Orange Bowl Showdown: Penn State vs. Notre Dame Preview

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00:00On a Thursday night in South Florida, it is the Orange Bowl between the six-seed Penn State and

00:05the seven-seed Notre Dame. In the college football playoff semifinal, the first of our two matchups

00:11that will decide a national championship game. Now just 13 days away, two weeks from last night.

00:19We look at the numbers here on the early line and what we can expect for Thursday night in Miami

00:26at the Orange Bowl. Where it stands right now between the Irish and the Nittany Lions is a

00:31market that is working to Notre Dame. This basically opened at a pick-em, which is basically where

00:38Notre Dame's last matchup in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia closed. It is now two and a

00:42half points in favor of the Irish, minus 137 on the money line. A total that opened at 46 and a

00:49half has actually dropped by a full point to 45 and a hook. A defensive struggle, a low scoring affair,

00:56expected in Miami. So Joe, as we look at this number and we see Notre Dame laying just two

01:02and a half points, how close and competitive do you anticipate the Orange Bowl is going to be?

01:10Well, it certainly, the market thinks it's going to be competitive and it should be because I think

01:15these are two of the best defenses in the country going toe to toe with one another.

01:22I do believe Penn State has had the easiest path to get to this point as they won and covered Ben

01:29as really big favorites in both games. You know, SMU, couple of pick sixes, 38 to 10.

01:38Then of course, they did the same thing with Boise State. They ended up getting a late score

01:44there for those that laid that number with them. So listen, it's been, I'd rather be lucky than

01:50good sometimes and Penn State got the luck of the draw there, but they also let Boise State

01:56hang around in that game for a much longer than they should have. Drew Isler only had 13 completions.

02:04They were out gained in that game. So if you play like that against Notre Dame, yeah, that's not

02:13going to turn out all that well. But this is another one, Ben, when I agree with the original

02:17market movement, this opened up 46 and a half, 47. It's been bet down to 45, 45 and a half. And

02:25I agree with it. Jeremiah Love still banged up six carries 19 yards here. I do not see

02:35Notre Dame or Penn State for that matter, having all sorts of monster games offensively against

02:42these two defenses. I think both coaches are going to want to establish the run and the one

02:47who can win in the trenches is going to win the game. Ultimately though, I think we don't even

02:52sniff 45 points in this game, Ben. I think it's a dead under between these two teams.