Neil Adler (8-2)
Prediction: Notre Dame wins 30-21
The Syracuse football outfit looks to put a huge damper on Notre Dame’s chances of reaching the College Football Playoff, when the Orange and the Fighting Irish get after it this Saturday afternoon in a neutral-site affair at Yankee Stadium in New York.
Oh, what an enticing encounter this is. No. 12 SU (8-2), which has emerged victorious in four-consecutive games, throttled Louisville by a count of 54-23 inside the Carrier Dome this past Friday night.
ND (10-0), on the other hand, is unblemished during the 2018 term and currently finds itself rated third in the most-recent College Football Playoff rankings. Suffice it to say, if the Fighting Irish secures successes in its final pair of clashes, Notre Dame will participate in the CFP, with an opportunity to earn a national championship.
In its last collision on Saturday, the Fighting Irish hosted and subsequently crushed Florida State, 42-13. NBC is televising this epic event, and I sincerely hope that our ‘Cuse boys perform well. Presently, odds-makers in Las Vegas project ND as a 10-point favorite, while ESPN.com’s match-up predictor says that the Fighting Irish has roughly a 75 percent probability of prevailing. Syracuse is undeniably prolific on offense, but the same goes for Notre Dame on defense. Something will have to give. Unfortunately, I think that the Fighting Irish will possess just enough to squeak by SU, in a hotly contested 30-21 outcome. Per the norm, my fingers are crossed that my instincts are incorrect!