{"id":10796,"date":"2010-11-19T22:41:06","date_gmt":"2010-11-20T03:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=10796"},"modified":"2010-11-19T22:41:06","modified_gmt":"2010-11-20T03:41:06","slug":"free-college-football-picks-nc-state-at-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/free-college-football-picks-nc-state-at-north-carolina-10796\/","title":{"rendered":"Free College Football Picks: NC State at North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina State Wolfpack at North Carolina Tar Heels
\nSaturday, 11\/20\/10, 12:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 ESPN3
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 North Carolina -2
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 North Carolina -2.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 52.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 53
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 North Carolina -140 \/ NC State +120<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The North Carolina Tar Heels defense must get up for the challenge of facing the No. 2 offense in the ACC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

North Carolina State is set to travel to Kenan Stadium to take on the Tar Heels for the 100th time in a rivalry that started back in 1894.\u00a0 The Wolfpack have won the last three meetings, but still trail 30-63-6 overall, including a 17-34-2 mark in Chapel Hill.\u00a0 Of the Wolfpack\u2019s six wins in the last 10 years, four have been decided by double-figures, with the largest margins coming in games played at today\u2019s venue.\u00a0 The team controls its own destiny for the ACC\u2019s Atlantic Division crown and will play in the conference title game in Charlotte if it can win against its rival and at Maryland on Thanksgiving weekend.\u00a0 NC State is 5-1 ATS versus conference opponents this year and 16-6 ATS over the last three years.\u00a0 The college football lines page has them as a surprising underdog.<\/p>\n

The Wolfpack are led by junior quarterback Russell Wilson, who is making a strong case for ACC Player of the year honors.\u00a0 He currently leads the league in passing with 281.3 yards per game, 25.9 yards per game more than any other league quarterback.\u00a0 Wilson has also thrown for 22 touchdown passes, which is four more than Virginia Tech\u2019s Tyrod Taylor to lead the conference.\u00a0 Head coach Tom O\u2019Brien has maintained a disciplined team throughout the year, leading the ACC in fewest yards penalized per game this season, averaging just 36.3 yards a contest.<\/p>\n

North Carolina will be playing its last home game of the season and is coming off a disappointing 26-10 loss to No. 16 Virginia Tech.\u00a0 \u201cYou turn the ball over six times and don\u2019t create any yourself, it\u2019s almost impossible to win a game,\u201d said head coach Butch Davis.\u00a0 With the loss, the Tar Heels saw their division title hopes erased, but will be focused on doing similar damage to their rivals on Saturday.\u00a0 The team can also assure itself a winning record for the third consecutive season with a win, something that hasn\u2019t been accomplished in the program since notching nine straight winning seasons from 1990-98.\u00a0 North Carolina is 10-10 ATS as a favorite the past three years.<\/p>\n

The Tar Heels will be saluting 17 seniors on Saturday afternoon, a group that actually includes 12 fifth-year players.\u00a0 Over the last four years, those 17 players have turned around the fortunes of the football program.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think you ever have to worry about in a rivalry game that there\u2019s an emotional factor.\u00a0 I think the kids get up for it,\u201d said Davis.\u00a0 North Carolina\u2019s defense will have to be up to the task from the start, ranking eighth in the conference in total defense, going against a unit that is second offensively by gaining 417.1 yards per game.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely play the Wolfpack due to their 20-8-1 ATS mark as an underdog, while the Tar Heels are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games following a double-digit loss at home.<\/p>\n

The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are releasing a 20-Unit Game of the Year on Saturday – something you won\u2019t want to miss!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Carolina State Wolfpack at North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday, 11\/20\/10, 12:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 ESPN3 Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 North Carolina -2 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 North Carolina -2.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 52.5 Current Total:\u00a0 53 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 North Carolina -140 \/ NC State +120 North Carolina State is set to travel to Kenan Stadium to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":3993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[387,2803,3930,3009,32,3630],"class_list":["post-10796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-acc","tag-butch-davis","tag-kenan-stadium","tag-north-carolina-state-wolfpack","tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","tag-russell-wilson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10797,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10796\/revisions\/10797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}