It the Quick Lane Bowl and we will see the North Carolina Tar Heels take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Ford Field in Detroit Michigan. The game has a start time of 4:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas odds have North Carolina listed as 3 point favorites, while the total is set at 68.
Analysis: The Rutgers Scarlet Knights come into this game with a 7-5 mark on the year, which includes a 3-5 mark in the Big 10. Rutgers did win 2 of their last 3 games on the season, but going back a little further and we see that they won just 2 of their last 7 games. The Knights are 6-2 ATS as bowlers since 2005, but 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games with rest vs ACC teams and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following a ATS win. The Under is 8-2 in Rutgers' last 10 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game, while the Over is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall. The Knights were not a good offensive team this year, ranking 85th in total yards, 63rd in passing, 89th in rushing and 89th in scoring (25.6 ppg). The defense has been worse for this team as they come in ranked 98th in yards allowed, 68th vs the pass, 107th vs the run and 92nd in points allowed (30.2 ppg).
The North Carolina Tar Heels started the year off with a 2-4 record, but they finished with a 4-2 mark in their last 6 games to give them this bowl invite. The Heels are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a SU loss of more than 20 points and 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games following a DD loss at home, but just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games after allowing more than 450 total yards in their previous game. The Over is 4-1 in the Tar Heels' last 5 games following a S.U. loss, while the Under is 7-3 in their last 10 games following a DD loss at home. the Heels were a solid offensive team this year, ranking 52nd in total yards, 24th in passing, 92nd in rushing and 33rd in scoring (34.2 ppg). The defense for this team was horrible this year, as they come in ranked 119th in yards allowed, 108th vs the pass, 117th vs the run and 119th in points allowed (38.9 ppg).
Pick: I can see this as a high scoring game. Rutgers isn't a powerful offensive team, but really they don't have to be when facing a North Carolina defense that has allowed 38.9 ppg overall and 41 ppg vs bowl teams this year. Even though Rutgers hasn't been strong on offense they did score 40+ points in 2 of their last 3 games and they should have similar success vs this bad Carolina defense. The Knights have been decent on defense this year, but no one has really slowed down this Carolina offense that has averaged 34 ppg overall and 33 ppg vs bowl teams. Carolina games have averaged 73 ppg overall and 74 ppg vs bowl teams and this one should hit at least one of those numbers.
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