NC State is a 2.5-point underdog to Louisville

NC State will host Louisville on Thursday night as a ranked team for the first time in a while, but the Wolfpack won’t be the favorite going in. The early lines out of Vegas have NC State as around a 2.5-point underdog to the Cards, which is not so bad given how last year’s game went down.

Louisville is coming off of back-to-back blowout wins over cupcakes, and could be the soft opponent (FCS Murray State) this past weekend gives the Cardinals a bit of an edge heading into a short week. Helps when you don’t have to go all out for 60 minutes with a quick turnaround looming.

State-Louisville has the potential to be a score-a-thon, what with Louisville’s defense looking a bit rough at times and also what with Lamar Jackson being involved in the proceedings. State can score with the Cardinals, the hard part is preventing Jackson from beating you single-handedly. Let’s hope the Pack can figure out a way to avoid that result.