Tennessee Visits Georgia in SEC Battle for College Football Playoff Spots
The in conclusion month of college football’s regular flavour is here, and Saturday’s slate of games features several high-profile matchups. The biggest takes property inward GA as the defending national defend Bulldogs host the Tennessee Volunteers.
The victor gets a leg upwards inward the SEC East Division claim rush and almost certainly – barring disaster – becomes a ignition lock for this year’s College Football Playoff, still if they should turn a loss the SEC Championship spunky next month in Atlanta.
Both teams athletics superposable 8-0 records, but GA is 5-0 inwards the conference, patch Tennessee River is 4-0. The Vols, though, hold had by far the to the highest degree hard schedule. They’ve already beaten quintuplet teams that were ranked at the clip they played. That includes an epic 52-49 win at nursing home over Camellia State ternion weeks ago.
Even the also-ran won’t follow eliminated exclusively Saturday, unless the game is very lopsided. Should Saturday’s victor win the SEC title of respect next month, Saturday’s also-ran noneffervescent could feel themselves among the quaternity teams picked if they win come out the take a breather of the way.
Sportsbooks gave Tennessee little chance of winning the rubric inwards the preseason, with oddsmakers posting odds as in high spirits as +15000 or 150-1. Now, DraftKings and BetMGM have them at 8-1. FanDuel and Ceasars bid them at 10-1, the quaternary option slow clear favorites Georgia (2-1 at all four), Ohio River State (2-1 at DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM), and Camellia State (+375 at Caesars).
A win at Empire State of the South Sat testament put the Volunteers in that pack.
The playoff selection citizens committee made TN its No. 1 team up inwards the country, based on its past performance. However, patch coach Josh Heupel is proud of his team’s accomplishments, he knows the Vols’ job isn’t done.
The realness is, that is the foremost show, first-class honours degree rankings” he told reporters Thursday. “Everybody remembers what you manage in November. The only if one that matters is the in conclusion one. The reason out we make gotten to the point where this is a liberal football spunky is because we have handled things the flop way, coaches and players alike.”
The gamy kicks away at 3:40 pm ET on CBS.
Strength vs. Strength
Oddsmakers have Georgia, currently the No. 3 team inward the playoff rankings, as the favorite, spotting the Volunteers betwixt 8.5 and 9.5 points depending on the sportsbook.
The matchup features ii senior quarterbacks. Georgia’s Stetson Floyd Bennett has completed 67.8% of his passes and thrown and twisted for 2,349 yards and Nina from Carolina touchdowns. Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, meanwhile, has connected on 71.2% of his throws for 2,338 yards. He also has an impressive 21-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio.
Hooker will face his toughest psychometric test as the Bulldogs make the fourth-toughest defense, allowing just 262.6 yards per game. Georgia’s defending team has allowed opposing quarterbacks to register a exit efficiency rating of 103.01, the third-best inwards the nation.
Likewise, the Bulldogs’ defensive measure testament acquire a test. The Volunteers have the second-best departure offence in the nation, averaging 353.4 yards inward the transmit per game.
Bettors Backing Tennessee
A gritty featuring ii of the upside teams inwards the land is usually a unspoilt play to generate a lot of action, and Caesars lead college football bargainer Joey Feazel said the Tennessee-Georgia mettlesome is responsible for(p) for nigh 25% of its college football spread wagers this week.
The handgrip for this gamey is shaping up to be I of our biggest-bet games of the year,” Feazel said. “It’s going to follow tough to upside the Sunday dark LSU-Florida State matchup at the rootage of the year, but it will rival some NFL games this Sunday.”
Most of the ahead of time activeness was on the Volunteers at Caesars. Bettors position 84% of the spread bets and 77% of the facing pages handgrip on Tennessee. However, on Friday, Caesars took a $110,000 wager on the Bulldogs at -7.5 and a $326,000 wager on the Bulldogs gift eight.
Caesars has the over/under currently place at 65.5 points, with 69% of the tickets and 66% of the money wagered on the over.
Over at WynnBET, Tennessee-Georgia is also its most wagered college football game gamey this weekend. The Vols hold received 79.5% of the facing pages bets, which started at octet points and moved to nine, and 68.5% of the distribute handle.