In yet another installment of the Battle of the Carolinas, the No. 21 UNC Tar Heels will take on the South Carolina Gamecocks at a neutral site on Saturday. You can tune in live via ABC. Every week, I’ll post my top college football picks by Monday and provide an update before each game — you can check out all of my FanDuel.
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South Carolina-UNC Pick, Betting Prediction & FanDuel Boost | College Football Week 1
South Carolina-UNC Betting Odds
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
South Carolina: +106 | UNC: -128
South Carolina +2.5: -110 | UNC -2.5: -110
Over 64.5: -108 | Under 64.5: -112
South Carolina-UNC Pick & Prediction
The South Carolina Gamecocks and No. 21 UNC Tar Heels will do battle in Charlotte on Saturday in what the books expect to be a high-scoring, competitive game. The Gamecocks captured plenty of media attention last year by upsetting both Tennessee and Clemson, but aside from those big wins, they were relatively unimpressive. Shane Beamer’s squad ranked 46th in yards per play (5.7) and 87th in yards allowed per play (5.7). Quarterback Spencer Rattler finished 54th in ing efficiency at 138.7, marking his worst season in the metric. Meanwhile, North Carolina ranked 37th in yards per play (5.9) but 114th in yards allowed per play (6.1), with quarterback Drake Maye ranking an impressive 18th in ing efficiency at 157.9.
The Gamecocks got worse in the offseason while the Tar Heels got much, much better. South Carolina recorded a -2.5 in Transfer Assets and Return Production while North Carolina recorded a +8.5. Departing for the Gamecocks were running backs Marshawn Lloyd and Jaheim Bell, leaving them with a tough situation at the position. Juju McDowell returns, but he ran for only 219 yards on 3.5 yards per carry. Dakereon Joyner is back, too, but he ran for only 56 yards last year. He initially came to South Carolina as a quarterback before converting to receiver, so this marks his third position in six seasons. Behind them are two true freshmen and a Division II transfer, Mario Anderson.
The Tar Heels lost some talented players, including leading receiver Josh Downs, but added more than enough to make up for it. Kent State transfer Devontez Walker, who tallied 921 yards and 11 scores on just 58 catches for the Golden Flashes last year, and Georgia Tech transfer Nate McCollum, who tallied 655 yards and three scores on 60 catches, have arrived. The Tar Heels added several pieces at linebacker and in the secondary as well, including rusher Amari Gainer (Florida State) and ballhawk safety Antavious Lane (Georgia State). Lane spent three seasons as a starter and tallied 11 interceptions, 13 es defended, four forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns.
Although the Tar Heels didn’t show much life on defense last year, their offense is that much better than the Gamecocks’ — and their transfer assets that much better than who they’ll replace — such that I expected North Carolina to enter this game as a much larger favorite. The Tar Heels ranked 61st in the Fremeau Efficiency Index last year because of their 118th-ranked defense, which should look much better, but 18th offensively. The Gamecocks ranked 33rd but were 49th on offense and 57th on defense. The range of outcomes for the Tar Heels in this game is wide, but they cover the spread for this one more often than they don’t.
We got exposure to UNC outright at odds of -140 (58.3%) in the FanDuel, which we can boost to +118 (45.9%) for the first $25! Make sure to hop on this number quickly, as it’s likely to disappear as kickoff approaches.
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South Carolina-UNC Week 1 Pick: UNC Moneyline -128 (+118 Boosted) at FanDuel
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