Caleb Wilfinger
Show Bio
The 2022 college football season is underway and Saturday provides us with a great slate of games. A massive nonconference battle will take place on Saturday night when Notre Dame travels to Columbus for a matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes. This contest kicks off at 7:30 pm ET and will be televised on ABC.
But before we get started, be sure to check out all of our NCAAF previews for Saturday.
Let’s get into our same game parlay for this
Ohio State -13.5 (-150)
Julian Fleming over 55.5 receiving yards (-115)
Michael Mayer over 70.5 receiving yards (-115)
Parlay odds: +489
Ohio State alternate spread -13.5 (-150)
The Ohio State Buckeyes are national championship frontrunners. They are absolutely loaded on offense and should be able to overwhelm a Notre Dame defense that is adjusting to a new scheme. Marcus Freeman is a good coach, but it could take time for the Irish to reach their potential this season and starting off your season in the Horseshoe is a difficult proposition. Look for CJ Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, Jaxson Smith Njigba and the Buckeyes offense to take aim at the Irish defense. On the other side of the ball, new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles should have the Buckeyes’ excellent edge rushers coached up to feast on an inexperienced Notre Dame offensive line group. The Irish are also extremely unproven at every skill position, outside of tight end Michael Mayer.
Things could get ugly if this game turns into a track meet. However, I don’t want to discount the possibility for a late backdoor cover at the current number. Therefore, I much prefer backing Ohio State on an alternate spread at under 2 touchdowns. Look for the Buckeyes to make a statement under the lights.
Julian Fleming over 55.5 receiving yards (-115)
The Ohio State passing game should be something to behold this fall. At the head of that attack is Smith-Njigba, who managed to shine last season in the same receiving corps as Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. Due to the matchup problems he creates, it’s likely that Smith-Njigba will draw a ton of attention from the opposing defense. With the star wideout occupied, the secondary receivers should see plenty of targets. In that case, I like Julian Fleming’s prospects of making an impact. This is a pretty manageable number considering Stroud is projected to throw for well over 300 yards on Saturday. Expect Fleming to be targeted more in the intermediate passing game, and I like his over prop at this number.
Check out all our College Football content in our Week 1 betting guide
Michael Mayer over 70.5 receiving yards (-115)
For the last leg of our same game parlay, we’ll be targeting Michael Mayer’s receiving yards over. Notre Dame is extremely inexperienced at the offensive skill positions, but the lone position of strength for the Irish is their tight end. Mayer was a security blanket for Notre Dame a season ago, tallying 640 yards and 7 touchdowns. With Ohio State’s secondary still unproven, Mayer should be able to find soft spots in the Buckeyes defense. Mayer cleared this number in 4 straight games to end the 2021 season and I expect a similar performance on Saturday, especially if Notre Dame is forced into obvious passing situations early on.
At Pickswise we offer free expert College Football Picks and College Football Predictions for all games in the Power Five conferences and the top 25 teams outside of Power five, including our College Football Parlay picks each week.
