irish

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Las Vegas - Gonna take a look at the historic rivalry between Notre Dame and USC.

Gotta start out with me shivering, a foot and a half of snow on the ground and the temps below freezing. That was back before we moved to Vegas. Back in upstate New York, we would watch the Notre Dame/USC game every year, bathed in sunshine, temps in the 70s. Not gonna mention the SPECTACULAR Southern Cal cheerleaders, but no matter how my bet came out, certainly one of the highlights of a cold and nasty East coast winter.

No one expected Lincoln Riley to be just average when he came over from Oklahoma with that amazing 55-10 record in five years and, and, mentored two QBs, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, to the Heisman Trophy. Riley hit the Heisman hat trick, guiding Caleb Williams to the Heisman in 2022. Which is why this year's results have been very disappointing. Riley gave the job to Miller Moss to start the year, but he was benched after losing four of five games. Jayden Maiava was given the starting job against Nebraska, which USC won, and then he posted another W against archrival UCLA last week. Maiava's numbers have not been great (44 of 70 for 470 yards with 4 TDs and just 1 INT), but just good enough for a two game winning streak. Thinking about just a light tap on the spread.

However, if you wanna take a drive to Prop City with me, my BEST BET on the prop board this week is Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard Over 1.5 passing TDs. USC's defense is somewhat improved over last season, but they have not seen an offensive machine like Notre Dame. With Leonard leading the way, the Fighting Irish have scored 49, 35, 52, 51, 31, 49, 31, 28 and 66 points in their last nine games. Riley Over 1.5 TDs is gonna be a YUGE deposit in the Bank of Eck!

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