North Carolina Tar Heels at Miami Hurricanes Betting Preview

It's a battle of top 20 teams in the ACC as the 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes look for a sixth straight win this season when hosting the 17th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.

North Carolina got the better of Miami last year, 28-25. And since Miami joined the ACC in 2004, this series is tied up with eight wins apiece.

The Line: North Carolina (+3.5) at Miami (67.5)

Miami has just a single loss to Clemson on its resume and has won five straight games since losing in Death Valley. That includes last week's 48-0 drubbing of Duke while missing 15 players.

North Carolina, however, has always played the Hurricanes tough. The Tar Heels were winners a year ago at home in Mack Brown's return season in Chapel Hill. He had previously coached at North Carolina from 1988 to 1997 before moving on to Texas.

North Carolina Tar Heels

If you like offensive football, you like North Carolina. They have the sixth-ranked offense in the country, averaging more than 534 yards per game, and are the second highest-scoring offense in the ACC. That's no small feat considering that both Clemson and Notre Dame are in the conference.

Furthermore, the Tar Heels feature sophomore quarterback Sam Howell, who ranks atop the conference in passing yards per game. He has experience beating Miami - he did it last year as a freshman - and he is playing great football. 

Last week he completed 20-of-23 passes in a 49-9 win over Western Carolina. He also has a 400-yard game against Virginia and an incredible 550 yards against Wake Forest.

The Dunkel Index has North Carolina as the 22nd ranked team in the country, largely because of Howell and the offense.

Miami Hurricanes

Miami is 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. But the Hurricanes have already been eliminated from the ACC Championship Game. That matchup will be Notre Dame and Clemson. That doesn't mean Miami has nothing to play for, however.

There are several Hurricanes eyeing a future in the NFL, and defensive end Jaelen Phillips has the opportunity to play himself into being a top five pick. But teamwise, Miami can also accomplish a rarity in college football - a home bowl game.

With a win over North Carolina and a win the following week against Georgia Tech, the Hurricanes could qualify for the Orange Bowl. Along with that bonus, this would be just their second 10-win season since 2004 and hopefully erase some memories of last year's embarrassing shutout at the Independence Bowl.

The Dunkel Index ranks Miami 24th in the nation.

The Pick

Las Vegas bookmakers have the Hurricanes winning a tight game and a very high-scoring game. But that is not how the Dunkel Index sees this game playing out. Dunkel predicts a double-digit victory for Miami and a total that falls 10 points short of the Las Vegas line.

Miami's defense is getting healthy, and its NFL-caliber pass rush will be able to get to Howell. The Dunkel picks are Miami to cover and the under.

For more Dunkel Index picks, check out our college football picks page.