Ohio State Opens as Massive Favorite Over Notre Dame for Week 1 College Football Game

There's lots of talk about where Notre Dame will go in a realignment of college football conferences, and the Big Ten has been floated as a possibility by many fans. Whether that speculated move becomes reality or not, it adds a serious layer of intrigue to the Week 1 college football matchup between Notre Dame and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Ohio State vs Notre Dame Week 1 College Football Odds

The Ohio State-Notre Dame matchup has the potential to sour Fighting Irish fans on the idea of going to the Big Ten, because Notre Dame is a massive underdog according to college football odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

The spread is sitting at 14.5 points in favor of Ohio State, with both teams getting -110 odds to cover. The over/under point total line is set at 58.0 points.

Ohio State vs Notre Dame History

Despite both teams' long histories, Ohio State and Notre Dame have only faced off six times in the programs' histories, including just twice since 2000.

The most recent meeting saw the Buckeyes blow out Notre Dame 44-28 on Jan. 1, 2016.

Notre Dame defeated Ohio State in the first two ever meetings between these programs, but those games were played in 1936 and 1936. The four meetings that have occurred post-World War II have all seen the Buckeyes come out on top, with an average margin of victory of 15.5 points.

CFB National Championship Odds

Looking at this year's National Championship odds, this lopsided point spread seems to have a lot more to do with how good Ohio State projects to be than with any issues on Notre Dame's side. The Fighting Irish rank eighth in the nation with +6000 odds to win the National Championship, but the Buckeyes check in at No. 2 with +300 odds, only trailing Alabama.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.