College football betting on Thursday night features an ESPN rivalry game as North Carolina State hosts South Carolina. It is the second straight season the teams have opened up against one another and NC State is hoping Thursday’s game goes a lot better than last year when they were slaughtered 34-0 on NCAA football betting lines. NCAA football betting favors NC State in this game as they are a five-point home favorite. South Carolina heads into the 2009 NCAA football betting season with a lot of question marks. They have Stephen Garcia returning at quarterback but that may not be good news considering he threw only six touchdowns but had eight interceptions last year. Not much other talent returns on offense so South Carolina could struggle in NCAA football betting again in 2009. The good news for South Carolina is that their defense looks solid. Linebacker Eric Norwood is back and Nathan Pepper also returns. The secondary could be a problem though, especially at corner.
NC State is led by quarterback Russell Wilson who was simply fantastic as a freshman last year. He led the conference in pass efficiency and total offense. He had 17 TD passes and only one interception as NCAA football betting stats indicate. His top receivers return so NC State has the potential to impact college football betting. The defense should be better with seven starters returning including Willie Young. Losing Nate Irving at linebacker for the season hurts but Ray Michel does return.
South Carolina and NC State have met a lot in their history and the college football betting series is dead even at 26-26-4. Some NCAA football betting stats don’t favor South Carolina in this game. The Gamecocks are 2-5 against the online sportsbook number in their last 7 non-conference games. The Gamecocks are 2-6 against the sportsbook college football betting lines in their last 8 road games.
The Wolfpack are 7-0-1 ATS in their last 8 college football betting games overall. The Wolfpack are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 home games. The one concern is that NC State is 7-19 against the college football betting lines in their last 26 games as a favorite. They are also a poor team out of conference as they are 2-7-1 against the college football betting lines in their last 10 non-conference games.
If you are looking at the total in NCAA football betting you will see that the
Over is 5-0-1 in the Gamecocks last 6 road games but the Under is 10-2-1 in NC State’s last 13 games as a NCAA football betting favorite.