The Duke Blue Devils take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
Duke is favored by 7 points on the spread with a moneyline of -250. UNC, meanwhile, comes into the game as a +7 underdog and is +205 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. The over/under sits at 51.5 total points.
Here’s my Duke vs. UNC prediction and college football picks for Saturday, November 22.
Duke vs UNC Prediction
- Duke vs. UNC Pick: North Carolina UNC +7
My UNC vs. Duke best bet is on the Tar Heels to cover the spread. Find the best line available on our live NCAAF odds page.
Duke vs UNC Odds
| Duke Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-7 -105 | 51.5 -110o / -110u | -250 |
| UNC Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+7 -115 | 51.5 -110o / -110u | +205 |
- Duke vs UNC point spread: Duke -7, UNC +7
- Duke vs UNC over/under: 51.5 Points
- Duke vs UNC moneyline: Duke -250, UNC +205
Duke vs UNC College Football Betting Preview
Duke Blue Devils Betting Preview: Get-Right Spot?
If you want to know how wild a year it's been in the ACC, look no further than the fact that up until last week, Duke controlled its destiny to make the ACC Championship game despite losing three times in nonconference play.
The Blue Devils are now very much on the outside looking in after a home loss to Virginia last Saturday.
Sloppy play in key moments and general inconsistency have plagued this team all season.
The Blue Devils have an explosive offense, led by Tulane transfer quarterback Darian Mensah. Mensah has thrown for 24 touchdowns to just four interceptions and is averaging over 300 yards passing per game.
It's hard to put any of the losses on him, other than the Connecticut game, where he tossed two costly picks.
Red-zone struggles have also hurt Duke at times throughout the year, as shown best in the Georgia Tech game, when it put up 441 yards of total offense, yet had only 18 points to show for it.
On the defensive side, this unit is just a bit lacking from a personnel standpoint.
Opposing quarterbacks have found success through the air against the Blue Devil secondary, and the unit has really struggled as a whole on third down.
Facing a mediocre North Carolina offense on Saturday, it will be very important for Duke to be better on the money downs and get off the field when it needs to.
North Carolina Tar Heels Betting Preview: Heels Trending Up
It was a really rocky start to the Bill Belichick era at North Carolina.
UNC lost to TCU and UCF in the nonconference portion of the season and was outscored by 59 points in those two contests.
Despite the loss to Wake Forest last week, the on-field product has been much improved recently.
In Carolina's last five games, the Tar Heels have won two, lost at Cal by 3 in the final minutes, lost by a single point to top-20 Virginia and then lost last week to Wake Forest.
Those are somewhat encouraging results after many media pundits were proclaiming they were bottom-five of all Power Four teams back in early October.
North Carolina's defense has been the biggest reason for the uptick, which isn't surprising given Belichick's defensive prowess.
Offensively, things are very much still a work in progress. UNC has scored 21-plus points just twice all season, with one of those coming against Richmond, an FCS program.
Gio Lopez has been the guy at quarterback for most of the year, and the South Alabama transfer has seen some up-and-down results.
In recent wins over Stanford and Syracuse, he completed over 75% of his passes and tossed four touchdowns to zero interceptions.
But last week in Winston-Salem, he was nowhere near as accurate and was bothered by the Demon Deacon pass rush.
If Lopez can return to the form he flashed at the beginning of November, there are plenty of paths to success against a vulnerable Duke defense.
Duke vs UNC Pick, Betting Analysis
Despite all of the negative media attention Belichick has received recently, the Tar Heels have been playing much better on the football field over the last 4-5 weeks.
I expect that to continue against a Duke team that's in some sort of free-fall mode right now.
Plus, with where this number currently sits, UNC is getting a full touchdown at home in a rivalry game.
I'll gladly take the points and make the Blue Devils prove to me that they can beat any ACC opponent by a TD or more at this point in the season.
The Heels have a legitimate chance to win outright in this one, but I really like the value on them to cover this number in Chapel Hill.
Pick: UNC +7 (Play to +6)
Duke vs UNC Betting Trends
