NC State at Georgia Tech Betting Odds
- Spread: N.C. State -2.5
- Over/Under: 46.5
- Time: 8 p.m. ET
- TV: ESPN
NC State at Georgia Tech Line Movement
As you can imagine, bettors aren't thrilled with laying the points with 2-8 Georgia Tech. Fifty-nine percent of the bets are on NC State in this matchup, but the line movement tells the story here.
Despite receiving the minority of the tickets, Georgia Tech has moved from -1 to -2.5, signaling that the bigger, or at least more respected, money is on the Ramblin' Wreck.
UPDATE, 6:20 p.m. ET: Late money has hit N.C. State, moving the Wolfpack from +2.5 to -2.5 over the course of Thursday. The total has remained steady at 46.5 after dropping from 49 earlier this week.
Collin Wilson's Pick: Will Either Offense Show Up?
If this game was based on motivation, you'd give the edge to North Carolina State. The Wolfpack still has a shot to make a bowl game in Dave Doeren's sixth season as head coach.
Georgia Tech is 2-8 and amassed less than 150 total yards in a 45-0 loss to Virginia Tech last weekend, yet the Jackets are listed as small favorites.
There are two colliding trends in this one as Georgia Tech is 0-5 Against the Spread at home but NC State is 0-4 ATS on the road. The Wolfpack haven't won or covered a game since a win over Syracuse on Oct. 10. Something has to give in this game.
Over its last five games, NC State is -12 in net turnovers, which has dropped the Wolfpack to 107th in havoc allowed. NC State does have small advantages in defensive sack rate, havoc created and defensive passing success.
Both of these teams struggle in the red zone and they don't create explosiveness, so the numbers point to a low scoring game.
After opening at 47.5, the Over/Under touched 49 at some shops before coming down to 46.5. Our projections make this total 47.5, so I'm hoping that the number will tick back up, but the full-game or first-half under is where I'm looking.
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Kyle Miller: How To Bet an Ugly Game
This isn’t a fun game to cap and it’s certainly not going to be a great game to watch, but this is college football; we cap games and we watch them. It’s just what we do. I’ll start by digging in to the offensive struggles that Georgia Tech has experienced in 2019.
Transitioning from the triple option was always going to be a huge challenge for Geoff Collins in his first season at Tech. It’s started off about as poorly as you’d expect as the Yellow Jackets mustered point totals of 14, 14, 24 (in an OT loss to The Citadel), and two in their first four games.
They seemed to have turned a corner in ACC play when they beat Miami 28-21 in overtime in Week 8 and totaled 28 again against Virginia. Unfortunately, that momentum cratered last week in a 45-0 loss at home against Virginia Tech.
The advanced metrics show just how much of a struggle it’s been for Georgia Tech. They rank 127th in passing success rate, 106th in explosive play percentage, 114th in overall efficiency, and 108th in line score. There really aren’t any positives to take from this bunch.
While North Carolina State has remained solid on defense, the other side of the ball has been very disappointing. The Wolfpack offense passes the ball almost exclusively, but they rank just 111th in passing success rate. That’s really all you need to know about this unit.
Georgia Tech’s defense is nothing to write home about, but they have defended the pass well and limited explosive plays. I’m expecting this Thursday night ACC tilt to be very low scoring. I grabbed the under at 49 earlier in the week but I’m still comfortable playing where it sits currently.
