The Miami Hurricanes have the inside track in the ACC Coastal and are about to enter the toughest stretch of their schedule. The Hurricanes are undefeated and have looked good through the first half of their season, but the best team that they played was a Georgia Tech team that lost to Tennessee during that time. This week the task is to not suffer a letdown before big games against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame when they take on the North Carolina Tar Heels.
This matchup in Week 9 of the regular season will take place on Saturday, October 28, 2017, at 12 p.m. ET at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Miami -20.5
North Carolina +20.5
Over/Under 50
Odds Analysis
It’s been a disaster of a season for the Tar Heels. North Carolina is sitting at 1-7 and has no shot of making a bowl game at this point. The only team that UNC knocked off is a bad Old Dominion team and it had its worst performance of the year last week. Virginia Tech completely blew the doors off of North Carolina and scored three non-offensive touchdowns in a 59-7 spanking.
Miami keeps finding ways to win. The Hurricanes scored in the final 10 seconds to beat both Florida State and Georgia Tech, and hung on for a win over Syracuse last week. They are one of the luckier teams in the country and should have lost at least once right now, but are keeping their dream season alive.
Last Meeting
The Hurricanes are going to be looking for revenge after the Tar Heels went into their place and knocked them off last season. Miami entered that game ranked No. 16 in the country, but Mitch Trubisky was able to pick them apart through the air. Trubisky threw for nearly 300 yards and found the end zone twice as the defense did just enough to pull out the victory for the Tar Heels.
There have been a lot of changes since last season, for both teams. Miami lost Brad Kaaya to the NFL and running back Mark Walton was lost for the year after he suffered an injury in the win over Florida State. They also no longer have the talented David Njoku to haul in passes across the middle.
North Carolina has experienced a lot more change. Trubisky was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik unexpectedly quit in the offseason. Both losses have been huge and derailed this Tar Heels’ season. UNC has been unable to find a quarterback as freshman Chazz Surratt is raw and graduate transfer Brandon Harris has been an abject disaster.
Without Chizik, the defense has reverted to what it was before he arrived on campus. This is the worst defense in the ACC and the Tar Heels are allowing over 450 yards per game.
Key Injuries
North Carolina has been hit hard by the injury bug this season. The Tar Heels have lost 16 players for the season due to injuries and the lack of depth has severely hurt the squad. There are a lot of inexperienced players on both sides of the ball and that has really crippled UNC’s season.
Free ATS Pick
Malik Rosier has been solid in his first season as Miami’s quarterback. He is averaging more than eight yards per pass and has not made the crippling mistakes that other young quarterbacks tend to make.
The situation in Chapel Hill looks bad, but UNC isn’t as bad as you think. The Tar Heels had been decent on defense before the collapse against Virginia Tech and Miami is going to overlook this team in anticipation of Virginia Tech next week. North Carolina will get the cover here.
College Football Odds: Miami 31, North Carolina 17
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