The first game of the expanded College Football Playoff is nearly here. Indiana and Notre Dame are kicking off what should be an exciting weekend of college football action, a game that many people are looking forward to.
Notre Dame is a seven-point favorite heading into this matchup, but with a projected over/under of 52.5 points, oddsmakers believe this game could be a back-and-forth battle. Both offenses can go off when needed, and the most important game of the year is a great time for them to have a boom game.
To make this game just a bit more interesting, we’ve studied Underdog’s board of player props, putting together our favorite plays from this matchup. Let’s get into our top picks!
While we believe this game could be high scoring, we’re not convinced that Riley Leonard is going to have much success through the air and on the ground. Indiana allowed the 13th-fewest passing yards in the nation during the regular season, and we don’t expect them to break down in this game.
Plus, while Leonard has been solid for Notre Dame and helped them win a lot of games, he hasn’t been the most effective against Top-25 opponents. He failed to throw for more than 200 yards against any of the four ranked teams he faced, including a 148-yard performance against Army a few weeks ago.
With that in mind, we have to take the under on his passing and rushing yardage line, needing to see it to believe it from him against a ranked opponent.
Justice Ellison has been a very consistent player for Indiana all year. There have only been four games this season where he’s had less than 52 rushing yards, a trend that should continue in this game.
Notre Dame does have a hard-nosed defense, but we know that, when given the opportunity, Ellison can fight through even the toughest of defenses.
He has averaged 5.5 yards per carry on the year, and if he gets double-digit carries in this game, there’s no reason to believe he’ll have less than 52 yards against the Irish.
We might not have much faith in Riley Leonard, but we are very confident that Jeremiyah Love will have over 100 rushing yards in this game.
Love has been a staple of Notre Dame’s offense all year, continuing to impress his teammates and coaches with his abilities each week. He popped for 102 yards against Navy, 130 against Army, and 99 against USC.
He is peaking at the right time, and in a must-win game, look for Love to burst on the scene and make a name for himself at the national scale in this one.