Teams hoping to build on last season's successes meet when the North Carolina State Wolfpack meet the East Carolina Pirates on Saturday. N.C. State holds an 18-13 all-time series edge. Kickoff from Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, N.C., is set for noon ET. N.C. State is favored by 12 points at Caesars Sportsbook, while the over/under is set at 51.5 (see up-to-date odds for every game this week on our college football odds page).
Before making any North Carolina State vs. East Carolina picks, you NEED to check out the college football predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past six-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,600 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It enters Week 1 of the 2022 college football season on a 45-32 run on all top-rated college football spread and money-line picks that dates back to 2021. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
The model knows the Wolfpack return a big part of their offense from a year ago in redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary. Leary set a single season school record with 35 touchdown passes in 2021, and has 51 for his career. He is on four different watch lists – Maxwell, O'Brien, Manning and Walter Camp Player of the Year. Last season, he completed 283 of 431 passes (65.7%) for 3,433 yards and a rating of 157.0. One of his best games was in a 45-42 loss to No. 12 Wake Forest. In that game, he completed 37 of 59 passes (62.7%) for 408 yards and four touchdowns. He was picked off twice.
The model also knows the Pirates are led by senior quarterback Holton Ahlers, who is close to rewriting East Carolina's record books. Last season, Ahlers completed 256 of 414 passes (61.8%) for 3,126 yards and 18 touchdowns, while carrying 116 times for 204 yards and six scores. Ahlers needs just 1,773 passing yards to become ECU's career leader, surpassing Shane Carden's mark of 11,991 set from 2011 to 2014. He also only needs 224 rushing yards to set the school's all-time quarterback ground attack record, eclipsing Leander Green's total of 1,485 from 1977 to 1979. Ahlers is also close to setting the ECU career total offense mark. He only needs 764 total yards to better Carden's record of 12,244.
Now, it has set its sights on North Carolina State vs. East Carolina. We can tell you the model is leaning Over the total, and it also says one side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time! You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in any college football picks.
So who wins N.C. State vs. East Carolina? And which side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time? Join SportsLine now to find out, all from the model that has crushed its top-rated college football picks against the spread!
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