North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Odds & Game Pick (2021)

Sep 22, 2021 - 10:15 AM

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The North Carolina Tar Heels have won two straight games and will look to build their win streak on the road against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Tech came inches from upsetting the Clemson Tigers while North Carolina poured it on against Virginia with 59 points in a 59-39 victory. The Tar Heels have now scored 59 points in two consecutive weeks, but they’ll have a handful going up against a Georgia Tech defense that held Clemson to just 14 points last week.

Will the North Carolina offense continue to go off, or can the Georgia Tech defense continue to work their magic? Here is our pick and prediction.

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Details

• Opening Line: North Carolina -13, O/U 63.5
• Current Line: North Carolina -12, O/U 63
• Last meeting: October 5, 2019, North Carolina 38, Georgia Tech 22

Overview 

North Carolina started their season with a loss to Virginia Tech, scoring just 10 points in a 17-10 loss. It was extremely surprising since we’ve been so accustomed to North Carolina exploding offensively behind quarterback Sam Howell. Coming into this season, Howell was a projected top-five pick and potential Heisman candidate.

He didn’t play like it Week 1 but has now turned on the jets with 59 points per game in the last two weeks. North Carolina’s offense is back. Howell has thrown for nine touchdowns and four interceptions, including 867 yards in the air through three games. Running back Ty Chandler has chipped in for 322 yards on 45 carries and three touchdowns. That’s 7.2 yards per rush for Chandler.

Of course, defense has never been North Carolina’s favorite. They’ve held opponents to 110.7 yards per game on the ground through three games but have struggled to tackle and stop the passing game. The coverage has been abysmal, and the Tar Heels have allowed 270.7 yards in the air per game.

North Carolina won’t need to worry about much through the air, however. The Yellow Jackets will likely be without Jeff Sims for another week. The starting quarterback is dealing with an injury. That means freshman Jordan Yates would get the call. He’s thrown for five touchdowns with just one interception and has 592 yards in the air. The freshman struggled against Clemson but dominated against Kennesaw State in the game prior.

He’s not Sims, but so far, he’s protected the ball. When you do that, you give your team the chance to win games. Yates has a terrific defense to back him up. The Yellow Jackets have allowed just 17.7 points per game this season, including a game against Clemson. They’ve limited teams to just 281.7 yards and have been dominant in the ground game on the defensive end.

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Trends 

• Yellow Jackets are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 neutral site games as an underdog.
• Over is 4-0 in Tar Heels last 4 games following a ATS win.
• Over is 6-1 in Tar Heels last 7 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game.

Bottom Line 

Georgia Tech’s defense looked phenomenal against Clemson last week. However, Clemson has also struggled offensively all season long and because of that, we can’t give Georgia Tech too much credit. The defense is obviously motivated and has looked good this season regardless. Riding that momentum into this next conference game will be huge.

However, going up against North Carolina’s offense will be no easy task. The Tar Heels run the ball extremely well and have finally started to click offensively behind Sam Howell. North Carolina won’t reach 50 or more points in this one, but they’ll find ways to score against Georgia Tech. It’s going to be a little harder, and you might see some punts, but North Carolina will score plenty.

Still, at the end of the day, Jordan Yates hasn’t looked bad as the Yellow Jackets quarterback. He’s thrown just one interception through two and a half games, and if he’s able to continue protecting the football, he’s going to make it hard for North Carolina to get downfield from their own 10-yard line.

I like Georgia Tech to cover the 12 points in this one.

Pick: Georgia Tech +12 (-110)

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Jason Radowitz is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive and follow him @Jason_Radowitz.

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