Teams looking to get back on track after losing their season openers meet when the North Carolina A&T Aggies face the Duke Blue Devils in a non-conference game on Friday. The Aggies (0-1) were held to just 71 yards rushing in a 29-18 loss at Furman. The Blue Devils (0-1), meanwhile, gave up 475 yards of total offense in a 31-28 defeat at Charlotte. Neither team possessed the ball very long, with Duke having a time of possession of 24:41, while North Carolina A&T held the ball for 27:10.
The game from Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C., is slated to start at 8 p.m. ET. The Blue Devils are listed as 21-point favorites, while the over-under for total points is set at 57.5 in the latest Duke vs. North Carolina A&T odds. Before making any North Carolina A&T vs. Duke picks, check out the college football predictions from the SportsLine's Emory Hunt.
Hunt is the founder and CEO of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of football since 2007, and a former running back at Louisiana-Lafayette. He knows the game from a player's perspective.
Hunt went 178-149 on his college football picks over the past two seasons, returning $1,477 to $100 players. Anybody who has been following him is way up.
Now, he has set his sights on North Carolina A&T vs. Duke. You can visit SportsLine now to see the picks. Here are the college football odds and trends for Duke vs. North Carolina A&T:
- North Carolina A&T vs. Duke spread: Duke -21
- North Carolina A&T vs. Duke over-under: 57.5
- NCAT: The Aggies' 71 rushing yards in the opener were the fewest since compiling just 38 against Alcorn State on Dec. 15, 2018.
- DUKE: Totaled 580 yards of offense against Charlotte, the eighth-most in a single game under coach David Cutcliffe.
Why Duke can cover
The Blue Devils have had a lot of success in home openers, going 10-3 under coach David Cutcliffe in Durham. They are also 24-8 in non-league games since Cutcliffe took over the program in 2008. The Blue Devils' last non-league regular-season defeat was against No. 15 Notre Dame in 2019. Senior running back Mataeo Durant led the way for Duke during its season opener at Charlotte, compiling a game-high 255 yards on 29 carries with three rushing TDs to break the program record for rushing yards in a single game.
On defense, redshirt safety Lummie Young IV led the Blue Devils with 10 tackles in the opener. That marked the second time in his career that he achieved double-digit tackles. He had 15 against Wake Forest in 2018. In 25 career games, including eight starts, he has 91 tackles, 5 ½ tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, one pass breakup and one forced fumble.
Why North Carolina A&T can cover
The Aggies possess a number of offensive weapons, including redshirt senior wide receiver Zach Leslie, who has combined for 1,328 yards receiving and 14 touchdown over the previous two seasons he played. In 2019, he played in 11 games with eight starts and made 42 receptions for 652 yards and five TDs. In 2018, he played in 12 games with 11 starts with 50 pass receptions for 676 yards and nine TDs. His 50 receptions in a season ranks seventh all-time in school history and his 676 receiving yards is eighth all-time. His nine receiving touchdowns ranks fourth.
Defensively, the Aggies are led by eight returning starters, including their two senior defensive ends in Jermaine McDaniel and Devin Harrell. Both were coming off career seasons in 2019. McDaniel, who enters the season as a preseason All-Big South selection, was sixth on the team in tackles in 2019 with 40, including 29 solo, with 12 tackles for loss and 7 ½ sacks. In his Aggies debut against Elon, he made eight tackles, including four unassisted, with three tackles for loss and three sacks. He followed that up with a five-tackle performance at Duke.
How to make Duke vs. North Carolina A&T picks
Hunt is leaning over on the point total. He has also found a critical x-factor that has him jumping all over one side of the spread. You can only get the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Duke vs. North Carolina A&T? And which side of the spread hits hard? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the expert who has crushed his college football picks, and find out.
