The Duke’s Mayo Bowl might be my favorite bowl game of the year, outside of the playoffs and the Rose Bowl, of course. A winning coach gets Mayo on the head, that’s what bowls season is really all about, and because of this game I converted from Hellman’s, I’m a Duke guy all the way now.
This year, it’ll be either Maryland’s Mike Loxley or Dave Doern showering in NC State in May. The Terrapins lost three in a row before putting pressure on Rutgers to finish their season 7-5. Their reward is to be reunited with a familiar foe from their time in the ACC, NC State. The Wolfpack finished the year 8-4 after looking like a CFP darkhorse back in August. Losing Devin Leary was big for this team, but they managed to move back up to 23rd in the final commission standings.
Let’s get into the possibilities of this.
Maryland vs. NC State odds, spread and total
Betting trends in maryland and north carolina
Maryland went 6-6 ATS
NC State went 4-8 ATS
Maryland has gone 6-1 ATS in its last seven non-conference games
Over 5-1 in Maryland’s last six bowl games
Over 7-1 in NC State’s last eight bowl games
The teams are 33-33-4 all time, straight.
Maryland vs. NC State Predict and Pick
There’s a walkout on either side, as with any ball game nowadays, but Maryland will at least have their starting quarterback, Taulia Tagovailoa, for this game. Devin Leary left NC State and was injured before entering the transfer gate, so the Wolfpack has a decision to make. Ben Finlay, who captained them to victory over UNC in their final game of the year, or MJ Morris, who was injured after taking over at Leary. Freshman Morris has started three games this season, going 2-1.
With all of the quarterback turnover, the Wolfpack finished as the 78th-ranked passing offense. Tagovailoa led Maryland for 259.8 passing yards per game with 39, scoring nearly 30 points in the game. He’ll need to air it because NC State ranked 11th in rushing defense this season. They were much weaker at stopping passing offenses, but the last time we saw them, they held Drake May to 233 passing yards and just 1 touchdown on 49 pass attempts.
Maryland would be without two top receivers, Jacob Copeland and Dontae Demos Jr. who pulled away and that might slow their passing attack, but I still think they’ll be able to move the ball around and the play is the best here.
He has reached more in five of Maryland’s last six bowl games and seven of his last eight NC State games. I’m going to trust these trends and bet on a Mayo Bowl shootout.
Follow all of Josh Urich’s bets here
The game odds are updated periodically and are subject to change
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