We tempered our expectations last week on Pittsburgh. We’re not fond of the Panthers as favorites and although they won, they didn’t cover the spread.
Expect that to continue this season with Pittsburgh. As underdogs, the Panthers are a decent pick. As favorites, it’s another story.
The ACC will follow a trend this week that is happening all over the country — road favorites. Expect some interesting games and a few surprises this weekend in all conferences, including the ACC.
Here are two games we’ll keep an eye on this weekend. Last week’s betting guide for each major conference went 5-5, with a 1-1 mark in the ACC. Overall for the season, the betting guides have been 8-8 in the ACC and 40-38 overall in the power-five conferences.
Miami (+10) at Duke
Duke is just one of those teams that can win games. Who would have ever thought that a few years ago about Duke?
But we like our Blue Devils as underdogs or slight favorites rather than double-digit favorites.
Look at the ACC games so far for Duke this season. The Blue Devils are 3-0 and have two wins by a combined four points. The other win, as an underdog, was by two touchdowns.
That’s been a similar trend throughout recent years. Last season, Duke won five conference games. Three of those wins were by a touchdown or less.
In 2013, Duke was at it again, with six conference wins and three of them within a touchdown.
We’re banking on the Blue Devils keeping this close, especially after an exhausting four overtime road win against Virginia Tech, and a rivalry game against North Carolina on tap for next week.
We know there’s plenty of turmoil for the Hurricanes, but every once in awhile that motivates players. The Blue Devils keep this game closer than the experts believe. — Go against the chalk with Miami
Georgia Tech at Virginia (+6)
Can we now expect the Georgia Tech that we believed would be a front-runner in the preseason to show up for the 2015 season?
The Yellow Jackets were gifted a victory last week against Florida State, and although they should be happy with the win, we believe that was that team’s marquee victory. That wasn’t a game to get the Yellow Jackets rolling through November.
That was more of a last-stand against a team that Georgia Tech has had success against in the past. That matchup was ripe for an upset, with it being Georgia Tech’s homecoming and Florida State not playing well.
Now, the Yellow Jackets will go on the road after a big high, and we’re thinking Georgia Tech will experience a letdown. It’s not as if the Yellow Jackets were particularly good against Florida State. The offense still struggled mightily with the passing game and the defense did just enough to allow the Seminoles to shoot themselves in the foot on a consistent basis.
The Cavaliers haven’t been very good this season, but the defense is good enough to compete with the Yellow Jackets. Virginia has enough in the tank to compete with Georgia Tech, and we’re not overreacting to last week’s upset by the Yellow Jackets. — Go against the chalk with Virginia
Other ACC games
North Carolina (-3) at Pittsburgh
Louisville (-9.5) at Wake Forest
Syracuse at Florida State (-20.5)
Virginia Tech (-2) at Boston College
Clemson (-10.5) at North Carolina State
