College Football Betting Odds – East Carolina at North Carolina

Saturday, September 19 – 12 PM ET

BetOnline College Football Betting Odds: North Carolina -7 ½, Total 42

It hasn’t been a pretty start to the 2009 campaign, but the North Carolina Tar Heels are exactly where they thought they’d be: 2-0.

After defeating the Citadel to open the season, the Tar Heels had a much tougher test last Saturday, when they traveled north to take on the Connecticut Huskies.

North Carolina trailed 10-0 heading into the fourth quarter, but mounted a miraculous comeback, scoring 12 points in the final 11 minutes to steal a victory on the road. This week they’ll face an East Carolina squad that is coming off a tough loss, but eager to make amends in Chapel Hill.

East Carolina opened the season with a victory over Appalachian State, before falling at West Virginia last weekend. In that game, they took an early 10-0 lead and trailed just 21-20 at halftime. However, their offense stalled from there as they didn’t score a single second half point, losing 35-20.

If the Pirates have any chance of beating North Carolina this weekend, they’ll need a better performance from their defense than they got a week ago. In that game, West Virginia accounted for 509 yards of total offense, including 334 yards passing from quarterback Jarrett Brown.

The Tar Heels themselves will have to pick up their offense as well, as they were plagued all game last weekend by dumb mistakes, bad penalties and dropped passes.

Expect North Carolina to come out with a much better effort Saturday at home, especially considering the weather conditions will be much better than what they faced in Connecticut. Also remember, that as much as the Tar Heels struggled a week ago, a lot of credit has to go to the UConn defense, led by end Lindsey Witten, who currently leads college football in sacks. No one on the East Carolina front line will be able to get nearly as much penetration as Witten did a week ago. Look for North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates to have a phenomenal game.

Take the home team, and the 7 ½ points in this one.

Aaron’s Pick: North Carolina -7 ½