not.

Brian Kelly is one of the top coaches in college football and has guided the Irish to a 21-5 mark the past two years. It is easy to attribute last year's underwhelming 9-4 season (they went 5-8 against the spread) to the suspension of quarterback Everett Golson. But the Irish were merely an average team. And even with Golson being reinstated for 2014 they aren't a real national contender. Notre Dame has just 12 returning starters and is missing key pieces on both sides of the ball.

The Irish, by virtue of their independent status, always have a unique schedule. This year's takes the cake. They only play three true road games and just one of those comes before Nov. 8. They have three neutral site games against Purdue (Indianapolis), Syracuse (East Rutherford), and Navy (Landover) among their first eight opponents. Four other home games and a trip to Florida State round out that collective. They also have a brutal November with road games at Arizona State and USC sandwiched around home games against Northwestern and Louisville.

Notre Dame always takes opponents' best shots. And power teams like Stanford, Florida State and USC are tough customers. But the second tier of Notre Dame's slate, versus improving or desperate teams like Michigan, Syracuse, North Carolina, Northwestern and Louisville, is also stubborn.

Last year Notre Dame played just four regular season games against Top 25 opponents. They lost three of them. This year they could face six Top 25 opponents. Notre Dame has won eight or more regular season games in three of Kelly's four seasons. And I think that they can get there again. But I will call for them to come up short. I would play against the public's infatuation with the Irish and bet them 'under'.

2014 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule

DATE OPPONENT TIME (ET) Location Result

Sat, Aug 30th, 2014 Rice 03:30 PM Notre Dame Stadium

Sat, Sep 6th, 2014 Michigan 07:30 PM Notre Dame Stadium

Sat, Sep 13th, 2014 Purdue 07:30 PM Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis

Sat, Sep 27th, 2014 at Syracuse TBA MetLife Stadium - East Rutherford

Sat, Oct 4th, 2014 Stanford 03:30 PM Notre Dame Stadium

Sat, Oct 11th, 2014 North Carolina 03:30 PM Notre Dame Stadium

Sat, Oct 18th, 2014 at Florida State TBA Bobby Bowden Field

Sat, Nov 1st, 2014 Navy TBA FedEx Field - Landover, MD

Sat, Nov 8th, 2014 at Arizona State TBA Sun Devil Stadium

Sat, Nov 15th, 2014 Northwestern 03:30 PM Notre Dame Stadium

Sat, Nov 22nd, 2014 Louisville 03:30 PM Notre Dame Stadium

Sat, Nov 29th, 2014 at USC TBA Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

All Times EST

Robert Ferringo was the top football handicapper in the country last year, earning nearly $8,000 in total football profit in 2013-14 and posting one of the best seasons in America. He hit 62.1 percent for the entire NFL season (95-58) and was amazing down the stretch, closing with 11 of 14 winning NFL weeks and 12 of 15 overall winning football weeks. Robert has posted 3 of 4 winning football seasons, 6 of 7 winning NFL seasons, 30 of 44 winning football months, and 6 of 7 winning NFL preseasons. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System posted another winning season (now 2-for-2) and is 83-58 over the last two years (58.9 percent).

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