Northern Illinois at Notre Dame

Notre Dame has to replace Sam Hartman, and you could see the offense has not found much yet. They managed 23 points vs Texas A&M, but rode their defense to a 23-13 win at College Station. Northern Illinois had an easy one vs Western Illinois last week in a 54-15 win. Not much to be had from that one. What does look apparent, as expected, is that the Notre Dame offense needs time to gel, but the defense remains the anchor of this team. The D ranked fourth defensively last year, and could actually be better this year. I don't expect Northern Illinois to match the 13 from Texas A&M and may not score at all, while the Notre Dame offense is going to take time. I like the UNDER.