College Football Betting: What We Learned in Week 9

The Hokies are Overrated?

A week after wasting a late lead at home to the Seminoles, odds makers expected North Carolina to get worked over by the 14th ranked Hokies of Virginia Tech. Well that certainly wasn’t the case last Thursday night as North Carolina pulled out the win as 14.5 point road underdogs. The Virginia Tech offense was vulnerable to say the least as they were only able to gain 256 yards of total offense. Their strong running game was limited as they ran the ball 33 times for just 95 yards. Tyrod Taylor wasn’t much of a component either as he only attempted 23 passes, connecting on 11 of them. Taylor threw for just 161 yards and 0 touchdowns. The Hokies also had trouble stopping the run on defense which has been their big failing on that side of the football throughout the course of this season. North Carolina ran for 181 yards on 43 attempts. Virginia Tech now has three defeats on the year as they are 5-3 overall and 3-2 in ACC play. It can be debated after two straight conference losses that this team is a tad overrated.

There are big problems in Michigan:

After blazing out to a bright 4-0 start and looking like one of the more improved teams in the Big 10, the Wolverines have now lost 4 of their past 5 football games. The Wolverines are now 1-4 in Big 10 action and no longer look like a team who can be recognized Big 10 contenders. Illinois didn’t do anything fancy as they utterly pounded the ball right at the Wolverine defense. Illinois ran the ball 56 times for a sizeable 377 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. The Wolverine defense allowed 500 yards of total offense in the 38-13 loss. Juice Williams didn’t have to bank much on his arm as he tossed just 11 passes, connecting on 8 of them for 123 yards and a score. The Wolverines have major issues on their front seven and they need to get solved quickly as Michigan still has to play Wisconsin and Ohio State, two teams that really like to run the football.

Oregon is now the best 1 loss team:

The Ducks got off to a slow start as they were utterly manhandled by Boise State in the first game of the year and then scrambled to beat Purdue at home. Since the Boise loss however, they have reeled off 7 straight wins with their most recent being a 47-20 domination against USC. This is a very talented Oregon team who is scoring points in clusters. They rank 9th in the nation in points per game averaging 35.6 per game. It is amazing that they were able to rack up 613 yards against a pretty sound USC defense. They utterly dominated the fight in the trenches and ran the ball 49 times for 391 yards. Yes, they almost ran for 400 yards against the Trojans! Quarterback Jeremiah Massoli is getting better each week and he can beat you with his passing and running. He has excellent speed for a quarterback and is an explosive playmaker for this Oregon team. It will be intriguing to see how things end upfor the Ducks in the mess that is the BCS as they sincerely are the best one loss team in the country right now.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• NFL Betting: Week 8 & What We Learned
• College Football System for Week 11
• Free Football Picks: Virginia Tech at East Carolina
• Week 6 College Football Power Rankings
• 2010 ACC Football Predictions

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