Welcome to “Thursday Throwdown”! It’s been lackluster to say the least in college football freebies going 0-4, however the rated plays as always are knocking dead the books. I am ranked in college on all CFB rated plays, and it’s been a solid start. You won’t hear me talk about success without failure and these freebies have sucked big time. So tonight I look to turn things around in the Thursday Throwdown thread.
I have been on both dogs for these Thursday Night match-ups and the totals have been way off the mark. I am looking to turn the corner tonight for this featured ESPN game. Tonight’s betting menu serves up a Big East powerhouse and a scrapping ACC opponent. Thursday Night has always been a night of surprises in College Football and this match-up has the liking of that from Raleigh North Carolina.
Cincinnati -vs- NC State (55 / 1.5): NC State and Tom O’brien try to straighten out their difficulties from last year. NC State was not a profitable team over the years niching a 3-12 record at home against the number of 3 or less. Yet, I still expected the Wolfpack to be favored at home and oddsmakers disagreed, but bettors have since moved that number through 0 and they are the favorite now. The Pack has started the early season on a 2-0 run. Is this the team from last year everyone expected to collect at the window?
Cincinnati is all about defense and they looked bad on the road against the Bulldogs from Fresno. Don’t go selling the Bearcats though they are returning twelve starters this season overall. Their problem lies at quarterback, without Pike they are trying to find their personality as a team, and someone that can lead this team with the offensive skill they possess. The Bearcats have experienced strength on both offensive and defensive lines. While their skilled positions look to cover up some yards on the ground.
The test tonight for the home team Wolfpack will be on defense, can they stop this advanced offensive attack. I say they will, I believe they’ll be able to get after Zack Collaros an inexperienced Quarterback and they’ll be finding things difficult with another Hostile Thursday Night crowd. NC State is only 2-5-1 verse the Big East but 2-1 under the O’brien stewardship. This is the fourth season under O’brien’s direction and things are possibly looking up as they hung tough last week on the road against a tough Central Florida squad. I believe Cincinnati is not at the same level of play right now as NC State and have to give a slight edge to the home team.
Looking at the total in this game 56 is a lot of points and though they may have the talent to score, I think this game will have a defensive mindedness to it and the turnovers will affect the outcome keeping this one Under the number. The Wolfpack have supporting numbers to the Over while the Bearcats are trending Under. I always need someone to give me a justifiable reason to bet the over in these big TV games and this one is no different tonight.
Weather Watch- Things are hot and humid in Raleigh tonight with temps in the low 80’s to upper 70’s. Minimal chances for any precipitation as things are looking very dry.
Prediction: Cincinnati 24 North Carolina St 27.