Notre Dame vs. Boston College prediction: Odds, picks, best bet Saturday

We were dealt our first bad beat of the season last week with Stanford against Miami. The Cardinal stayed within the spread until Miami found paydirt with three seconds left in the fourth quarter. It was a brutal result, but we’ve been on the right side of a couple of those situations with our ‘Ugly Underdogs,’ so the betting gods owed us one. We’ll look to run our record to 7-3 with a play on Boston College on Saturday.

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Two months ago, it looked like 2025 was going to be a lost cause for Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish fell short against Miami and Texas A&M in their first two tilts of the season, and a lack of marquee opponents made it hard to believe that Notre Dame would have a strong enough resume to get back to the College Football Playoff.

Even if Notre Dame won out, they’d also need a handful of the other contenders to go off the rails. That seemed out of the question all those weeks ago. There were just too many teams ahead of the Irish in the pecking order.

Not so fast.

Texas, Penn State, LSU and Clemson all capitulated, leaving plenty of room at the dance for Notre Dame, should the Irish find a way to run the table.

The bookies don’t think that will be an issue, as the Irish are now -330 to make the College Football Playoff at bet365.

All is well in South Bend.

You can’t say the same thing about things in Chestnut Hill.

Year 1 of the Bill O’Brien era at Boston College was not a disaster, as the Eagles went 7-6 and took a trip to Yankee Stadium for the Pinstripe Bowl.

Things started fine in 2025, too, as the Eagles routed Fordham, 66-10, in Week 1. That was the last time anything went right for Boston College.

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The Eagles lost their next seven contests, six by at least two scores. The last time Boston College played a competitive game was Week 2, which was a 42-40 loss to Michigan State.

All of this sounds discouraging, and it should, but this bet is less about the Eagles than it is about the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame just doesn’t fit the profile of a team you want to back as a massive favorite. The Irish are a throwback team that relies on establishing the run with Heisman-hopeful tailback Jeremiyah Love.

Nothing would make Notre Dame happier than to just pound the rock all afternoon, especially with some wind in the forecast.

The Irish are also a plodding offense, ranking 99th in FBS in seconds per play (27.5) and 100th in plays per game (66.1).

Boston College wants to go faster than that, but this contest is unlikely to be played on its terms.

Assuming Notre Dame owns the ball, the clock should be moving in this one. That’s a good thing for those looking to back the Eagles as 28.5-point underdogs.

Most of the betting sentiment surrounding this game is that Notre Dame “needs” to score an emphatic victory over Boston College to bolster its resume for the selection committee.

If you want to play into that narrative, be my guest.

But the other side of the coin is that the oddsmakers know they can hang a premium on the Irish. Not only are they always a public darling, but there are going to be plenty of punters out there chucking in bets on Notre Dame, no matter the spread, because “they need to win big.”

We’ll zag that and take the Eagles at a discount.

The Play: Boston College +28.5 (-110, bet365)

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Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.