North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech predictions

[Shame About Ray]

Free Preview and gambling pick including updated point spread and LIVE betting odds for the North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Virginia Tech Hokies Thursday night football matchup...

Subscribe to our RSS feed or email updates to make sure you don't miss daily updates on CappersPicks.com!

UNC Tar Heels vs. Va Tech Hokies Preview | Pick

Click here to read more at our sports handicapping blog...

[HuskersBusker41]

The spread is something like 17? I think UNC will lose, but its defense is strong enough to not let the game get out hand. The Tar Heels should be able to contain Tech...reasonably. But they don't have a chance to win unless the offense wakes up BIG TIME.

[Vernon Croy]

Vernon Croy's North Carolina Vs Virginia Tech Preview

This Thursday, two teams from the ACC that have underwhelmed this season
will face off. The one-time National Championship hopefuls Virginia Tech
will face the one-time Top 25 North Carolina Tarheels. Since those lofty
expectations were thrown on both teams, they have stumbled a few times and
looked sloppy at times. The Hokies are favored to win in this one, but it
should be a pretty good game between two talented teams.

The North Carolina Tarheels started out the season ranked at #21 after a
good finish to the season last year. However, they came out of the gate
and stubbed their toe with losses to Georgia Tech and Virginia. Their
offense was supposed to be the strong point for the team, but they looked
awful in the first part of the season. Then last week, they looked pretty
good but still managed to give up an 18 point lead and lose to Florida
State. Butch Davis is a great coach and before this season was considered
one of the brightest coaches in the ACC. However, his legacy will be a
little tarnished unless he can right the ship and win a few more games
this season.

The Virginia Tech Hokies were ranked as highly as #4 in the country after
beating #9 Miami. Then they ran into a buzz-saw against Georgia Tech and
got taken down a few spots to their current #14 ranking. Their national
title hopes are pretty much gone, however, they can still grab an ACC
championship if the cards fall right. They have one of the most talented
quarterbacks in the country in Tyrod Taylor who has the ability to change
any game when he decides to play. Right now he is ranked 4th in the
country in quarterback rating. This one should be a good battle in the
tough ACC.

CLICK HERE to Get on Vernon Croy's ACC Smash of the Month between the Tar Heels and Hokies!

[Home On The Range]

Here guys I did this write up for my local paper....

Thursday October 29, 2009, 7:45pm EST
--Blacksburg, VA—
BetUS line: Virginia Tech –16.5

2009 Team Stats
Total Offense: Virginia Tech - 60th
UNC - 114th

Total Defense: Virginia Tech – 31st
UNC – 7th

Spread/Trends

2009: ATS—Virginia Tech: 3-4
UNC: 2-4

-Tar Heels are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games
-Hokies are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games

Preview

After a blowout win against Miami, the Hokies had an outside chance to make a run at a national championship. But a loss on the road to Georgia Tech dashed any hopes of that. The big reason for the Hokies’ loss was that G-Tech out-possessed them by almost 20 minutes. Don’t expect the same to happen this week when the 85th ranked rushing offense comes to town.

For the Hokies, the key to winning this game is to stop the run. Virginia Tech ranks 76th in the country against the run at just over 150 ypg, but those numbers are a bit skewed from the Georgia Tech game (the Yellow Jackets racked up 300 yards on the ground). Although they have had hiccups in the run D, they make up for it by being ranked 15th nationally against the pass (167 ypg) so expect them to stack the box and let that stellar secondary take care of itself.

On offense for the Hokies, tailback Ryan Williams has been amazing (834 yards, 10 TDs). He was supposed to be number two on the depth chart but has stepped in admirably since Darren Evans went down. Under center, Tyrod Taylor has shown flashes of brilliance in his junior season, but look for Coach Beamer to ask him to manage the game versus the Heels’ defense.

Butch Davis and the Tar Heels started the season with lofty expectations after an 8-5 season last year. They were picked as a Top-20 team and were supposed to challenge for an ACC title (they are currently 0-3 in conference play). The main reason for their struggles has been the offense; anytime you rank in the bottom 100 in any category there is cause for concern. The amazing thing about this team is their defense. I doubt many people outside Chapel Hill expected a unit to be ranked seventh in the FBS.

If the Tar Heels are to compete in this game, QB T.J. Yates will have to play extremely well. He has not been very good to this point (1,000 yards passing, 7 TDs 8 INTs). If you have to rely exclusively on the D, it won’t get the job done against a team of Virginia Tech’s caliber.

Although I believe that Tech will win this game outright, the Heels defense is just too good to let this game get out of hand by 17 points.

Pick: UNC +16.5

[TheWiesguy]

Made a midgame bet at O 27

7-7 now...what do you think?

[Qbins Missile Crisis]

Nice win by UNC