Cal vs. Notre Dame Prediction, Odds, Spread and Over/Under for College Football Week 3

The sky appears to be falling for Notre Dame, but can it get back on track against a middling Pac-12 foe in Cal?

The Fighting Irish lost a competitive battle at Ohio State in Week 1, but were helpless as 21-point favorites against Marshall, losing 26-21, and losing starting quarterback Tyler Buchner to injury.

As we enter Week 3, the preseason No. 5 team is still searching for its first win and is onto its backup quarterback Drew Pyne. Can the Fighting Irish get off the mat and bounce back with a win and cover the double-digit spread?

Let's check out the odds from FanDuel Sportsbook:

Cal vs. Notre Dame Odds, Spread and Total

Cal vs. Notre Dame Betting Trends

• Notre Dame is 1-1 against the spread (ATS) this season
• Notre Dame is 14-19 ATS as a double-digit favorite over the last 10 seasons
• Justin Wilcox is 21-8-1 ATS as an underdog as the head coach of Cal

Cal vs. Notre Dame Prediction and Pick

I broke this game down on The Early Reed on Tuesday (video below starts at handicap of game) as Notre Dame is one of my favorite bets of the weekend.

The Irish's two results this season was a defensive struggle at Ohio State, a College Football Playoff contender, and a disheartening loss to Marshall that included four turnovers. To make matters worse, Buchner is out for four months with a shoulder injury leaving Pyne under center.

However, if the Irish were so bad on offense against Marshall, how much can you downgrade them? The team had four turnovers that cost them in the loss to the Herd, but on a down-by-down basis the team was just fine, posting a 48% success rate, good for 79% percentile of offensive performances over the last two seasons.

Had ND not run into turnover issues, it would've likely taken care of business against a frisky Sun Belt foe. Even if the warning signals are up for a down year in South Bend, the Irish are head and shoulders above Cal.

I made this game north of two touchdowns prior to the Buchner injury, and I haven't made a significant downgrade just yet.

Cal played essentially equal to FCS foe UC-Davis and UNLV over the past two weeks on a yards per play basis (5.61 to 4.91 across the two games) and will struggle to move the ball against an elite Marcus Freeman led defense.

Give me the Irish to win in a blowout, don't overreact to last week's loss.