Miami's team total in Vegas is 30.5
Correct. The sites that are booking it standalone are using 30.5.
That falls smack in line with the spread and total...Canes favored by 14 with an over/under of 46.5
Extrapolate those two and you basically get an estimate of Miami 30.5 Virginia Tech 16
As I've always emphasized...a pointspread is indeed a prediction of the outcome. You can always identify simpleton numbskulls when they insist it is not. I got Las Vegas head oddsmaker Michael Roxborough to concede on the Stardust Line that a pointspread is a prediction of the outcome. Actually concede is not the proper word. Roxy was a standup authoritative guy, unlike many of the sportsbook director wimps in that town who tried to hide behind the mysterious conventional wisdom preferred by the public.
When I posed the question to Roxy on that radio show, he immediately said, "Of course it is."
As I mentioned last week, Virginia Tech has allowed 31+ points in a string of ACC games dating to 2018. Now 7 in a row. Scoring 31 points needs to be the bottom line toward how the offense is judged.
BTW, speaking of Las Vegas the Canes game this week is perfect evidence not to pay full attention to that early Sunday afternoon "send" number for the following week's game. That "send" number is always always posted here quickly but it is a fragile flawed number, especially when things are in flux. Virginia Tech's power rating really dropped last week after the lopsided home loss to Duke. Consequently the power ratings make this game as high as Miami -16. But the "send" number often doesn't account for that type of thing. It is the reason the ridiculous -8.5 showed up here on Sunday. Meanwhile the reputable joints that actually book games for decent amounts opened at -13 or -13.5.
I don't understand the rush to post that number. When I lived in Las Vegas the only value in that number was that Harrah's would often post it. That's why we would hang out at Harrah's, in desperation to grab some juicy bargains. They were the only joint dumb enough to actually post that number, even if it was for small amounts like a nickel ($550) maximum.