Notre Dame vs. Clemson odds: Early point spread released on Fighting Irish, Tigers

The calendar is about to flip to November, which means big games get even bigger. For Clemson, it’s about staying in the hunt in the ACC as the Tigers take a non-conference break against Notre Dame in Week 10.

The Las Vegas oddsmakers have weighed in, and Notre Dame is a 3-point favorite in the matchup, according to FanDuel. The over-under is 49.5.

Notre Dame got off to a red-hot start to the season before splitting a four-game stretch of prime time games. The Fighting Irish came out of the bye week with a resounding 58-7 victory over Pitt in Week 9 to start what Marcus Freeman called a “two-week sprint” to start the final four games. Because Notre Dame played in Week 0, it has two bye weeks on the schedule, and they happen to come two weeks apart.

As a result, Freeman is taking a unique approach with his message to his team.

“It’s a two-week sprint,” Freeman said on Coach K on Basketball. “You’ve just come off a bye week, everybody’s fresh. We have to sprint. Not just run, jog. We’ve got to sprint for two weeks. Everything we have for these next two weeks, and then you get another bye week. Then we’ll come back and we’ll finish it the right way. Two weeks, we need to go everything we can.”

For Clemson, it’s been an interesting year to say the least. The Tigers started the season ranked No. 9 in the preseason AP Top 25, but lost to Duke in the opener. They entered Week 9 with a 4-3 record and headed to NC State, and the struggles continued in the early going. Clemson trailed 10-7 heading into halftime and saw running back Will Shipley leave the game with an injury.

Things didn’t get better in the second half as NC State rattled off back-to-back touchdowns en route to the 24-17 victory. With the loss, Clemson is now 4-4 on the year, with all four losses coming in ACC play to all but officially fall out of the conference title picture.

Last year, it was all Notre Dame in the matchup against Clemson. The Fighting Irish took a 14-0 lead into halftime and extended it to 28-0 before the Tigers got on the board for the first time en route to the 35-14 victory at Notre Dame Stadium. This year, Freeman’s group will head to Death Valley for the Nov. 4 matchup.