Notre Dame enters at 8-1, ranked 3rd in the AP poll, with the nation's top-ranked total defense allowing just 235 yards per game — this team is a machine. Despite some injury attrition, the Irish just dismantled Miami and are playing at home where their talent advantage is overwhelming. Boston College is a massive step down in class, and Notre Dame's ability to put up 39+ points per game while suffocating opposing offenses makes covering 29.5 at home entirely within reach.

Notre Dame is locked into the College Football Playoff and multiple key defenders — including Brauntae Johnson, Drayk Bowen, and Charles Jagusah — are banged up with the program clearly focused on staying healthy for SMU. The Irish have only covered a 29.5-point spread 4 of their last 10 home games, and with no motivation to pour it on a struggling opponent, this is a coaches-pull-the-starters, garbage-time-points situation written in neon. Everyone's counting BC out at 4-5, but +29.5 is a mountain of cushion — the scrappy Eagles cover!