North Carolina at Minnesota College Football Pick For 8/29/2024

The North Carolina Tar Heels will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers on August 29, 2024, at 8:00 pm ET. DraftKings Sportsbook has the Tar Heels as 1.5 point favorites. Betting trends show 42% of spread bets favoring North Carolina, while 58% of bets are backing Minnesota. The total of 50.5 has attracted 40% of bets on the under and 60% on the over. This matchup promises to be an exciting showdown between two power conference teams looking to get their seasons started off on the right foot in Minneapolis.

North Carolina Gears Up For First Game Post-Drake Maye

Last season, the North Carolina Tar Heels had a dangerous passing offense, thanks in large part to the contributions of quarterback Drake Maye. Maye has since moved onto the NFL, where he is now a member of the New England Patriots. That leaves the Tar Heels to face their first game action without Maye in this contest, as the Heels look to get a win in their opening contest of the 2024 season.

We should see some of two different quarterbacks for the Tar Heels in this season opener. Max Johnson figures to see some time under center in this matchup after transferring in from Texas A&M. He saw limited action there after a decent 2021 season at LSU that saw him throw 27 touchdown passes to just six interceptions. Conner Harrell is also expected to see some playing time after sitting behind Maye for much of last season, though he did throw for 199 yards in the Tar Heels' 30-10 loss to West Virginia in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.

Minnesota Hoping FCS Transfer Fuels Offense

Last season, the Minnesota Golden Gophers were underwhelming offensively to say the least. They averaged 20.9 points per game and finished at the bottom of their division in the Big Ten. This season, the Gophs are relying on New Hampshire transfer Max Brosmer, who is set to take over at quarterback for a Minnesota team hoping for a much more explosive season on the offensive side of the ball.

Brosmer has back-to-back 3,000 yard passing seasons under his belt at the FCS level, throwing for a combined 56 touchdowns over those two seasons. But there is an undeniable step up in level of competition that he will have to contend with in this game against North Carolina. While he did throw for nearly 500 yards against FBS Central Michigan last season, Brosmer could be in for a rough reintroduction to FBS competition in this game.

North Carolina vs Minnesota Best Bet

Our best bet for this North Carolina vs Minnesota matchup is for the game to stay under the total of 50.5 points. The quarterback changes for North Carolina should mean an early downgrade in offensive production, while we are not convinced that a power conference matchup is the best way for an FCS transfer to start his time as the quarterback at Minnesota either. Look for this game to be relatively low-scoring, yet still exciting, as both teams kick off their campaigns.

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