No. 2 UGA listed as a 32.5-point favorite over Vols
ATHENS - Dean Legge’s guide for betters heading into this weekend’s game with Tennessee
No. 2 Georgia opened as a 32.5-point favorite vs. Tennessee on Sunday. The 32.5-point line means the Bulldogs have an 99.34% chance to win the game. It is the second largest spread for UGA against any SEC foe in history (2014; No. 13 UGA vs. Vanderbilt).
Georgia being favored by such a lopsided amount means the Bulldogs will have to cover the biggest line in Georgia-Tennessee history. Georgia was previously favored by 17 points in 2014. The Vols’ previous high for being favored came in 1996, when they were favored by 14 in Athens over Mike Bobo, Hines Ward and company.
Of note before the 2018 line, Georgia, on average, has been favored in this series by 1.6 points. The underdog in the series has won an impressive
Those upsets came in: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2015. The Vols have upset UGA twice, while the Dawgs have upset UT twice. The most stunning upset came in 2004 when Tennessee (+12) beat No. 3 UGA 19-14 in Athens. Georgia’s biggest upset in the series game in 2001 in Knoxville when the Dawgs (+11) took out No. 6 Tennessee. In both 2001 and 2004 Tennessee won the SEC East.
Still, Georgia’s massive favorite status sticks out when compared to other SEC lines since the early 1990s. In games UGA has played in, the most heavily
Meanwhile, UGA is 15-1 all time in games straight up where the Bulldogs are favored by 20 points or more (1994 Vanderbilt +20). Most recently, No. 5 Georgia (-15) beat Auburn 38-0 in 2012 in Auburn.
Georgia continues to be highly ranked. Under Kirby Smart, ranked UGA teams are 15-0 against unranked teams - winning by an average score of 39-14. In five of those 15 contests the opposing team scored ten points or fewer. In eight of those games the Bulldogs scored 42 points or more.
With the win over No. 24 South Carolina. Georgia is now 27-50-4 against ranked teams on the road. Kirby Smart is 2-2 against ranked teams on the road and 7-5 overall against ranked teams.
UGA-Tennessee is one of the most viewed college football series in the sport. Since 2012, UGA-UT has averaged 4,730,000 viewers per game. That’s a higher average than the likes of Texas-Oklahoma, UGA-Auburn, Tennessee-Alabama, UCLA-USC, Clemson-South Carolina.
Georgia-Tennessee delivers “about” as big an audience as Florida-Tennessee, but a little lower than the Cocktail Party (5,365,000 average viewers in that time).
No. 6 Georgia's 34-31 thrilling overtime win over Tennessee at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 has drawn the largest UT-UGA number in the last few years - 5,610,000.
THIS WEEK’S BIG NATIONAL GAMES:
No. 4 Ohio State (-4.5) at No. 9 Penn State
Legge’s Thoughts: We’ve seen this before, but I’ve got Ohio State to win and cover. Huge game. Michigan appears to have a pulse again, so maybe the will be around at the end of the season to disappoint once more, but it sure seems like this is for the playoff spot the Big Ten didn’t get last year. Penn State survived App State. Ohio State ain’t App State.
No. 7 Stanford (+4) at No. 8 Notre Dame
Legge’s Thoughts: Notre Dame survived Vanderbilt. The Trees survived Oregon. I’ve got the Trees here. This is a critical game for the race to the playoffs. Obviously, Stanford wins and it will have a few games against ranked teams. They will have made a solid case with wins over USC, Oregon and Notre Dame. We will see what happens, but I will take Stanford in an upset.
TELL ME ABOUT THEM DAWGS
Georgia maintained its No. 2 ranking in this week’s AP Poll. The Dawgs are ranked No. 2 in this week’s AP Poll - up from No. 3 last week. Clemson slipped to No. 3 after toying around for too long with Georgia Southern a week ago. Georgia extended its lead over the Tigers in the race for No. 2 slightly. The Tigers now trail Georgia by 13 points - it was 11 last week.
All time Georgia is 9-2 as the No. 2 team in the country.
Georgia’s performance last week wasn’t ideal for a team making the case for being one of the top four teams in the land. But considering what happened across the landscape of college football - with ranked teams losing random games or underperforming and saving themselves late - UGA’s 14-point win at Missouri now looks pretty solid.
Injuries are becoming something to very much keep note on. Starting offensive linemen Andrew Thomas (ankle) and Ben Cleveland (leg) left UGA’s game at Missouri and didn’t return. Thomas’ ankle status is uncertain right now. Insiders told Dawg Post on Saturday night that Cleveland has broken his leg and would be out for weeks.
Several other Bulldogs, Monty Rice and Tyler Simmons included are getting back from injuries as well.
A top-five matchup between No. 2 UGA and No. 5 LSU in on the horizon it seems. CBS doesn’t need anything dumb to happen before that clash. Georgia will host Tennessee and Vanderbilt and will likely be massive favorites in both. LSU will host Ole Miss Saturday night before traveling to the Gators the week before the UGA game.
It isn’t out of the question that UGA-LSU could be the No. 2 or No. 3 overall regular season TV game in 2018 when it is all said and done. Right now Ohio State-TCU is the high for the 2018 season three weeks in at 7,232,000 viewers. Side note: CBS said that Alabama-A&M was the No. 1 sporting event of the day on Saturday (and bigger than Tiger on NBC) with a 3.5 rating. That should equate to just under 6 million viewers.
WITH A SHIVER IN MY BONES JUST THINKING ABOUT THE WEATHER
The Googles tells us that that in the hour of kickoff this Saturday in Athens we should expect Isolated Thunderstorms. There is a 30% chance of rain for the game. Kickoff should check in around 84 degree (so still pretty warm). The close of the game should be about 78 degrees. UGA has not had a rain game in some time, and this game has the second-highest chance of rain for a game this season thus far. Wind for the game is set to be nominal.