The pros at FiveStarPick.com are looking forward to an action packed game tonight as the Virginia Tech Hokies travel to Greenville, North Carolina to face the East Carolina Pirates. Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Hokies as 13.5 point road favorties with a total of 51.

Last week was a shocker for a lot of VaTech backers as the Hokies lost a home game to the UNC Tar Heels as 15.5 point favorites. Freshman running back Ryan Williams fumbled late in the 4th quarter to set up the winning field goal for North Carolina.  Williams has been a workhorse for the Hokies with five 100-yard games and is just 70 yards short of a 1,000-yard season.

After the loss to North Carolina, the Hokies probably won’t be making it back to the ACC championship, but after back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and UNC, Beamer’s team is probably hungry for a win and would like nothing more than to avenge last year’s season-opening loss to the Pirates.

In that game, ECU QB Patrick Pinkney completed 19-of-23 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown in the 27-22 upset (as I recall a huge Money Line winner for our members last year). Pinkney is back at ECU this season and he is feeling confident that he can expose a Virginia Tech defense that hasn’t been rock solid this year. Look for Pinkey to go to WR Dwayne Harris, who has a combined 1,054 all-purpose yards in his last six games while scoring eight touchdowns.

The key for East Carolina tonight will be to create turnovers and limit VaTech’s ability to pull off the big play. The Hokies QB Tyrod Taylor has 44 plays of 20 yards or more this year, while the Pirates rank 10th in the nation with 21 takeaways (11 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries).

East Carolina has won three of their last four games against nationally ranked opponents and three of their last four home games against the ACC.  Virginia Tech is 3-5 against the spread while East Carolina is 3-4 against the spread.

This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our wins and losses, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FiveStarPick.com are on another 6-0 run against the spread for our members and tonight we will be arming them with another winner in the North Carolina/Virginia Tech game on ESPN.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Hokies as 16.5-point home favorites with a total of 43.5.

The Tar Heels and the Seminoles played last Thursday Night on ESPN and had a pretty interesting game, but as 16.5-point dogs, oddsmakers don’t expect another close one tonight. The main reason for this big number is that UNC’s offense sucks big-time.  Heading into last Thursday night against Florida State, the Tar Heels had the 117th ranked offense in the land. There are only 120 schools in Division 1-A!  Helloooo???

After putting up 27 points on FSU, the Heels now are 114th in the nation in total offense.  But the Heels did mangage to bring something positive away from the loss last week as their rushing offense ran for 238 yards.  The bad news for Tar Heel fans, Quarterback T.J. Yates completed just 12-of-25 attempts for 64 yards against the Noles.  Carolina relies mostly on their defense to keep them in games, but FSU QB Christian Ponder lit up the Tar Heels defense for 395 passing yards.

Virginia Tech doesn’t have the offensive weapons of Florida State, so the Heels can expect to see a lot of RB Ryan Williams.  Williams has five 100-yard rushing games in 2009 and has scored 11 touchdowns for the Hokies. The freshman will have his work cut out for him this week against a Carolina D-line anchored by a pair of huge tackles in Marvin Austin (6-3, 305) and Cam Thomas (6-4, 325).

The Hokies have averaged 34 points a game over their last four games, but like Carolina, Tech leans heavily on their defense to keep them in games.

The last time these teams hooked up, Virginia Tech clipped the Tar Heels 20-17 in Chapel Hill. On the season, North Carolina is 1-4 against the spread while Virginia Tech is 3-4 against the spread.

This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our wins and losses, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com will be giving its members 3 plays in college football today, but our college football pick of the day will be tonight’s Alabama/Virginia Tech game.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Tide as 6-point favorites with a total of 37. 

Alabama should be displaying a dominant defense returning nine starters, including a pair of All-Americans in defensive tackle Terrance Cody and linebacker Rolando McClain.  DE Brandon Deadrick (36 tackles, four sacks in 2008) was shot in the arm in an attempted robbery earlier this week, and is listed as questionable.  Deadrick actually returned to practice on Thursday and has been cleared to play.

Greg McElroy took the reigns from starting QB John Parker Wilson.  McElroy completed 8-of-11 passes for 123 yards with one touchdown and one interception in limited play last year.  But McElroy will have the benefit of one of the nation’s premier wide receivers in Julio Jones, who had a team-high 58 receptions and 924 yards as a true freshman.  The tide will be returning Mark Ingram who rushed for 728 yards and a team-high 12 TDs. Terry Grant is also back in the mix after being the odd man out in 2008. Grant has more than 1,000 career yards and a 4.6 yards-per-carry average.

Va. Tech’s situation at RB isn’t quite as promising. The Hokies suffered a monster blow a few weeks ago when sophomore Darren Evans tore his ACL and was lost for the season. Evans rushed for 1,265 yards and 11 TDs last season.

Junior QB Tyrod Taylor now has the job of quarterback all to himself.  Taylor emulates his game after Michael Vick in terms of being able to scramble and elude pressure, but his throwing accuracy is a major question mark, as evidenced by his abysmal 2/7 touchdown-interception ratio in ’08.

Since 2000, the Hokies have thrived in underdog situations. They are 10-5 against the spread during that span. As for ‘Bama, it is 8-9 against the spread in favorite situations under Saban’s watch.

So who covers the spread tonight in Atlanta?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com for a month ($99.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com