The Champs Sports Bowl matches up North Carolina State and West Virginia in NCAA football betting on Tuesday, December 28th.
The Mountaineers are 2.5 point favorites but it is hard to have too much confidence making a college football bet on West Virginia.
West Virginia was second in the country in scoring defense but they still couldn’t win a rotten Big East Conference this season. West Virginia should have been a lot better than they were this season but Bill Stewart is not a quality head coach and West Virginia gave too many games away.
Strength vs. Strength
We know that West Virginia can play defense and what NC State does well is put points on the board. That is about all NC State does well because their defense is not very good. NC State has Russell Wilson and if he is able to make plays then NC State can win this game. The Wolfpack were 30th in the country in points per game and they played a tougher schedule this season than did West Virginia. On the other side, West Virginia’s offense is just average and they could struggle to keep up with NC State in this game.
The Wolfpack are making their 25th all-time postseason appearance and their second straight under head coach Tom O’Brien. NC State and West Virginia have played three teams against each other in bowl games. The teams have played nine games overall with NC State winning five of the nine but they have not met since 1979.
Bowl Trends
The Wolfpack are 3-0-1 in NCAA football betting in their last 4 bowl games. The Wolfpack are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games in December. The Wolfpack are 21-8-1 ATS in their last 30 games as an underdog. The Mountaineers are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 bowl games. The Mountaineers are 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The Mountaineers are 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 games as a favorite. The Mountaineers are 4-12 ATS in their last 16 vs. the ACC. The Mountaineers are 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 games in December. Looking at the total, the Under is 5-1 in NC State’s last 6 games overall. The Under is 5-2 in the Mountaineers last 7 games overall.