Florida St. has been put through the ringer over the last two season with a lot of it stemming from off the field incidents. It would help if Florida St. was handling business on the field too but that has not been the case. The Noles have posted up back to back 8-4 seasons and captain Bobby is none too pleased about it. His perceived fury has fueled a public frenzy that has led bettors to the ticket window in favor of Florida St. I say, not so fast. Florida St. does return 10 starters on their defense but offensively they are very young. Only four starters return on that Florida St. offense and one of those "starters" is the shaky Chris Rix. I am expecting Rix to improve this season but I don´t see it happening right off of the bat. Luckily for him, he will have Greg Jones back to ease some of the pressure but Jones won´t be enough to keep the heat off of Florida St. in this one. Opening up on the road within the conference with an offense this inexperienced can make for a frustrating evening.
North Carolina brings back an experienced team with seven returning starters on offense and eight on defense. Their offensive unit certainly has their work cut out for them but I think their defense can hold down the inexperienced Florida St. offense. North Carolina has played Florida St. tough at home in recent history and even beat the Noles in Chapel Hill back in 2001. I would look for the two defenses to have the upperhand in this contest and for North Carolina to keep things closer than the public expects. Florida St. has not been a strong money maker in openers in recent history as they are sporting a 1-6 record ATS in their last seven season openers.
CAROLINA +16.5 (1 UNIT)
North Carolina brings back an experienced team with seven returning starters on offense and eight on defense. Their offensive unit certainly has their work cut out for them but I think their defense can hold down the inexperienced Florida St. offense. North Carolina has played Florida St. tough at home in recent history and even beat the Noles in Chapel Hill back in 2001. I would look for the two defenses to have the upperhand in this contest and for North Carolina to keep things closer than the public expects. Florida St. has not been a strong money maker in openers in recent history as they are sporting a 1-6 record ATS in their last seven season openers.
CAROLINA +16.5 (1 UNIT)
