Sam Avellone
If Saturday’s marathon of college football action wasn’t enough for you, then you’re in luck. We have a brilliant 2-game card on Sunday, kicking off in Atlanta with an ACC-SEC showdown between Virginia Tech and South Carolina at 3:00pm ET and ending with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame visiting Miami to play the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium at 7:30pm ET.
After a 2-0 finish on Thursday’s best bets, I have 1 pick selected for Sunday’s card that I find more appealing than the rest of the card – especially now that the line has moved down to a key number. I’m going against what seems to be a popular underdog pick in Virginia Tech. Let’s get to the analysis.
CFB Best Bet: South Carolina Gamecocks -7 vs Virginia Tech Hokies (-115)
Odds available at bet365 at the time of publishing. Playable at that number or better.
A lot has been made of the departed defensive pieces for the Gamecocks, but I still have plenty of faith in South Carolina DC Clayton White and his ability to put a good defensive product on the field. I also believe new starters Bryan Thomas Jr., Monkey Goodwine, Fred Johnson, and Peyton Williams are being a bit underrated.
Sure, SC endures a healthy amount of change on the defensive side of the ball, but the Gamecocks still have one of the best defensive players in the country in Dylan Stewart lining up on the edge, as well as a sound secondary that returns multiple pieces from last season’s top-10 unit – including Judge Collier, Jalon Kilgore, and DQ Smith. South Carolina should still find success generating havoc against a Virginia Tech offense going through quite a bit of change itself.
The Hokies brought back fewer than 50% of their offensive production from last season despite their starting quarterback Kyron Drones returning. They replaced running back Bhayshul Tuten (1,159 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns) with a solid duo of transfers in Terion Stewart and Marcellous Hawkins, but the main issues I have with Tech in this matchup are the offensive line and wide receiver groups. Virginia Tech’s offensive line lacks continuity and playing experience. While West Virginia transfer Tomas Rimac will anchor this unit as its best piece, there are 3 projected starters that played 160 or fewer snaps last year. Moreover, VT’s starting center is a redshirt freshman with no collegiate experience.
Like Tech’s offensive line, there’s not much to write home about outside the hashes, as the Hokies lost their 4 top receivers from last year. The top returning pass-catcher is tight end Benji Gosnell, who pulled in just 32 receptions for 341 yards and a touchdown. Outside of him, Virginia Tech’s top returning wide receiver Ayden Greene wasn’t too reliable in 2024 (6 drops on 34 targets), and while the added transfers should help this unit’s depth, I’m not sold on the upside against what should still be a strong South Carolina secondary.
If the Hokies can’t score, I certainly don’t trust this defense to propel them to a spread cover, much less a win. VT was solid defensively last year, but the Hokies have a new coordinator and are replacing their top 7 pieces per PFF’s defensive metrics. That’s not exactly encouraging going against one of the best play-making quarterbacks in the country in LaNorris Sellers. With the line dipping to an even 7 points, I’m in on the Gamecocks as my best bet of Sunday’s small college football card.
Now find our Notre Dame vs Miami prediction for picks on the side and total of Sunday’s final game
