North Carolina Tar Heels
North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday the 8-4 West Virginia Mountaineers face-off with the 8-4 North Carolina Tar Heels in the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte. Odds makers are calling the Mountaineers a slight favorite going into this one. NCAA betting lines have West Virginia at -2 with the total in the game sitting at 46.

Early in the season both the Tar Heels and the Mountaineers had thoughts of a BCS Bowl, however both stumbled down the stretch.

North Carolina started the year strong, going 5-1 through the first half. But after a 3-3 finish the Tar Heels have ending up third in the ACC Coastal Division. Though North Carolina is a little disappointed in the final results, they do take solace in the fact they showed a big improvement from their 2007 finish of 4-8.

"You kind of overlook the good things you did this year because we didn't get to the ACC championship, or we didn't accomplish some of the things we wanted to," said Tar Heels safety Deunta Williams said. "We
did have a good season. We're still going to have a good season."

A win Saturday would give them a lot of confidence going into 2009.

A 6-2 start also had West Virginia riding high, but the Mountaineers split their final four games. Both losses were only by a combined seven points, but that dropped them into a tie with Pittsburgh and Rutgers for second place in the Big East.

Saturday will be West Virginia's seventh-straight bowl appearance, including their 48-28 upset of Oklahoma in last season's Fiesta Bowl. The Mountaineers will be looking to make it two in a row under coach Bill Stewart. The West Virginia native was the Mountaineers' interim head man a year ago after Rich Rodriguez's sudden departure to replace Lloyd Carr at Michigan.

"We're facing a very formidable, tough, top-notch opponent," Stewart told West Virginia's official Web site. "I don't know what we're going to do with this bunch."

As the spread indicates, this one will be close. Take the Mountaineers and give the 2 points.