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The No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels will host the No. 19 Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday at noon ET in an ACC battle at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Both programs are off to 2-0 starts on the season by are 1-1 against the spread in those two games. This is the 42nd all-time meeting between the two teams and Virginia Tech has a comfortable 24-11-6 edge in the series.
However, the Tar Heels appear to be turning the corner in their second season under Mack Brown and these teams put on a show in 2019 with Virginia Tech winning a 43-41 shootout. This time around, the Tar Heels are four-point favorites with the over-under for total points at 58.5 in the latest North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech odds from William Hill. Before making any Virginia Tech vs. North Carolina picks, check out the college football predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past four-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of over $4,200 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is a sizzling 20-3 on top-rated picks through five weeks of the 2020 college football season, returning over $1,300 in profit already. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on UNC vs. Virginia Tech. You can visit SportsLine now to see the picks. Here are the college football odds from William Hill and trends for Virginia Tech vs. UNC:
- North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech spread: UNC -4
- North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech over-under: 58.5 points
- North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech money line: UNC -185, VT +165
- UNC: Is 4-1 against the spread in its last five games.
- VT: Is 6-3 against the spread in its last nine games.
Why North Carolina can cover
North Carolina began its season with a 31-6 win over Syracuse on Sept. 12 and then had to take three weeks off after the program had to deal with a coronavirus outbreak on campus. However, the Tar Heels returned to action last week at Boston College and survived a late scare to win 26-22.
North Carolina has averaged 432 yards of total offense per game in 2020 and sophomore quarterback Sam Howell continues to be one of the nation’s most efficient passers. Howell averaged 8.6 yards per pass attempt as a freshman and is averaging 8.7 yards per attempt so far in 2020. However, he has thrown three interceptions in the first two games after throwing just seven all of last season and he’ll have to protect the football against a well-coached Hokies defense.
Why Virginia Tech can cover
The Hokies had to replace long-time defensive coordinator Bud Foster with Justin Hamilton after Foster retired at the end of last season, but Virginia Tech is still as tenacious on that side of the ball as ever. The Hokies have 13 sacks in their first two games and Rayshard Ashby, Emmanuel Belmar and Justus Reed all have multiple sacks already this season.
On offense, the Hokies are sorting through some quarterback issues with Braxton Burmeister starting and Quincy Patterson II taking reps while Hendon Hooker was out with COVID-19. Hooker will reportedly be back against North Carolina and regardless of who is under center, running back Khalil Herbert will have to continue generating big plays. Herbert has rushed for 312 yards and three touchdowns on just 26 carries in 2020.
How to make North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech picks
SportsLine’s model is leaning over on the total as the simulations give Herbert a great chance to find the end zone, while Howell throws for almost 300 yards. It has also generated an against-the-spread pick that cashes in well over 50 percent of simulations. You can only get the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech? And which side of the spread hits well over 50 percent of the time? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Virginia Tech vs. North Carolina spread to back, all from the advanced model that is up over $4,200 on its top-rated college football spread picks, and find out.