North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Tennessee Volunteers Odds

Betting Odds

Point Spread: North Carolina Tar Heels (-1.5)
Game Total Line: (60)
(wagering lines available at 5Dimes)

The North Carolina Tar Heels, out of the ACC take on the Tennessee Volunteers from the SEC in this year’s Music City Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 30. Game time from LP Field in Nashville is set for 6:40 p.m. (ET). The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

North Carolina’s season was almost over before it began after a number of starting players were implicated in an academic cheating scandal. As many as 14 players missed at least one game while seven players were lost for the season. This mess had an impact as the Tar Heels dropped their first two games of the season before bouncing back with four straight wins. The end result was an overall record of 7-5 straight-up (6-6 against the spread) and a conference record of 4-4.

North Carolina’s biggest upset of the season was a 37-35 win over then-No. 24 Florida State as a 10 ½-point road underdog. Unfortunately, it followed this up with a 29-25 loss to in-state rival NC State as a 2 ½-point home favorite. This lack of consistency from one game to the next is what kept the Tar Heels from seriously contending for the ACC-Coastal Division.

This team’s main strength is a passing game that averaged 266.5 yards per game, which was 25th best in the country. QB T.J. Yates was the primary reason that North Carolina won enough games to even qualify for a bowl. He completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,184 yards and 18 touchdowns. WR Dwight Jones was on the receiving end of 57 of those completions and led the team with 895 receiving yards.

Tennessee’s season was almost lost midway through the year after it lost six of its first eight games. In fairness to the Vols, five of those losses were to ranked opponents including Alabama, South Carolina, and LSU. They rallied for four straight wins against mainly the have-nots in the SEC to finish the season 6-6 SU (7-5 ATS) and 3-5 SU in conference play.

The Volunteers struggled on both sides of the ball, as their defense was ranked 55th in points allowed; giving up an average of 24.7 points per game and their offense was ranked 61st in scoring; averaging 27 points per game. Tennessee’s passing game was decent; averaging 249.8 yards per game, but the running game was non-existent; averaging 116.1 yards and ranked 100th in the nation. Despite these numbers, a couple of standouts on offense were RB Tauren Poole, who ran for 994 yards and WR Denarius Moore, who had 912 yards in receptions.

North Carolina is 1-5 ATS in its last six games and the total has stayed ‘under’ in eight of its last 10 games overall.

Tennessee is 5-0 ATS in its last five games and the total has gone ‘over’ in five of its last seven games overall.

Game Betting Pick

This could almost be considered a home game for the Vols given the location, but the close proximity to both schools should be able to even things out for the Tar Heels. While each of these teams have had their problems this season, the real edge belongs to Yates and North Carolina’s passing game as they should be able to exploit Tennessee’s porous defense to generate enough points to come away with a relative easy win.

Take North Carolina -1.5 at SportsInteraction and grab yourself a free $125 for your bowl betting!