Notre Dame vs. Clemson point spread: Picking Irish vs. Tigers

Notre Dame heads into Week 10 as a 2.5-point favorite over Clemson at home. But sitting at 4-4 overall this season — what does Vegas see that suggests that the Tigers can compete with a ranked Irish squad?

On3’s Andy Staples was joined by analyst Dan Rubenstein to help figure out the best way to navigate the betting lines between the Irish and Tigers. He broke down why Clemson is such a close underdog even amid one of its worst seasons in recent memory.

“Clemson has a good defense. Clemson gets off the field. The pass rush has been, I think good to very good at times,” Rubenstein told Staples on Monday. “We know what the problem with Clemson is and it has nothing to do with their defense, and it’s everything to do with having no explosion on offense. And I don’t know, man. Who has Clemson beaten this year? The best thing Clemson did this year was almost beat Florida State right. That’s it.

“It’s Charleston Southern, Florida Atlantic, a Syracuse team whose bottoming out, a Wake [Forest] team who might be bottoming out, and then consecutive losses on the road to Miami and NC State.”

While Clemson continues its losing ways, Notre Dame is looking as strong as ever after suffering its second loss of the season against a red-hot Louisville team during Week 7.

Ever since the loss, the Fighting Irish have a win over USC — which was the Trojans’ first loss of the season at the time and a top 10 victory for Notre Dame. They followed that up with a dominating 58-7 win over Pitt at home, and head into Week 10 with a ton of momentum, while Clemson is just trying to scrape together enough to make a postseason berth.

If the Tigers can’t beat Notre Dame, they have to win two of their final three games of the season.

“I just like Notre Dame here,” Rubenstein cotinued. “I’m gonna I like to call myself the captain of the ‘Under-Think Express.’ Nobody underthinks things better than me. I just don’t think Clemson’s very good. It’s an early kick so the energy is not going to be where it would be at night. … Clemson is middle to lower tier ACC in this moment.”

If the Tigers can’t overcome the Irish, then Notre Dame is as much a part of the Clemson’s downfall as ‘Tyler from Spartanburg.’ Kickoff is scheduled for Noon ET live on ABC.