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2014 College Football betting odds for North Carolina, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech were available at BetOnline here.
UNC had odds of 120-1 to win the 2015 National Championship and were favored to win UNDER 8.5 regular season games.
Sure their offense can be explosive thanks in no small part to maturing quarterback Marquise Williams. And yes they have an aggressive defensive unit. But the front seven leave little to be desired.
Still, the element for surprise is there and these Tar Heels could prove solid in 2014, but more likely in 2015, suggests AthlonSports.com.
The Tar Heels have enough talent to challenge for first place in the ACC’s Coastal Division, which remains unpredictable and up for grabs, but their margin of error is small. In truth, UNC looks to be in better shape for 2015 than for this season. The offense has only one senior on the two-deep depth chart, and the defense would benefit from another year of experience up front and in the secondary. But the Tar Heels have to play the 2014 season first. If they perform better than expected along the offensive line and get a breakout season from someone on a defense that lacks an established star, the future could be now.
Mississippi State, meanwhile, enjoys a dual-threat quarterback in QB Dak Prescott (1,940 pass yds, 10 TD, 829 rush yds, 13 TD). He is expected to be one of the SEC’s top playmakers.
The Bulldogs return eight defensive linemen who played at least 10 games last season. This could actually prove to be one of the best defensive units in the league for 2014. Where they really suffer is on special teams, failing to make at least 50 percent of their field goals. That’s just not acceptable. Unless they blow teams out of the water, the Bulldogs will have a tough time winnings games with such poor field goal kicking.
The is another 120-1 long shot that oddsmakers have winning no more than 7 regular season games.
Georgia Tech was expected to win OVER 6.5 regular season games in 2014 at a price of -130. There is good value here in that the Yellow Jackets are widely expected to win 7 games and quite possibly up to 9.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
