Notre Dame -20.5 over Navy
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- Notre Dame could have the best passing attack it has had in a long time with Sam Hartman making his debut after five years at Wake Forest.
- The triple option will struggle for Navy in this game, as they face a team with a significant physical advantage up front.
The 2023 college football season will begin in Ireland, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish host the Navy Midshipmen. Notre Dame opens this season ranked 13th in the country, and will hope that a new quarterback will mean a rejuvenated offense starting with this service academy matchup. Here, we make our college football betting picks for Navy vs Notre Dame from Dublin.
Navy vs Notre Dame Betting Pick
Notre Dame -20.5 over Navy
Why Bet on Notre Dame:
✅ Notre Dame’s biggest question mark has been the quarterback position over the last few years. That concern should be resolved with the addition of Sam Hartman this season.
✅ Notre Dame should be able to stifle the triple-option of Navy with its superior physicality up front.
✅ The Irish should have plenty of support in Ireland for this game, especially against an unpopular entity in other countries: the United States military.
This game will be played at Aviva Stadium at 2:30 PM ET on Saturday, August 26, 2023.
Navy Midshipmen
The Navy Midshipmen went 4-8 last season, failing to secure a spot in a bowl game and losing to Army on top of that. One of those losses came to Notre Dame, but the Midshipmen managed to stay within three points of the Fighting Irish in that contest. Here, the Midshipmen will look to put another scare into Notre Dame, this time in Ireland.
For Navy, the key to this game will be figuring out a way to generate chunks of yardage on the ground on early ground. Being stuck in third and longs would be fatal to Navy, given their lack of ability to move the ball through the air. If Navy can set themselves up with manageable third down situations, they could compete here.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame comes into this season with plenty of hype, as per the norm. But this year, that hype may be warranted, as the Irish have one of the better quarterbacks they have had in a while. Sam Hartman begins his time at Notre Dame overseas, where he will look to set the tone for this season against Navy.
Hartman threw for 77 touchdowns in the last two seasons while at Wake Forest. Here, with better personnel around him, Hartman could be in for the best season of his collegiate career in year six. But he will need to avoid making mistakes in this season opener to not just win this game convincingly, but to avoid casting doubt on his ability to be the man in South Bend.
