Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech Prediction, Picks, Odds, and Best Bet: Fighting Irish Roll in Atlanta

Although the Fighting Irish are banged up heading into Week 8 action, Douglas Farmer breaks down why they hold the upper hand against a porous Yellow Jackets' secondary.

Douglas Farmer - Betting Analyst at Covers
Douglas Farmer • Betting Analyst
Oct 18, 2024 • 12:34 ET • 4 min read

NCAAF

Match starts: 24 hrs
GT
60 %
ND
40 %
Read Analysis
Riley Leonard Notre Dame Fighting Irish NCAAF
Photo By - Imagn Images

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish remain in the thick of Playoff contention and should match up well against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday. While the Yellow Jackets kicked off the 2024 season with an upset of Florida State in Dublin, they have quietly disappointed most of the time since then.

Thus, my Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech predictions and college football picks trust the Irish, with kickoff set at 3:30 ET on October 19.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech prediction and best bet

My best bet
Notre Dame -10 (-110 at BetMGM)
Picks made at time of writing may not reflect live odds.

My analysis
As always, shop around. Some sportsbooks have moved this line as far as -9.5 as of early Friday morning, all falling from a high of -11.5, where this number sat for the bulk of the week.

Why is it falling? Who knows. Notre Dame lost All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison for the season to a hip injury, but that has been known since Monday. The Irish may be without kicker Mitch Jeter, but that should not impact a spread and certainly not move it through two key numbers.

Regardless, the move is the wrong one. Not only has Notre Dame gone 3-1 against the spread since its embarrassing outright loss to Northern Illinois, but the Irish have found the form of complementary football that makes them an intriguing Playoff contender. 

Whatever an opponent’s weakness is, Notre Dame is capable of exploiting it.

In Georgia Tech’s case, the piece to exploit is the Yellow Jackets’ passing defense. The entire college football universe got completely wrapped up in Georgia Tech’s defensive performance in that season-opening win against Florida State, but then forgot to recalibrate that evaluation once it became clear the Seminoles are such a lost cause. Holding them to 193 passing yards and 291 total yards was not as impressive as it seemed in the moment.

Remembering to look closer, the Yellow Jackets rank No. 117 in both passing defense success rate and passing defense expected points added (EPA) per dropback. Meanwhile, Riley Leonard has thrown six touchdowns in the last three games, completing 70% of his passes and averaging 7.8 yards per pass attempt.

Against a middling offense, Notre Dame won't need to produce a bounty of points to cover this spread, certainly not with one of the best defenses in the country. Leonard should manage just enough, and that has been the Irish standard this season.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech same-game parlay (SGP)

Notre Dame -9.5

Riley Leonard 150+ passing yards

Riley Leonard anytime touchdown

Leonard has cleared this passing yards prop in each of his last three games and five of the season’s six, so it is somewhat surprising to see it raise this same-game parlay’s payout by 221%, especially considering Georgia Tech’s passing defense is its weakness.

The Irish quarterback carrying the ball across the goal line has become a bit of a default, doing so eight times in the last five games and at least once in each of those contests.

Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.

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Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech odds

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech live odds

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech opening odds

  • Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech spread: Georgia Tech +8.5
  • Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech moneyline: Notre Dame -300, Georgia Tech +250
  • Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech Over/Under: 49.5

Odds courtesy of BetMGM

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech spread and Over/Under analysis

  • Notre Dame opened as a mere 8-point favorite on Sunday, reaching -8.5 that night and then steaming to -11.5 on Monday morning.
  • Some sportsbooks pondered -12.5 on Thursday morning, before recommitting to -11.5 until evening traffic began to push -10 onto the board.
  • The total opened as high as 52.5 before quickly falling to 50.5 or 49.5, depending on your sportsbook. It hung there until Thursday, 50.5 then becoming the consensus number.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech betting trend to know

The Fighting Irish have gone 8-3 against the spread in their last 11 games, including 4-2 this season. Find more college football betting trends for Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech game info

Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
Date: Saturday, 10-19, 2024
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech latest injuries

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech weather

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Douglas Farmer
Betting Analyst

Douglas Farmer spends his days thinking about college football and his nights thinking about the NBA. His betting habits and coverage follow that same pattern. He covered Notre Dame football for various outlets from 2008 to 2024, most notably spending eight seasons as NBC Sports’ beat writer on the Irish. That was also when his gambling focus took off. Knowing there were veteran beat writers with three decades more experience than he had, Douglas found his niche by best recognizing Notre Dame’s standing in each year’s national landscape, a complex tapestry most easily understood and remembered via betting odds.

In 2021, that interest created a freelance opportunity with Covers, a role that eventually led to Douglas joining the company full-time in 2023. In the fall, Douglas will place five or six dozen bets each week, a disproportionate amount via BetRivers because the operator tends to have lines slightly different than the rest of the market. The same can be said of Circa Sports’ futures markets.

While Douglas is an avid NBA fan and covers the league throughout the year, the vast majority of his bets are on college football, because that is the biggest key to sports betting: Know what you do not know.

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