2015 Free College Football Picks Week 1 – South Carolina @ North Carolina Odds & Free Picks

2015 Free College Football Picks Week 1 – South Carolina Gamecocks @ North Carolina Tar Heels Odds & Free Picks: The 2015 College Football season has finally arrived and it all gets started on Thursday with exciting action across the country. One game that we simply can’t wait to watch is the matchup featuring the South Carolina Gamecocks and the North Carolina Tar Heels from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. Kickoff is set for 6PM EST and the game can be seen on national television on ESPN. South Carolina is currently listed at Bovada Sportsbook as a -2.5 point favorite with the over/under at 64 points. Let’s take a closer look at this matchup Thursday night and see where the smart money should go and what team will get the money for us to start off the 2015 college football betting season in style. Don’t forget to check out the top college football picks for all of this week’s action including opening night from NSAwins.com’s top college football handicapping expert, Sonny LaFouchi(aka The LEGEND).

2015 College Football Picks & Predictions Week 1 – South Carolina @ North Carolina Odds & Free Picks

Head coach Steve Spurrier leads his South Carolina Gamecocks from the SEC into action Thursday night looking to start off the season right and bounce back from a disappointing 7-6 overall record last season including 3-5 in the SEC. The Gamecocks return 10 starters for the 2015 season including four on offense and six on defense. The offense was not the problem last season as the Gamecocks were a respectable 39th nationally in total scoring as they averaged 32.6 points per game which was good for 6th in the SEC. However, defensively the Gamecocks couldn’t stop a cold as they were a dismal 89th nationally and 12th in the SEC in total scoring defense as they allowed 30.4 points per game.

This year’s Gamecocks team will be starting a new quarterback in sophomore Connor Mitch. Mitch was highly recruited out of high scool where he was a 4 star recruit out of Raleigh, North Carolina’s Wakefield High School. Mitch has a strong arm and threw for 63 touchdowns in his senior year at Wakefield and has shown considerable promise this summer in South Carolina’s practices. Mitch should be solid for the demanding Spurrier at quarterback but he won’t have a whole lot of experienced help around him as only one skill position starter returns in wide receiver Pharoh Cooper.

On the other side of the field, head coach Larry Fedora leads his North Carolina Tar Heels onto the gridiron looking to vastly improve upon last season’s 6-7 overall record that included a 4-4 record in ACC play. The Tar Heels return 10 starters offensively from a unit that was outstanding last season in averaging 33.2 points per game that was good enough to be the 3rd best offense in the ACC and 36th nationally. That was the good news from last season. The bad news is the defense was atrocious as it allowed 39 points per game and that was bad enough to be the 14th defense in the ACC and 116th nationally. The Tar Heels return 6 starters defensively this season but the jury is out whether that is a good thing because they were so bad last year.

The Tar Heels will most likely go as far as their defense allows them this season. Certainly the offense is more than stacked enough to put up enough points to win most of the games they play, while the defense needs to improve considerably if the Tar Heels want to move up the ACC’s standings and win 8 or 9 games. Fedora has attempted to get the defense turned around by hiring former Auburn Tigers head coach Gene Chizik to be the new defensive coordinator. Chizik plans on installing a 4-3 base defense that will replace the 4-2-5 scheme that the tar Heels ran defensively the last three years.

Who has the edge Thursday night? Our money has to go down on South Carolina and Steve Spurrier. Both defenses were bad last year but North Carolina’s defense was on another level of atrociousness. Certainly the addition of Chizik as new defensive coordinator will help UNC’s defense this season but it’s hard for us to believe they’ll be drastically improved right out of the gate. New South Carolina quarterback Connor Mitch couldn’t have asked for a better defense to go up against in his first career start and we expect him to play well Thursday night. South Carolina lost it’s season opener in embarrassing fashion last year against Texas A&M in front of a national TV audience 52-28 and we expect Spurrier and company to do their best to avoid starting off the 2015 campaign 0-1. Lay the points and bet South Carolina -2.5 opening night.

2015 College Football Free Pick on South Carolina @ North Carolina: Bet on South Carolina -2.5

Get more 2015 College Football betting odds for the 2015 season updated daily on NSAwins.com including updated odds to win the 2016 National Championship.