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Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia vs. North Carolina Football Picks

Written December 23, 2008 by Jason Lowry

West Virginia UNC Football

This Saturday Dec. 27 the West Virginia Mountaineers and North Carolina Tar Heels will do battle in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. The Mountaineers finished the regular season at 8-4 and 5-2 in the competitive Big East, while the Tar Heels also finished the regular season at 8-4, and 4-4 in the ACC, where it seemed like everyone finished at .500 or better. For those of you looking to do some NCAA football betting this bowl season, the oddsmakers have West Virginia 1 point favorites over North Carolina at Bookmaker.com

The Mountaineers come in to Bowl play off a 13-7 win over South Florida to finish up the regular season, but this team had much higher expectations at the beginning of the season. The offense wound up scoring 24 points a game thanks in large part to the play of quarterback Pat White, who not only led the way with 1510 yards passing with 18 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions, but White also ran for 919 yards and 8 more touchdowns. The ground attack was led by the play of Noel Devine who ran it 193 times for 1228 yards and 3 scores. The Mountaineers can throw when needed but this is a team that loves to spread you out and run the football, as they average nearly 5.5 yards per carry on the season. The Tar Heels have a pretty solid run defense, but have yet to play a quarterback as good as White, who can not only pass but run with the best of them.

The defense for the Mountaineers was pretty good considering they never let a team score more than 26 points against them all season, and only allowed 16 points a game. This unit was pretty good against both the pass and the run, and this defense not only forced 16 interceptions but also forced 7 fumbles. The Tar Heels can ran and throw so the defense will have to be on its game in this one, as this one could go either way. Bet West Virginia Mountaineers -1 at Bookmaker.com

The Tar Heels started the season pretty strong winning 5 of their first 6 games, but had a rough finish to the season, only winning 3 of its final 6 games. Now the Tar Heels offense was able to put some points on the board this season, as they averaged 27.5 points a game. The guy to watch for the Tar Heels is wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, who became the schools first 1,000 yard receiver, as he had 1,005 yards on 60 catches with 9 of them going for touchdowns. The Tar Heels will start TJ Yates at quarterback, but Yates only has a few starts under his belt this season, as he had to miss a number of games with an ankle sprain, but if anything goes wrong expect Cameron Sexton to step in and do a solid job. The Tar Heels leading rusher is Shaun Draughn who easily ran for a team high 801 yards with 3 scores. If Yates can come in and throw it like he did in the final game against Duke, you have to think the Tar Heels will be real competitive on this side of the football.

The Tar Heels defense only allow 20 points a game, and this is where this team does a lot of its work, as this unit had 27 takeaways this season, as they too gave teams troubles with their solid run and pass defense. Just like the Mountaineers didn’t let anyone score more than 26, the Tar Heels didn’t let anyone score more than 27 on offense, and you have to think that as good as offense as these two teams have, this game could wind up being a dog fight with the defenses taking over the show. Bet North Carolina Tar Heels +1 at Bookmaker.com

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2 Comments

Comments

2 Responses to “Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia vs. North Carolina Football Picks”

Seth Wilson on December 24th, 2008 3:20 pm

West Virginia is coming off a strong win against SFU. Especiallly WVU’s defense, after holding South Florida on a fourth down attempt with time running down. Pat White will play his heart out Saturday, along with the remainder seniors. I think they are dissappointed with their overall season this year, after seeing what they did last year. Though, they should be happy they got into a bowl game. Even though they have been in a January bowl game for 4 out of the last 5 years. I know who I’ll be rooting, cheering, and crying for. And that’s the greatest team in the country, the West Virginia Mountaineers. Play you’re hearts out boys, and kick some Tarheel ass.

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Jason Lowry on December 24th, 2008 5:58 pm

I love your enthusiasm Seth! The Mointaineers have a ton of talent and I like Pat White, but you have to admit that they have seriously under achieved this season. No solid opinion for the game just yet, but my first instict was on WVU. All the best! JL

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