Notre Dame 21-Point Favorite Over UNC in Week 5 College Football Lines

Week 5 lines include SMU giving 21 to Boston College and Tennessee favored by 6.5 over Auburn, while Pitt moved to 5-0 and UMass reached 4-0.

The Week 5 college football schedule features several lopsided point spreads, headlined by Notre Dame at 21 points over North Carolina. A Yahoo Sports betting column reviewing the week's slate also notes an unbeaten Pitt team, a 4-0 Massachusetts start and numbers ranging from a 21-point line for Southern Methodist to a 45.5-point total in the Navy-Air Force game.

The Notre Dame selection is part of a running feature in which the column bets against North Carolina every week. The writer projects a final score in the range of 34-7, pointing to a Tar Heels offense viewed as so unproductive that not even Bobby Petrino can solve it.

North Carolina State is the one team the column refuses to back this week. After expressing strong confidence in the Wolfpack against the spread a week earlier only to watch the wager fail, the writer sees a group that mixes real quality with repeated errors and is passing on the game.

Pitt improved to 5-0 with a victory over Virginia Tech, the kind of start the column says has become familiar under coach Pat Narduzzi. The Panthers covered as 2.5-point underdogs in a game that went over its 53.5-point total, yet they won while being outgained by a margin of more than 200 yards, took the turnover battle by four and withstood a 36-yard field-goal try on the final play. Pitt also lost Mason Heintschel to a third-quarter injury, and he was on crutches afterward.

Among the other Week 5 lines, Southern Methodist is favored by 21 points against Boston College, and Alabama is giving 5.5 points to Mississippi State. The column flags Kamario Taylor as a player worth watching and sees Alabama against Mississippi State as a candidate for the most entertaining game of the day.

Navy and Air Force meet with an over/under of 45.5. The column expects both academies to run constantly behind weak defenses, a combination the writer admits keeps drawing him toward the over whenever service academies face each other.

Tennessee is a 6.5-point favorite against Auburn. Within that entry, the column revisits North Carolina State's quarterback recruiting, noting the Wolfpack were a finalist for five-star recruit Faizon Brandon and that Gunner Rivers is committed to another school.

Massachusetts, a 6-point favorite against Eastern Michigan, is 4-0 and has already matched its best win total in a season since moving from the FCS to the FBS. The column treats the program's years since stepping up a level as a lesson in how difficult that transition can be. It also writes that the Minutemen now appear headed toward their first bowl appearance.

The largest spread of the week belongs to James Madison, an 18.5-point favorite over Marshall. The Thundering Herd were routed at Penn State in Week 1 and have since won three consecutive one-score games, including a one-point decision over Gardner-Webb last week, reaching 3-1 despite a minus-6 turnover margin. The column credits that record to Tony Gibson.