The Syracuse Orange have been an amazing college football pick this year, but the NC State Wolfpack have the advantage this Saturday. Read on to take a look at the NCAAF odds so you can start betting at the best online sportsbooks.
Syracuse Orange vs. North Carolina State Wolfpack
Saturday, November 20, 2021 – 04:00 PM EST at Carter-Finley Stadium
It’s a bit too easy to take just about any ACC football matchup and make a basketball joke. The Syracuse Orange (5-5 SU, 8-2 ATS) haven’t had much to celebrate on the gridiron over the past 20 years, and the North Carolina State Wolfpack (7-3 SU, 6-4 ATS) haven’t cracked the AP preseason rankings since 2003. But here we are with both teams enjoying relative success heading into Saturday’s matchup in Raleigh.
NC State in particular have done very well for themselves. They made it all the way to No. 18 in the polls before losing 45-42 to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons as 1-point road dogs on the NCAAF lines. No shame in that – as long as they man up and take care of Syracuse this Saturday as 11.5-point home faves at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
Numbers in Action
The computers are in their corner. Here’s what our usual gang of quants has to say about this contest:
- Jeff Sagarin: NC State –13.98
- FiveThirtyEight: OU 82 percent
- ESPN Football Power Index: OU 86.6 percent
Those are some big numbers. Run those percentages through the ebullient BMR Odds Converter, and you get equivalent “fair” moneylines (no vig) of –456 and –646. In theory, there’s some value to be had on NC State –450 at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review), but that’s a lot of chalk to put in your NCAAF picks. Wizard of Odds says an 11.5-point spread is about the same as –383, so that’s our recommendation here at the ranch – especially with that tasty –108 juice they’re serving up at Heritage Sports.
Orange Punch
This should still be a small-ish bet size, though. As you can tell by their ATS record, Syracuse have out-performed expectations this year. Dino Babers has done a fine job since taking over the program, earning 2018 ACC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Orange to their first bowl game in five years (they beat West Virginia at the Camping World Bowl). Babers had to rebuild after that, and Syracuse went 1-10 last year, but they’re definitely on the right track.
Kudos as well to Dave Doeren for making Wolfpack football relevant again. This year’s squad isn’t quite as strong as the one he led to victory over Arizona State at the 2017 Sun Bowl, but it’s close.
We have to watch out for the pack.This could be a letdown game after they were eliminated from ACC title contention last week. However, barely losing to Wake Forest should be a point of pride – the Deacs are easily the best team in the conference this year. With nothing in the weather forecast to deter us, let’s fire up a small wager on NC State, and may the prolate spheroid be with you.
NCAAF Pick: NC State -11.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
