The BYU Cougars take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Las Vegas. Check out our college football odds series for our BYU Notre Dame prediction and pick.

A Mormon university and a Catholic university will send their football teams to Las Vegas in a one-of-a-kind matchup. It sounds like the plot of a two-hour comedic movie, but no, it's real. The fascinating part of this neutral-site fight between BYU and Notre Dame is that both teams are uncertain about themselves, how good they are, and what the rest of the season has in store for them. This is why the betting line for the game is fairly conservative, and why the total is a relatively middle-ground number. It is hard to know what to think of these two teams, so you're not going to see one team be heavily favored over the other. Expectations for these offenses and defenses are hard to pin down, so the college football odds will be structured to invite strong opinions on both sides, which is always the goal of a betting line: generate relatively equal action for both teams or sides.

BYU defeated Baylor earlier this year. Baylor was a top-15 team in preseason polls, so the win seemed like a big deal at the time. However, Baylor has not looked great since that BYU game, which has diminished the value of that win. BYU lost at Oregon in a blowout and then struggled against Utah State. It's hard to know how good BYU really is.

Notre Dame lost to Ohio State to start the season, and because Ohio State was a top-five team in preseason rankings, no one thought that game was an indictment of the Irish. However, Notre Dame then lost at home to Marshall, which was a five-alarm fire of a crisis. Notre Dame squeaked by Cal — which doesn't look very good right now after Cal lost by 19 at Washington State — and beat North Carolina before getting this past weekend off. Having two weeks to prepare for BYU gives Notre Dame a chance to reset its season and reestablish itself as a force in college football this year.

Here are the BYU-Notre Dame NCAA Football Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

College Football Odds: BYU-Notre Dame Odds

BYU Cougars: +3.5 (-108)

Notre Dame Fighting Irish: -3.5 (-112)

Over: 50.5 (-110)

Under: 50.5 (-110)

Why BYU Could Cover the Spread

The Cougars know that Notre Dame is limited at quarterback. Notre Dame has struggled to move the ball except in a game against a very weak North Carolina defense. Versus Cal, Marshall, and Ohio State, the Irish had a hard time throwing the ball for big gains. This is simply not an offense which stretches the field or forces a defense to account for every inch of space, both vertically and horizontally. The Baylor team BYU defeated had a very limited passing game. Notre Dame fits that same profile. It's very hard to place any trust in Notre Dame's passing attack right now. BYU can smother the Irish offense and win a low-scoring game.

Why Notre Dame Could Cover the Spread

If Notre Dame's offense is limited, so is BYU's. The Cougars were shut down by Oregon a few weeks ago. The final score was 41-20, but BYU scored only seven points in the first 40 minutes of the game, and then Oregon played backups. BYU did enough to win against Wyoming and Utah State but did not look especially impressive. Notre Dame has a defense which is on par with Oregon's. BYU needs to prove it can score consistently against a talented defense, and that's hard to put a lot of trust in right now.

Final BYU-Notre Dame Prediction & Pick

Picking a winner here is hard. Picking against the total is the better play. Notre Dame's offense is not very good. BYU can be handled by a fast, athletic defense. Notre Dame has one. It would be a surprise if this game features a lot of points.

Final BYU-Notre Dame Prediction & Pick: Under 50.5