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#8 Notre Dame hosts #14 Georgia Tech Saturday
By: Brian Graham - StatFox
Published: 9/18/2015  at  12:00:00 PM
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GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (2-0)
at NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (2-0)

Notre Dame Stadium - South Bend, IN
Kickoff: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Line: Georgia Tech -2.5, Total: 55

No. 8 Notre Dame finds itself in the rare home underdog role when No. 14 Georgia Tech pays a visit on Saturday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets are slotted as the favorite in South Bend because of a potent triple-option offense that is averaging 67.0 PPG and 457 rushing YPG this season. The Fighting Irish may be a top-10 team in the polls, but they sure didn't look like it without starting QB Malik Zaire who suffered a season-ending broken ankle in last week's narrow 34-27 win at 14-point underdog Virginia. New QB DeShone Kizer was able to lead his team to the winning drive in that game, connecting with WR Will Fuller on a 39-yard TD pass with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. These gold-clad schools last met in 2007 when Georgia Tech won 33-3 at Notre Dame, marking its fourth straight ATS victory in this series. Yellow Jackets head coach Paul Johnson is also a perfect 11-0 ATS on the road after gaining 7.25+ yards per play in his team's previous game. However, the Fighting Irish benefit from excellent rushing (230+ YPG) road favorites posting a dreadful 5-26 ATS (16%) mark when facing an excellent rushing defense (100 YPG or less) after outrushing its previous opponent by 150+ yards. Georgia Tech is mildly concerned that RB Quaide Weimerskirch (foot) is questionable for Saturday, while Notre Dame is scrambling without Zaire, top RB Tarean Folston (knee) and TE Durham Smythe (shoulder) for the season, while DB Avery Sebastian (foot) will miss at least the next month of action.

Can injury-riddled Notre Dame pull out the home win on Saturday? For the answer, connect to College Football Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2015 regular season and bowl season. StatFox Gary and StatFox Brian are both 56% ATS (5-4) in CFB Best Bets to start the season.

Georgia Tech is rushing for 8.5 yards per carry this young season, while also throwing for 13.9 yards per pass attempt. Ten Yellow Jackets have already rushed for a touchdown, while two others have already scored on TD grabs. Freshman RB Marcus Marshall has shined brightest among this juggernaut offense with 221 yards on just 14 carries (15.8 YPC), but fellow freshman RBs Clinton Lynch (20.7 YPC) and Matthew Jordan (15.0 YPC), and senior RB Broderick Snoddy (12.3 YPC) are all averaging more than a dozen yards per tote. Junior QB Justin Thomas has been nearly perfect in completing 10-of-13 passes this season for 151 yards (11.6 YPA), 3 TD and 0 INT, and has also carried the football 13 times for 73 yards (5.6 YPC). The Yellow Jackets defense has also been outstanding in holding opponents to 118 rushing YPG on 3.3 YPC and 141 passing YPG on 41% completions. They have also produced five takeaways in their two wins, but are now facing an Irish club that has yet to turn the football over.

Notre Dame has had great offensive balance in its wins over Texas and Virginia, gaining 233 rushing YPG (5.4 YPC) and 260 passing YPG (9.8 YPA) on 64% completions. Sophomore QB DeShone Kizer played very well off the bench last week by connecting on 8-of-12 passes for 92 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT. He will continue to rely most heavily on star WR Will Fuller who has 12 receptions (six more than any other teammate) for 266 yards (187 more than any other teammate). The Irish will need somebody else to step forward to keep the double teams away from the 6-foot junior playmaker. The ground game continues to ride the legs of senior RB C.J. Prosise who already has 253 rushing yards on 6.8 YPC. He is coming off a 155-yard performance last Saturday where he gained 9.1 yards per tote, but Georgia Tech's staunch run-stop unit will be much harder to penetrate. Notre Dame certainly had problems stopping an average Virginia offense last week, surrendering 416 total yards, including 289 through the air. But the Yellow Jackets rarely throw the football, and the Irish are still holding their opponents to 93 rushing YPG on 3.2 YPC.


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