Up to NCAA F Free Picks

in NCAA F Free Picks

Football Betting - Pittsburgh at North Carolina State

Bookmark and Share by Charles Jay

NCAA College Football Sports Betting

Pittsburgh Panthers (3-0 SU, 2-0 ATS) at North Carolina State Wolfpack (2-1 SU, 0-1 ATS)

Saturday, September 26 - 3:30 PM ET

NCAA Betting Odds: N.C. STATE -1, Total 47

Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

  • PITT has won five of its last six games SU
  • PITT has covered eight of its last 11 road games
  • PITT has won seven of its last nine road games SU
  • PITT has played four of its last six road games OVER the total
  • NCST has won six of its last eight games SU
  • NCST has won four of its last five home games SU

Pittsburgh has done whatever it has had to do thus far, and games against Buffalo and Navy were not exactly pushovers. Yet the team has three double-digit wins, fifteen sacks (so the Panthers now how to get to the quarterback) and have surrendered just one sack. Dion Lewis has done a great job taking over as the primary back after LeSean McCoy left early for the NFL; the freshman is sixth in the country in rushing, piling up 398 yards.

Bill Stull has received much criticism (from this end too) for not being a quarterback who stretches the field. He does not have an especially high yards per attempt figure (7.7) but he has completed 70% of his passes, with only one interception. So it has been a pretty good all-around effort thus far.

North Carolina State has not allowed a meaningful touchdown since the first quarter of the first game of the season, when the Wolfpack lost a 7-3 decision to the South Carolina Gamecocks. In that game the defense allowed only 256 yards but NC State only generated 133 yards itself.

We can certainly tell you one thing - Russell Wilson minimizes turnovers, to say the least. The sophomore quarterback was the freshman of the year in the ACC last season and has thrown 25 career touchdowns with only ONE interception.

Right now he's sitting on a streak of 329 passes without a pickoff. He's got mobility too, and that could at least mitigate the effect of Pittsburgh's pass rush. How capable he is of really making plays is something that is up for debate, and frankly, those questions don't get answered when you play Murray State and Gardner-Webb.

However, we can say with some confidence that Pittsburgh can shut down a running game, if they were able to hold Navy to just 129 yards on 46 carries. They also have the top weapon in this game in Lewis, who came to the Steel City with 4.4 speed but not a heck of a lot of fanfare.

Instead of talking about how Wilson can make things happen by not committing miscues, maybe it is more fitting to talk about what Pitt is capable of if Stull is mistake-free, or close to it. There is more upside with the Panthers, who we like as the one-point underdog in the BetUS NCAA college football betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: PITTSBURGH +1 **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)