No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs Open as Big Favorites to Thump Florida Gators
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs are considerable favorites to win in the Jacksonville against the Gators.
Bookmakers opened with Georgia as a considerable 14-point favorite on FanDuel to beat the Gators.
While considerable, the line does not guarantee success for the Bulldogs. That line indicates the Bulldogs have around an 85% chance to win the contest. Georgia has been a two-touchdown favorite or more 61 times since the 2010 season. They are 59-2 in those contests straight up (2016 Vanderbilt, +14; 2019 South Carolina, +21).
However, the Gators are one of only five teams since 2010 to upset the Bulldogs as a double-digit underdog. That result came in 2014 when Will Muschamp and the Gators stunned No. 9 Georgia in Jacksonville by racking up 418 yards rushing and only attempting six passes all day. That is the most rushing yards the Bulldogs have given up in a game since 2010.
That game stands as the only time a double-digit underdog has won the game this century. Only one other time since 1990 has a double-digit underdog won the game outright - in 1997 when Robert Edwards and the Dawgs shocked Steve Spurrier and the Gators. Georgia defensive back Kirby Smart had two interceptions that day. Georgia was listed as an 18.5-point underdog in that contest.
This has been one of the warmest Georgia seasons in some time. Last year the Bulldogs played in an average of 64-degree weather. That was due, at least in part, to a delayed start to the season with lead to very cold weather later in the year. But only once a season ago did the Bulldogs play a game with kickoff at 80 degrees or more.
This season the Dawgs have played in 80-degree weather four times and are averaging a kickoff temperature of 80 - that would go down as the warmest season in the last 11 seasons for the Bulldogs.
The coldest game Georgia has played so far this season is the Kentucky game, which checked in at 75 degrees - nearly 20 degrees warmer than the meeting between the two a season ago. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 80s in Jacksonville when the Dawgs and Gators play.
Kirby Smart is 15-4 in games where the temperature is 80 degrees or more at kickoff.
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