2012 Music City Bowl picks are going to be entertaining to make this year, as we have two teams that are going to be going at it against each other in what could be an unpredictable game in the Vanderbilt Commodores and the NC State Wolfpack. Join us for our Music City Bowl keys to the game and our NC State vs. Vanderbilt predictions.

2012 Music City Bowl: Vanderbilt Commodores vs. NC State Wolfpack
2012 Music City Bowl Location: LP Field, Nashville, TN
2012 Music City Bowl Date/Time: Monday, December 31st, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
2012 Music City Bowl On TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: Mike Glennon cannot get erratic with the football
QB Mike Glennon is a senior, and he is a leader. With Head Coach Tom O’Brien dismissed after a 7-5 season, it is suspect as to how well the Wolfpack are going to respond to their interim coaches. Glennon is the constant here in this lineup. He threw for over 3,600 yards on the campaign, but he knows that he is going to be up against it. This won’t be a third 400+ yard game on the season, and it is likely to be a clash in which he struggles to get much beyond 250 passing yards or so. That being said, Glennon has had a problem in his career of keeping his head on straight when matters are going badly. The Commodores rank ninth in the country against the pass, and they did that against the rough and tumble SEC. Granted, the passing games were never the stoutest in the SEC, but there were some good ones, and the ‘Dores really shut just about all of them down. Glennon threw 14 INTs this year, and seven of those came in just two games. If he tosses multiple picks in this one against an opportunistic team, the Wolfpack are in a ton of trouble.

Music City Bowl Odds at BetGuardian Sportsbook
Vanderbilt Commodores -7
NC State Wolfpack +7
Over/Under 51.5
Click Here to Bet Your Music City Bowl Picks!

Key #2: The Wolfpack have to account for Jordan Matthews
Sammy Watkins, Brandon Ford, DeAndre Hopkins, Giovani Bernard, Eric Ebron, Marcus Leak, Phillip Dorsett, Rashawn Scott, Cordarrelle Patterson, Zach Rogers, Justin Hunter. That’s 11 different receivers that accounted for at least 75 receiving yards against the Wolfpack this year, and five of those went for at least 100 yards. The secondary for NC State played against teams like The Citadel, Wake Forest, Maryland, South Alabama, and Connecticut this year, and none of those teams are exactly known for their passing prowess. Take those games out, and what’s left is a secondary that is allowing over 300 yards per game through the air. The Commodores aren’t going to get to 300 yards in all likelihood, but WR Jordan Matthews has the potential to bust the game wide open all by himself. All too often, teams get caught trying to defend the run against Vandy, and rightfully so, knowing that the Dores average running it just under 40 times per game. However, Matthews had 1,262 receiving yards this year and finished off the campaign by catching a TD in four straight games. He also averaged 8.7 catches and 137.3 yards per game in his last three games as well, all of which were wins and covers for the Commodores.

Key #3: Vandy can’t get cute, has to stay committed to the run
Often times in these bowl games, with so much time to prepare for just one more game, coaches tend to get away from their comfort zone and throw some tricks into the bag that might mess with their own game plans more than anything else. As we just stated, the Commodores have made a living this year out of running the ball and throwing it to Matthews. The 39.1 runs per game was a very high number for this team this year, and that accounted for 59.4 percent of the plays run for the Dores. The Commodores have done a good job this year staying committed to the run regardless of their situation, as they ended up running the ball 57.2 percent of the time in games that they lost, but the higher the percentage, the better the results have generally been. The Wolfpack aren’t going to be able to stop the Commodores and RB Zac Stacy if he gets rumbling in the right direction, and Coach Franklin should know that and stick to the game plan for the attempt at the cover.

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The Tennessee Volunteers needed to win their final four games of the regular season to be able to get here to the bowl season, and they were handsomely rewarded with the right to play at the Music City Bowl in their own backyard in Nashville. The North Carolina Tar Heels might have to overcome a bit of a home field advantage in this one, but they’re still virtually a pick ’em on the Music City Bowl odds on Thursday night. Which team will prevail? Check out our Music City Bowl keys to the game to find out.

Key #1: TJ Yates needs to hang on to the football
Easier said than done. For his career, Yates has really been a much maligned quarterback in Chapel Hill, as he never really seemed to be able to make the big throws and constantly made mistakes that drove the fans batty. He was benched as a sophomore, but in both 2007 and 2009, he threw more INTs and TDs, and he never even threatened the 3,000 yard barrier. Yates was looked at as the weak link to a team that was good enough to win the ACC. In this, his senior season, the roles were reversed. Yates was good enough to win the ACC. His teammates certainly were not. Yates had two 400+ yard passing games in his last four overall, and he ended the season with 3,184 yards and 18 TDs against just eight picks. Without the help of the rest of this offense, this is really the key to keeping North Carolina moving. The running game isn’t there. The receiving options really aren’t plentiful. Yates really needs to do it all by himself. UT’s defense did rank No. 80 this year against the pass at 229.2 yards per game, and if that continues in this one, it is going to be a long, uphill climb for the Vols.

Key #2: Tyler Bray needs to just continue doing what he has been doing
Hey kid, here’s the plan. You’re a freshman, and you sort of thought you were redshirting this year. Instead of doing that, we’re going to throw you into the lineup against the eventual SEC East champions on the road, knowing that you need to win four of your final five games with a team that only has two wins thus far on the year to get us to a bowl game. Got it?…. That’s the story surrounding QB Tyler Bray in 2010. He was in the mix against the South Carolina Gamecocks and performed admirably, leading the team to a near upset and a cover against a 17.5 point spread. The Vols fired back with these last four games and won all four by double digits thanks to Bray. He threw for at least an average of 8.6 yards per attempt in each of his final five games of the year, and he had a TD/INT ratio of 13/5 in these games. He had three games of at least 320 yards through the air and put an average of 37.5 points per game on the board. North Carolina’s pass defense was alright this season in spite of all of the suspensions at the start of the campaign, allowing just 204.7 yards per game, ranking No. 39 in the land.

Key #3: Derek Dooley needs to get his boys to believe
Sometimes, it’s just a matter of some willpower from the coaching staff that can push teams to victories in bowl games. We saw it last year with Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles in the Gator Bowl, and we saw it just yesterday with Ralph Friedgen and the Maryland Terrapins. Sometimes, it works the other way as well. Just ask Mr. Stoops and his Arizona Wildcats what has gone on the last two seasons in bowl games. No one on Rocky Top was really particularly thrilled about the low key signing of Dooley in the offseason after Head Coach Lane Kiffin flew the coop and went to the USC Trojans, especially after Dooley got off to that horrendous 2-6 start to the year. However, this is a fiery, young coach, who really sparked his team at times in very close calls against some of the SEC’s best. If he can really keep this motivation going into Thursday’s game at the Music City Bowl, the Volunteers should be able to put their best foot forward to claim a ‘W’.