College Football Picks – #14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. #21 Miami FL Hurricanes

Game-day: 9/17/2009
Kick-off: 7:30 pm EST

Two ACC teams battle it out on Thursday night as the 2 and 0 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets travel to Miami to take on the Miami Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are 1 and 0 as well and even though they aren’t as highly ranked as the Yellow Jackets, they will go into this game as the NCAA betting line favorite. The Hurricanes were very good last Monday night when they beat Florida State 38 to 34. Unlike past seasons, the Hurricanes are a very adept passing offense, in fact, they prefer to pass first.

Georgia Tech mirrors the Hurricanes in that respect as in two games Tech has racked up 37 and 30 points. This game should be extremely high scoring. So much so, in fact, that BetOnline may or may not release a Total on the game.

Let’s take a look at the current online betting odds in the sportsbook.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets +4 ½ -110
Miami Hurricanes -4 ½ -110

Here are a few online betting trends for this game:

• The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 6 and 1 ATS in their last 7 games on the road.
• The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 4 and 0 against the spread in the last 4 meetings between these two teams.
• The Miami Hurricanes are 3 and 13 ATS in their last 16 games after a bye week.
• The Miami Hurricanes are 13-32-1 ATS in their last 31 games at home.

The consensus thinking among NCAA betting fans is that the Hurricanes got a week to get over their emotional victory over Florida State and now will be ready to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

That thinking is wrong. Georgia Tech was battle tested last week by a team that many experts will say is a better team than the Hurricanes. That team, the Clemson Tigers, put up a valiant effort against Georgia Tech but fell short by 3 points.

With that emotional win under their belts, Georgia Tech will be ready to roll over the Hurricanes on Thursday night. I feel confident that Tech will beat the 4 ½ point spread, but I also believe that they will win this game straight-up. Once the sportsbook releases the NCAA betting odds on Tech to win straight-up, I will make that wager as well.

Georgia Tech has a great offense. They’ve proven it against a better defense than what Miami has, Clemson, and will do so again on Thursday night.

In a battle between two offensive powerhouses, take the better offense receiving points. That would be Georgia Tech’s offense. The fact that the trends point to a Tech victory only adds to the appeal.

The wager is on Georgia Tech to beat the spread at +4 ½ in the sportsbook.