Champs Sports Bowl Betting – Champs Sports Bowl Is Hard To Figure
The West Virginia Mountaineers and the North Carolina State Wolfpack both have a lot of unfinished business to tend to when they meet in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.
NCAA football betting: West Virginia Mountaineers vs. North Carolina State Wolfpack
Online Betting Odds: West Virginia -2.5
Why To Bet On West Virginia
The Mountaineers are the team that whacked a talented Pittsburgh Panthers squad by a 35-10 margin on Friday, Nov. 26 in the Steel City. West Virginia rolled to an easy 25-point win by holding Pittsburgh to just 78 rushing yards all afternoon long. Coordinator Jeff Casteel’s defense simply put the clamps on a unit that was supposed to lead Pittsburgh to the 2010 Big East Conference championship. West Virginia also forced four Pittsburgh turnovers that day and did the kinds of things that inspire confidence in a ballclub. That win showed America what West Virginia can do when playing at or near its best. The Mountaineers can be very imposing when they decide to put their minds to the task at hand.
West Virginia also has an advantage in this game because North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson is interception-prone. If WVU quarterback Geno Smith has been very inconsistent this past season, Wilson and NCSU aren’t all that different. If ever there was an opponent who could keep West Virginia competitive on a bad night, North Carolina State is it. That’s hard to believe, but it’s reality.
Why To Bet On North Carolina State
After taking into account the possibility that West Virginia could play like the team that dealt a 25-point pounding to Pittsburgh on the road, there’s also the possibility that West Virginia could turn into the team that lost seven fumbles and dropped a 16-13 overtime decision to the University of Connecticut Huskies.
West Virginia’s ball security is notoriously bad, and this is something that reappeared in WVU’s season finale against Rutgers on Dec. 4. West Virginia simply has problems tucking the ball away, in victory or defeat. It’s true that the Mountaineers are the only Big East team that lost fewer than four games in 2010, but coach Bill Stewart’s crew still has a lot of deficiencies and black marks on both sides of the ball. NCSU quarterback Russell Wilson is erratic, but he is also the kind of quarterback whose playmaking ability can punish an opponent for making too many mistakes.
West Virginia’s track record of loosey-goosey ballhandling could really come back to bite the Mountaineers in the backside this time around. What also has to be said about this game is that since WVU has hired Oklahoma State Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen as its new offensive coordinator for 2011 and its new coach for 2012, the Mountaineers’ coaching staff could be destabilized and distracted in advance of this game. North Carolina State coach Tom O’Brien hasn’t been fabulously successful in Raleigh, but he did lead Boston College to eight straight bowl appearances, and that means he knows how to coach in bowl games.
How The Game Will Play Out
West Virginia and North Carolina State both make a lot of mistakes. Count on West Virginia to make the more important and therefore critical gaffes. Pick North Carolina State if you must; this is an unpredictable game through and through.
West Virginia North Carolina State Betting Pick: North Carolina State
