Noah Damon Wilde
Wolfpack Wager Week 7 graphic
This week in Wolfpack Wager, we will break down how to bet the Wolfpack in its Thursday night prime-time matchup with Syracuse. We will also look at how to bet the two most anticipated games of the weekend that take us to Dallas and Baton Rouge.
Syracuse at NC State (-4.5)
NC State is only 1-4 against the spread this season, which would scare some bettors away when wanting to pick NC State to cover on its home field Thursday night. NC State head coach Dave Doeren named redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman its starter for the game, which will be his first career collegiate start.
Hockman will prepare as the starter and create enough offense with his arm to score points for NC State against a Syracuse team that is not as good as people expected at the beginning of the season. The defensive line that dominated against Florida State will be back, hungry to attack again on its home field.
This game has been circled on the calendar all year for NC State fans, so expect a raucous NC State crowd under the lights at Carter-Finley Thursday. Syracuse has not proven it can compete with a Power Five team after being blown out by Maryland and Clemson. I believe that Doeren will have his guys fired up to play and win by at least a touchdown.
Pick: NC State (-4.5)
No. 6 Oklahoma (-10.5) vs No. 11 Texas
The Red River Rivalry is back again for its annual meeting at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas between the Sooners and Longhorns. This will be potential Heisman winner, quarterback Jalen Hurts of Oklahoma’s first and only possible chance to put his name in the books in this historic rivalry.
These games have proven to be wild over the years, and I would expect nothing less as the intensity in this rivalry is as high as it’s ever been with Lincoln Riley at the helm for Oklahoma and Tom Herman as the head man for Texas.
Sam Ehlinger is a dynamic passer just like Hurts, and he will make plays to keep his team in the game, and per usual this game will go down to the fourth quarter. Texas won the Cotton Bowl last year, but the two teams met again in the Big 12 Championship and Oklahoma took the win. I’m not exactly sure who is going to win this game, but I am confident that if Oklahoma wins, they will not win by more than a touchdown and a field goal.
Pick: Texas (+10.5)
No. 7 Florida at No. 5 LSU (-13.5)
This is an intriguing SEC cross-divisional matchup Saturday night. Florida is coming off a massive win, where the Gators dominated Auburn, while LSU has been hyped up as the most likely to take down Alabama in the SEC, after convincing wins that included a road win over Texas.
Kyle Trask has settled in as quarterback for Florida after taking over for Felipe Franks who went down with injury earlier in the season, and quarterback Joe Burrow for LSU has emerged himself in the Heisman race with his strong play in the new-look LSU Air Raid offense.
As former LSU head coach Les Miles once said, “Death Valley is where dreams come to die,” and the fact that this is a night game does not help out the Gators at all. LSU coach Ed Orgeron’s team once again will prove how legit of a National Championship contender they are and win this game by at least two touchdowns, in what will be a letdown game for Florida after last week’s win at Auburn.
Pick: LSU (-13.5)