NC State seething in underdog role vs Kentucky in Gator Bowl
By MARK LONGJanuary 1, 2021 GMT
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — It’s one of the oddest betting lines of the bowl season.
No. 24 North Carolina State (8-3) is a 2 ½-point underdog against Kentucky (4-6) in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, a number the Wolfpack consider a slight heading into Saturday’s game in Jacksonville.
NC State has won four in a row, the longest streak in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It has eked out low-scoring games, won a couple shootouts and finished with more league victories than ever before.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, have the second-worst offense in the Power Five, lost to Southeastern Conference finalists Alabama and Florida by a combined score of 97-13 and have two wins in the past 11 weeks — against winless Vanderbilt and against a South Carolina team that played without its head coach and several key starters. Kentucky was so bad offensively that coach Mark Stoops fired two assistants less than 24 hours after the regular-season finale.