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
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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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Many think that the NC State Wolfpack are going to be the team to get the job done and become that coveted double digit seed to make it to the Elite 8. However, the Kansas Jayhawks are one of the favorites on the March Madness odds, and we know that they aren’t going to go down without a fight. Check out our Sweet 16 predictions for this big time clash!

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 NC State Wolfpack vs. #1 Kansas Jayhawks
Midwest Region Location: Scottrade Arena, St. Louis, MO
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Friday, March 23rd, 10:15 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. Kansas Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: The Wolfpack have to play this game loose
It is tough to say that a team from the ACC has to play like it has nothing to lose, knowing that this is a side that has gone up against the likes of the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils this year. However, what we have found over the course of the last few weeks is that NC State is really playing with a different sort of swagger about it. The team doesn’t feel like it is choking away those pivotal games that it needs to get into the dance, and though it didn’t ultimately make it to the ACC Tournament Final, it sure looked like one of the best teams in the conference. CJ Leslie has to keep his head on straight, and the team has to do whatever it can to get the ball in the hands of Scott Wood from long range. He is an assassin and a veteran, and he is the type of player that can put the whole team on his back and lead the club to a tremendous victory.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
NC State Wolfpack +8
Kansas Jayhawks -8
Over/Under 142.5
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Key #2: The Jayhawks need to dominate in the paint
You read that right: Dominate. This is what the Jayhawks just haven’t been doing in this tournament. There have been too many shots from the outside, and players like Jeff Withey and Thomas Robinson, though are getting their stats, just don’t seem to be anywhere near as dominating as they were at times during the Big XII campaign. This also means that the little guys have to get into the paint and do some slashing, and it almost seems like the moment has been too big for Tyshawn Taylor to withstand even though this is now his second year here in the tourney. Robinson and Withey both have double-double potential, but they are going to have to be imposing to a somewhat undersized Wolfpack outfit that might not be in the greatest of shape coming into this one to compete on the glass.

Key #3: The defensive pressure has to be there for Kansas
This more or less goes right along with the fact that the Jayhawks have to be a dominating team in the paint. Every now and again, you see this defense go to sleep. We saw it at home against the Missouri Tigers when they went on that big time run in the comeback at Allen Fieldhouse, and we saw it in spurts with Robbie Hummel and the Purdue Boilermakers. Still, this is a team that ranks in the Top 50 in basically every major defensive category, and if it is going to play like that team, it is going to take a truly remarkable shooting effort for the Jayhawks to get knocked out. Getting lazy on the defensive end of the court can, and has been this team’s downfall in the past, and we are afraid that the only way that Rock Chalk gets booted here in St. Louis, a de facto home court, is if it doesn’t have the mindset to get the job done.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

Week 4 of college football betting action is here! But before you get started with the NCAA football odds, be sure to check out our college football prop picks for the first day of the fourth week of the season, including the NC State vs. Cincinnati picks!

TJ Graham Over/Under 88.5 Receiving Yards
It is interesting how Graham has really stepped up in this, his senior season. He only had just over 700 receiving yards in his first three seasons with the Wolfpack, and now, he has 252 yards and 12 receptions thus far this year. Of course, this Cincinnati defense, though not the greatest in the world, is still a heck of a lot better than those of two FCS teams and Wake Forest. We just have a hard time believing that QB Mike Glennon is going to be finding all that much success, and if that’s the case, Graham won’t be able to put up fantastic stats either. Graham Under 88.5 Receiving Yards (-115 at BetOnline Sportsbook)

Isaiah Pead Over/Under 97.5 Rushing Yards
Pead really has run wild in his first three games of the year, including putting up 155 yards on just 14 carries against the Tennessee Volunteers. What’s interesting is the fact that Pead has 257 yards on the ground, yet he has only had 27 touches of the football. This is a lot more serious game, and Jameel Poteat, George Winn, and the likes won’t be getting as many touches as they did against the Akron Zips and the Austin Peay Governors. Though Pead won’t be averaging darn near 10 yards per carry in this game in all likelihood, there is no way that we can see the Wolfpack and their relatively shoddy defense keeping Pead under 100 yards on even 16-18 carries. Pead Over 97.5 Rushing Yards (-115 at BetOnline Sportsbook).

By the standard set by the Florida State Seminoles. they have never had much in the way of luck against the NC State Wolfpack, particularly in Raleigh. Nor have they ever really played that well on primetime football, especially during the week. However, if they want to win the ACC Atlantic Division, they are going to have to put those demons aside and come forth with their best effort on Thursday night to take care of the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Here are our NCAA football props picks for this nationally televised game on ESPN!

Russell Wilson Over/Under 3.5 Touchdowns + INTs
Florida State has a ball hawking secondary that is really one of the most athletic units in the nation. However, unless Wilson plans on throwing oodles of INTs, we have no idea why the oddsmakers are asking him to get to four TDs + INTs in this one. Wilson has 18 touchdown passes this season in just seven games, which is a remarkable number. However, the majority of these TD tosses have come against iffy defenses, save the three TD game against the Virginia Tech Hokies a few weeks ago. Wilson is up against it now, perhaps against the best defense in the ACC. Yes, the Noles will probably get their INT, possibly even two. After all, Wilson has tossed nine picks in his last four games. Remember that this was also a man who only threw one INT in his entire freshman season. Florida State isn’t allowing three TDs passes, and if that’s the case, we’re banking on Wilson to not throw at least three picks again. We’ll take our chances on Wilson going Under 3.5 TDs + INTs (+125 at Hollywood Sportsbook) on Thursday night.

Will Willie Haulstead Score a Touchdown?
QB Christian Ponder loves to throw the ball all over the field to a number of different receivers, but Haulstead, at best, is option No. 3. You’re talking about a man that has only scored in two different games this year, and has only had four total catches in FSU’s last two games overall. Aside from that, the Wolfpack have a secondary that is better than what the Noles are used to seeing on average. The sophomore is a big time deep threat, but asking him to score a TD in at least one out of three games to beat us is ludicrous. There’s no way that we aren’t on the right side of this prop more often than not. Go with a Haulstead Not to Score a Touchdown (-180 at Hollywood Sportsbook).

Will Jermaine Thomas Score a Touchdown?
Here we go again with another prop that the oddsmakers don’t really know what they’re doing. Thomas really became the “feature” back in this FSU offense when RB Ty Jones got hurt a few weeks ago. However, Jones came back into the fold last week against the Boston College Eagles, and as a result, Thomas only ended up with five carries for the entire game. We expect to see him touch the rock a solid 12-15 times between receptions and carries in this one, but that doesn’t mean that he is finding pay dirt even half the time. There is no real rhyme or reason for who HC Jimbo Fisher elects to deploy down by the goal line, and we aren’t so sure that Florida State won’t be doing more throwing the ball in tight in this game anyway. Once again, the oddsmakers don’t know what they’re doing with this one. Go with Thomas Not to Score a Touchdown (+120 at Hollywood Sportsbook).