North Carolina at Duke Odds, Expert Pick & TV Info

Posted by Michael Hunt on Tuesday,November 8, 2016 9:42, EDT in

Granted, a North Carolina-Duke basketball game would get much more national attention, but Thursday’s football game in Durham between the two still means plenty to the No. 15 Tar Heels as they still have a shot to win the Coastal Division for the second year in a row and play in the ACC title game against Clemson again. The Blue Devils can only play spoiler. Be sure to be on the look for more college football lines.

North Carolina at Duke Odds, Expert Pick & TV Info

When: Thursday, Nov. 10, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, N.C.
TV: ESPN
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: North Carolina / Duke
Opening NCAA Football Lines: UNC -11 (59.5)

Why Bet on North Carolina?

The Heels come off a 48-20 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday. Elijah Hood ran for 168 yards and three touchdowns and UNC (7-2, 5-1 ACC) up 636 total yards. It is the 11th time in his career Hood rushed for 100 yards and the second time in his career he rushed for three touchdowns. They had a season-high 283 on the ground and scored the game’s final 21 points.

Mitch Trubisky passed for 329 yards and a touchdown as the Tar Heels beat Georgia Tech for the third consecutive year — the first time that’s happened since 1992-94. Bug Howard had six receptions for 120 yards. It is his third consecutive game with 100 or more receiving yards. His 68-yard touchdown reception was the longest scoring catch of his career.

The UNC offense is peaking right now. The Heels in their last two games have totaled 83 points and 1,124 yards. Their efficiency jumped out against Georgia Tech. UNC averaged 8.1 yards per rush and 9.1 yards per pass. Facing an opponent that wins by limiting possessions, the Heels scored on eight of their nine possessions, not counting drives that ended the first half and the game.

The 636 total offense yards were the seventh-highest total in UNC single-game history. Larry Fedora’s teams have produced four of the 10 highest total offense yardage figures in school history. No other UNC head coach has more than two games on that top-10 yardage list (Mack Brown, Dick Crum and Bill Dooley each with two).

North Carolina puts its nine-game road win streak on the line in this one. Carolina enters the game with the nation’s third-longest road win streak behind only Oklahoma and Alabama. Carolina has won 23 of the last 26 meetings with Duke, including two straight.

Why Bet on Duke?

The Blue Devils lost to No. 23 Virginia Tech 23-21 on Saturday. Duke redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Jones threw for 148 yards and rushed for another 99 as the Blue Devils’ comeback effort came up just short. Jones went 18-of- 31 for 148 yards en route to setting the Duke record for completions in a season (182) by a freshman quarterback. He also became the third freshman signal caller in Blue Devil history to surpass the 2,000-yard passing mark.

Jones’ 18 completions upped his season total to 186, the most in a year by a Duke freshman. Jones’ two touchdowns accounted for in the game lifted his season total accounted for to 16 (11 passing/5 rushing), surpassing Dave Brown (1989/15) for the most in a year by a Duke freshman. Jones’ five rushing touchdowns this season are tied for the third most in a year by a Duke freshman.

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Aaron Young made his first career start and ended with personal bests in receptions (four) and yards (48). Ben Humphreys and Joe Giles-Harris once again led the charge for Duke’s defensive unit with 16 and 13 tackles, respectively. Duke’s defense picked up 3.0 sacks, giving theteam 27.0 this season, just three shy of the David Cutcliffe era high of 30.0 sacks in 2014. The final stat sheet was as close as the game with Virginia Tech edging Duke 399-375 in total yards. The Blue Devils won the battle on the ground 227 to 207 and both teams recorded three sacks.

The winner of Thursday’s game will receive the coveted Victory Bell, which has been presented annually to the winner of the Carolina-Duke football game since the 1940s. Duke is 4-7 in its last 11 games against nationally-ranked opponents dating back to 2013. Duke’s last win over ranked opponent came on September 26, 2015 with a 34-20 triumph over No. 20 Georgia Tech

North Carolina at Duke Expert Pick: North Carolina

Take North Carolina in NCAA betting and go over that total.