Morning Coffee: Will favourites continue to dominate on NFL Wild Card Weekend?

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are headed to the ship.

Regardless of what happens next, their path to the College Football Playoff National Championship has been a profitable one for anybody who believed in them.

Notre Dame rallied from an early 10-0 deficit to beat Penn State 27-24 in a thriller on Thursday night.

The Fighting Irish could be found at +320 to win the Orange Bowl outright down double digits at the half.

With the victory, Notre Dame improved to 7-0 straight up against AP ranked opponents this season – the most AP ranked wins in a single season in the program’s history.

The Fighting Irish have also covered 11 straight games, matching the longest streak by any major conference team over the last three decades.

Marcus Freeman’s squad is one win away from securing its first national championship since 1988.

To accomplish that goal, Notre Dame will need to pull off one final upset in the biggest game of the year.

This is the Morning Coffee for Friday January 10th, 2025.

Will Favourites Continue To Dominate On NFL Wild Card Weekend?

How did you celebrate the first of five straight days of playoff football?

If you jumped on the Fighting Irish to cover as a live dog like I did, it turned out to be a pretty good night.

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar didn’t complete a single pass to a wide receiver.

I was harsh on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold when he went 11-of-33 targeting wide receivers and tight ends in Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, but that was nothing compared to what we saw last night.

A late interception by Allar led to a 41-yard game-winning field goal by Mitch Jeter with just seven seconds left to give the Fighting Irish the win in just the third College Football Playoff game decided by three points or less.

Notre Dame rallied from down 10 points to send James Franklin’s teams to 1-18 all-time versus AP Top 5 teams.

Next up, the Fighting Irish will face their toughest test yet.

Ohio State is a 5.5-point favourite for tonight’s College Football Playoff semi-final showdown with Texas.

FanDuel already has hypothetical spreads posted for both of the two potential FBS championship match-ups.

The Buckeyes would be a 9.5-point favourite versus Notre Dame in the national title game.

If the Longhorns pull off the upset tonight, Texas would be a 2.5-point favourite against the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame would be +118 to beat Texas and +275 to beat Ohio State in a potential national championship.

Regardless of what happens next, the Fighting Irish have been one of the most impressive stories of the season while rewarding bettors who put their faith in them.

I’m very interested to see how they can match up against either Ohio State or Texas in the season finale.

I’m also thankful we won’t have to watch a rematch between the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions.

In the meantime, all eyes will be on Ohio State and Texas tonight in the second of five straight nights of playoff football.

The Longhorns are +190 to pull off the upset win.

Chatting with a few friends in our betting group chat, the big topic last night was which favourite ruins the five days of football money line parlay?

A parlay with the Buckeyes, Baltimore Ravens, and Buffalo Bills to all win outright nets you +101 odds at FanDuel this morning.

After NFL favourites dominated during the regular season, will that trend continue Wild Card Weekend?

If not, it could be another good weekend for the public.

Of course, a couple of friends in the group chat suggested avoiding Ohio State altogether and substituting a prop into an SGP+ with the Ravens and Bills to win outright.

This morning, I’m looking to add a couple more FanDuel Best Bets to my card for NFL Wild Card Weekend.

First up, I’ll pair Mark Andrews 4+ receptions with Baltimore to win outright as an SGP at -122 odds.

Andrews’ route share was already above 65 per cent since Week 14.

With Zay Flowers sidelined, I expect Lamar Jackson to turn to his most reliable weapon in the middle of the field even more.

Andrews had four catches for 37 yards and a touchdown on six targets when these teams played in Week 16.

I’ll trust him to haul in at least the same number of receptions in a much more important game on Saturday as the Ravens beat the Steelers without Flowers.

Next up, I’ll take Olamide Zaccheaus over 36.5 receiving yards.

Zaccheaus has gone over this mark in three straight games, averaging 68.7 receiving yards per game over that span.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a pass funnel defence.

I expect head coach Todd Bowles to do his best to try to take away Terry McLaurin.

Zaccheaus has been a big-play threat for Washington this season, with catches of 42, 49, and 29 yards this season.

His big-play potential combined with the increased volume should lead to plenty of opportunities against a Tampa Bay defence that has allowed 156.4 receiving yards per game this season – the seventh-worst mark in the entire NFL.

I’ll take Zaccheaus over 36.5 receiving yards as a FanDuel Best Bet.

In case you missed it, here is my updated card for NFL Wild Card Weekend:

Bo Nix over 20.5 rushing yards

Josh Allen over 38.5 rushing yards

SGP (-120): Ravens ML | Lamar Jackson 40+ rushing yards

SGP (-122): Ravens ML | Mark Andrews 4+ receptions

Olamide Zaccheaus over 36.5 receiving yards

Chargers -2.5

Vikings ML -122

Hopefully, we can go 7-0.

Have a great weekend, everyone!