NC State opens as 5.5-point favorite over Memphis

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NC State opens as 5.5-point favorite over Memphis

The early line for the Gasparilla Bowl has NC State as a solid favorite at -5.5, which is a bit surprising since SP+ has it the other way around. Usually there isn’t a huge amount of disagreement between the oddsmakers and the metrics like this, but Memphis is on a three-game losing streak and has a dinged-up quarterback, so maybe that explains it.

SP+ likes Memphis by 6.8, making the spread differential the highest among any of the bowl games, and one of only two games with a disagreement over 10 points.

There are still the slightly important matters of who’ll be opting out and who’ll be hitting the portal over the next 10 days, so it’s a challenge to ballpark this (or any bowl game) at this point anyhow. SP+ sees both teams’ defenses as being basically identical, but gives the Tigers significant edges on offense and special teams. Make of it what you will.

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