Fall Saturdays were much more fun when the late Mike Leach roamed the sideline. One of the architects of the modern spread offense, Leach was a beloved personality, the “Pirate” in landlocked states, and a man who knew how to get the most of out of average talents.
When the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers travel to Charlotte to face off against the No. 24 North Carolina State Wolfpack, Leach’s reach will be on full display in this contest. Leach recruited Vols coach Josh Heupel to Oklahoma to run his offense while Wolfpack offensive coordinator Robert Anae served under the coach at Texas Tech.
While the offenses will be on display in this Top 25 matchup Saturday night in North Carolina, it's the defenses that should decide this game. Which players should bettors pay attention to in this SEC vs ACC contest? We’ll cover our top three player prop bets as well as our best bet for the Volunteers’ contest against the Wolfpack.
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The Wolfpack picked up a great transfer this offseason in senior quarterback Grayson McCall. The 6-foot-3 senior passed for nearly 10,000 yards with Coastal Carolina over his five-year career there and threw for 88 touchdowns for the nearby Group of Five school.
Against Tennesse, expect McCall to at least surpass the 241-yard mark needed to cover this player prop bet.
The Wolfpack have big, physical receivers as well as few speedsters that will give the Vols’ secondary fits Saturday night.
Last season, Jaylen Wright was the Vols' go-to back as he ran for 1,013 yards in 12 games. Now, it’s junior Dylan Sampson’s time to shine for Tennessee.
In the opener, the 5-foot-11 running back finished with 124 yards on 12 carries with three touchdowns. It’s the second straight game Sampson has gone over 100 yards, dating back to last season’s win in the Citrus Bowl over Iowa.
With a 65.5-yard mark against NC State, expect Sampson to cover this player prop mark with ease Saturday night.
Tennessee is going to play tight defense against the Wolfpack receivers, meaning the middle may be open for NC State tight end Justin Joly to exploit.
In the season opener, the 6-foot-3 receiver finished with five catches for 75 yards. Of those catches against Western Carolina, Joly logged more than 10 yards on all but one catch.
Expect a similar game this week for the junior as he surpasses the 42.5-yard mark on Saturday night against the Vols.
While Tennessee has a better defense this season than last year’s group, the Wolfpack needs to score points in bunches to be effective.
That’s why picking the over-under at 60.5 is hard as a 34-24 (58 total points) score is possible. What I think is more likely, however, is that Tennessee and NC State are neck-and-neck until the end, a 34-27 (61 total points) victory by the Vols would be my prediction.
The Wolfpack’s defense is just not up to the challenge yet of taking down the Vols.