Northern Illinois vs. Notre Dame: College Football Week 2 Picks (2024)
Gear up for another awesome weekend of college football action with BettingPros! We’ll have you covered with all of our top picks for the week along with our projected spreads and totals to help guide your college football bets. Check out all of our top College Football Week 2 Picks. Here are our top picks and predictions the upcoming college football game: Northern Illinois vs. Notre Dame.
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Top College Football Odds & Picks: Northern Illinois vs. Notre Dame
Northern Illinois vs. Notre Dame
A letdown could be in store for the Fighting Irish, who are four-touchdown favorites after last week’s emotional, hard-fought road victory over Texas A&M. From a pure spot perspective, Northern Illinois is the play at anything over -27.5. The Huskies took care of business in their season opener, whomping Western Illinois 54-15. The Huskies are a relatively experienced group with eight starters back on each side of the ball. NIU is working in a new quarterback, but the offense runs through 1st-team All-MAC RB Antario Brown, who rushed for 69 yards on a light eight carries in the season opener. The Huskies as a team averaged 7.61 yards per rush against the Leathernecks, but will face a stiff upgrade in competition against an imposing Notre Dame defense. That being said, the Irish did allow Texas A&M to run for 146 yards (3.8 yards per carry), so there’s a path for NIU to at least move the ball a bit in South Bend. Meanwhile, an experienced NIU defense that allowed just 21 points per game in 2023 could be stingy against an Irish offense that only averaged 5.56 yards per play in the season opener. The gap in talent is sizable, and I’m not suggesting the Irish are on upset alert here. But with arguably their toughest game on the schedule now past them, Notre Dame can breathe a little easier as their path to the College Football Playoff just became much more feasible. And with a tricky road trip to Purdue on deck, Notre Dame could be looking ahead to next week. I’ll take the Huskies to keep this within four possessions.
Pick: Northern Illinois +28.5
-Matt Barbato
Best Ways to Bet College Football for Beginners
Game Total
Bettors new to the hobby can be confused by spreads, but game totals are simple. Every football game has a total posted for the combined final score between the two teams. Bettors have the option to choose the OVER or UNDER, generally at -110 odds (risk: $110; win: $100). So if the total is 42 and you take the OVER, you need 43 points to win the bet. If you put a bet down on the over to win $100 and it goes over, you get back the money you initially risked, plus $100. If it stayed under, you would have lost your $110 and that's it. If by chance the game ended with 42 total points, it's called a push; when a game pushes, you get the money you risked back but nothing more.
ie: California vs. Illinois, Over 42 or Under 42
tip: Over bets can be a really fun social event with your buddies. Have everyone throw in a few bucks, then take the over together. Instead of getting pumped when one side scores, everyone is pumped for ANY score, all game.
Moneyline
The moneyline is the easiest way to test your college football knowledge: who will win the game? That's it. The moneyline doesn't use favorites or underdogs, it's totally straight up. That said, the risk-reward can be challenging because they're weighted. Instead of every game being around -110, like game totals and spreads, moneylines vary depending on the matchup.
For our example, California was favored by seven points over Illinois, meaning oddsmakers think the Golden Bears are a touchdown better than the Fighting Illini. If you took Cal on the moneyline, points don't matter, they just need to win the game. But because it's safer to take them straight-up without points, you'll have to risk more when you make the bet - remember, they're seven points better than Illinois in the eyes of the oddsmakers. In this case, Cal is -280 on the moneyline, so if you want to win $100, you have to risk $280. On the flip side, moneyline bets can be valuable when taking the underdog because it's a riskier bet - they're seven points worse than their opponent. In this case, Illinois is the underdog - +220 on the moneyline. You'd win $220 on a $100 bet if you picked Illinois on the moneyline and they pulled off the upset.
ie: California (ML -280) vs. Illinois (ML +220)
tip: Check their history against one another. Keep an eye on the injury report and the weather.
Player Props
Player props are some of the most exhilarating bets you can place during a college football game, but they're also easy to understand. For major conferences, you'll have a wide array of options to choose from. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and sometimes tight ends will have props to choose from. It's simple, fun and easy to follow, and odds on player props don't vary as much as moneylines. Generally, prop bets are in the -110 range like generic spread and total bets.
ie: How many passing yards will Brandon Peters have against California? Over 250 or Under 250
tip: Check how players have performed in the situation they're going to be in. Use split stats on any reliable site to see their numbers at home, on a neutral-site, in December, etc.