The New Era Pinstripe Bowl venue is one of the best of bowl season – Yankee Stadium, and this year we get a nice geographical rivalry as the Maryland Terrapins will face off against the Virginia Tech Hokies.
This is a matchup of 6-6 teams looking for a strong performance to carry over into next season, but will the Hokies, without their head coach, be prepared for Taulia Tagovailoa and the Terps’ high octane passing attack?
Here are our free college football picks and predictions for Maryland vs. Virginia Tech on December 29.
Maryland vs Virginia Tech odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
This line has seen a ton of movement since opening at the beginning of the month. Virginia Tech opened this matchup favored by a field goal but that number didn’t last long. The line jumped the fence and sat at Maryland -1, where it sat for nearly two weeks before Hokies quarterback Braxton Burmeister announced he was entering the transfer portal, moving the line to Maryland -3.5. Meanwhile, the total hit the board at 52.5 and has been bet up to 55.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Maryland vs Virginia Tech predictions
Predictions made on 12/20/2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Maryland vs Virginia Tech game info
• Location: Yankee Stadium, New York, NY
• Date: Wednesday, December 29, 2021
• Time: 2:15 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN
Maryland vs Virginia Tech betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Maryland: No injuries to report.
Virginia Tech: Braxton Burmeister QB (Out), Tre Turner WR (Out), Jordan Williams DT (Out), Arame Barno DE (Out), Jermaine Waller CB (Out).
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Maryland is 5-1 ATS in its last six non-conference games while Virginia Tech is 1-5 ATS in its last six non-conference games. Find more NCAA betting trends for Maryland vs. Virginia Tech.
Maryland vs Virginia Tech picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Spread analysis
This looked like a pretty even matchup on paper when this bowl between former ACC rivals was first set, but it appears to be getting more and more one-sided as kickoff approaches, as Virginia Tech is looking like a shell of its best self in this game against Maryland.
J.C. Price will be the man leading the Hokies in this one after the team dismissed Justin Fuente a few weeks ago. And while Price did a good job getting this team ready for its season finale against rival Virginia, he is just keeping the seat warm for incoming coach Brent Pry, and will have to do so without a large contingent of key players.
And that starts with starting quarterback Braxton Burmeister, who recently announced he would enter the transfer portal and not play in this game. Burmeister’s absence goes along with WRs Tre Turner and Tayvion Robinson, DT Jordan Williams, DE Arame Barno, and CB Jermaine Waller who are sitting this one out to prepare for the NFL Draft.
That does not bode well for a defense that was torched the last two weeks of the regular season and now has to try and stop Taulia Tagovailoa and a high-flying Terps passing attack.
The Hokies allowed 414 and 357 yards to Virginia and Miami respectively and must deal with Tagovailoa who is setting school records at Maryland this season. The Terps rank 14th in the country in passing yards per game with Tagovailoa going for 3,595 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 picks.
While the Terps have lost some key players to injury, Tagovailoa still has enough weapons at his disposal to take down the Hokies.
Prediction: Maryland -3.5 (-110)
Over/Under analysis
The early money on this game has come in on the Over, likely because of each team’s inefficiencies on the defensive side of the ball but it is becoming harder and harder to envision that the Hokies will be able to do their part on offense to send this one Over.
Not only have the Hokies lost their starting signal-caller and two of their top receivers, but they are down to their third quarterback after Knox Kadum also entered the transfer portal. That means RB Raheem Blackshear is basically the Hokies' only weapon and one of the only things the Maryland defense is OK at is stopping the run, allowing a mediocre 4.1 yards per carry.
And it’s not like this Virginia Tech team was scoring in bunches before being down all these players. The Hokies ranked 92nd in the country, scoring 24.8 points per game this season.
On top of that, while Maryland should be able to move the ball, the Terps have had their issues in the red zone ranking 122nd in red-zone scoring percentage. We’re leaning towards the Under here.
Prediction: Under 55 (-110)
Best bet
I would have probably bet Maryland at this number is Braxton Burmeister was playing, and now he’s not. The Hokies just shouldn’t be able to slow down or keep up with the Terps here. Unfortunately, while both teams are 6-6, they are in very different spots. Maryland is looking to take the next step in the Big Ten next season while this is clearly a transition spot for Virginia Tech. With so many key pieces missing, we’ve got to go with the Terps.
Pick: Maryland -3.5 (-110)
Did you know that if you parlayed our Maryland vs. Virginia Tech picks, you could win $26.45 on a $10 bet?
Use our college football parlay calculator to create your own parlays and see their potential payouts.
