2005 North Carolina Tar Heels Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

Coming off of a 2-10 straight up season in 2003, which followed a 3-9 straight up record in 2002, North Carolina was lightly regarded but potentially undervalued as a sports handicapping commodity at the start of the 2004 season. Adding to their potential value and sports betting odds market correction potential was the fact that the Tar Heels dropped three of their final four games against the sports betting line to close the 2003 season.

2004 got off to a worrisome start for North Carolina as they struggled before winning a 49-38 home shootout against 1-AA William & Mary in a game that was not lined by the sports betting odds makers. Next came a 24-56 stomping at the hands of Virginia as the Tar Heels were installed as 21.5-point road dogs.

With their sports handicapping appeal virtually nuked after such an unimpressive start, North Carolina came home to face a mediocre Georgia Tech team that was made 8-point road chalks by the sports betting odds makers. UNC was clearly a bargain value for those who could get past the ugly start and won the game straight up 34-13. Unfortunately, UNC went right back on the skids in their following game at home against Louisville, losing 0-34 as 8.5-point dogs.

At this point North Carolina stood at 2-2 straight up and 1-2 against the odds, looking most unimpressive against the better caliber teams. They traveled to Florida State next and were installed as 28.5-point dogs by the sports betting odds makers. Many online sports betting blog posts wrote UNC off as a certain slaughter victim, yet they lost by only a 16-38 margin, getting the money for sports betting bargain hunters.

The cover at Florida State was the start of a remarkable run for the Tar Heels in which they beat the sports betting odds in six of their final seven regular season games. This streak began just as the general sports betting public had totally given up on UNC and amidst reports that head coach John Bunting would be fired at season’s end.

North Carolina ended up going to the Continental Tire Bowl where they lost to Boston College 24-37 as 2-point chalks. Until then they had proven to be quite a sports handicapping value, which came after the masses of asses wrote them off.