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NC State will go into its showdown game with Wake Forest as a modest underdog. Oddsmakers don’t see much difference between these two teams, but the Deacs do have the home field advantage, which is good enough to make them two-point favorites.
The over/under is currently at 66.5 after opening five points higher—someone in Vegas must have realized that NC State’s defense is not UNC’s defense.
Wake Forest is coming off a rather brutal 58-55 loss to the Tar Heels in which the Demon Deacons surrendered 24 fourth-quarter points in blowing a three-score lead. Wake’s defense all season has been an, um, adventure, to put it mildly. The Deacs have allowed at least 34 points in four of their last five games and flirted with defeat in a couple of them before succumbing on Saturday.
But the Wake Forest offense remains a huge problem and figures to be the stiffest test for the Wolfpack defense all season. It’s just too bad that State isn’t going into this one a little bit healthier.