The first annual Belk Bowl kicks off on Tuesday, December 27th, and it pits the co-Big East champs, the Louisville Cardinals up against the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Head Coach Charlie Strong has done a fantastic job with the Cardinals in his first two years at Louisville. He has transformed a team that was a train wreck under Steve Kragthorpe's direction and made it a team that is perennially expected to be in a bowl game.
Freshman QB Teddy Bridgewater is going to be thrown into the limelight in this one, as he will likely take the majority of, if not the entirety of the snaps in the Belk Bowl. He threw for 1,885 yards and did a nice job completing 66.0 percent of his passes. Averaging 7.33 yards per pass attempt is a tad low, and a 12/9 TD/INT ratio could be improved upon, but we still have to remember that this is a freshman that is just learning how to play the game.
The Cardinals are based on their defense though, and for good reason. The offense is only averaging 328.3 yards and 21.8 points per game, and both stats rank in the bottom 20 in America. The 'D' though, is No. 14 in scoring defense at 19.2 points per game, and the team has really come around after suffering early season losses to the Florida International Golden Panthers and Marshall Thundering Herd.
The Wolfpack weren't figured to compete this year in the ACC. They allowed QB Russell Wilson out of his scholarship, and he went on to do great things with the Wisconsin Badgers. However, QB Mike Glennon, brother of former Virginia Tech Hokies QB Sean Glennon, really didn't have that bad of a year. Glennon threw for 2,790 yards and 28 TDs this year. He struggled in some games against big time defenses though, putting up a donut against the Florida State Seminoles and just 14 against the Boston College Eagles.
That being said, this NC State team also closed out the season with a 37-13 win over the Clemson Tigers and a 56-41 win over the Maryland Terrapins at home, so we know that this team can most certainly do some damage on both sides of the ball.
This game opened up at a pick 'em and figured to stay right around that way. However, the bettors at Bookmaker Sportsbook have run the Belk Bowl odds up to NC State -3 in spite of the fact that the Cardinals are 12-1 ATS in their last 13 games against ACC foes. The 'total' has been set at 44.5, one of the lowest 'totals' on the board for the entire bowl season.
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