Notre Dame Doesn’t Look Like a Title Contender, But Survives Late Scare vs. Toledo

The No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish love to make things interesting this season. 

Notre Dame came into Saturday’s matchup against Toledo as a 17.0-point favorite on WynnBET, but it needed a late touchdown from Jack Coan, after he dislocated his finger, to survive the Rockets and improve to 2-0. 

Brian Kelly can’t be happy about Toledo hanging around, but he has to be happy about this execution, right? 

Coan completed 21 of his 33 passes for 239 yards and a pair of scores in the win, but it was the second straight game that the Irish failed to pull away. BetSided’s Ben Heisler called this let-down performance by Notre Dame, as he took Toledo to cover as his best bet of the week. 

Notre Dame trailed 16-14 at the half, but it was able to rally late with Coan’s touchdown pass and then a forced fumble on the Rockets’ final drive. Still, the Irish defense that struggled in Week 1 against Florida State allowed another 353 total yards in Saturday’s win. 

Toledo was a formidable opponent, but the Irish were over two-touchdown favorites for a reason. If they continue these struggles, there’s a chance they can get upset, and there is certainly a chance that they’d lose to another contender this season. 

Notre Dame had +5000 odds to win the College Football National Championship after its Week 1 win, but I can’t see those odds improving after today’s performance. If anything, oddsmakers may view Notre Dame as more of a liability to win the title given its struggles at closing out games. 

Not only that, but while Coan seemed healthy enough to finish the game, his status going forward will be important when deciding on Notre Dame’s title odds. 

The Irish escaped again, but they’re playing with fire early on this season.

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