UGA Football Faces School-Record Betting Line vs. Tennessee Tech
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ATHENS - UGA Football opened as a massive 53.5-point favorite to beat Tennessee Tech. It is the largest line the Bulldogs will have to cover in school history. Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs kick off the home opener at 2 PM.
This line matches largest line ever (UGA -53.5) in school history during Kirby’s first season in Athens - a narrow one-score victory over Nicholls in 2016. UGA’s tight 26-24 win over the Colonels came a week after UGA beat No. 22 North Carolina 33-24 at the Dome in Atlanta.
Two years ago Georgia (-53) beat Samford 33-0 a week after being No. 11 Oregon 49-3 in Atlanta. Saturday’s game has an over/under set at 62.5 meaning Vegas sees the Bulldogs winning the game by a score of around 58-5.
The Bulldogs will take on Tennessee Tech at 2 PM in Athens in a game that can only be streamed. Need to know how you can watch the game? No problem - just click here…
This is the fifth time in school history the Bulldogs have been favored by more than 50 points. In all four cases, Kirby was the head coach of the Dawgs. In 2016, UGA (-53.5) beat Nicholls 26-24. In 2022, No. 2 UGA (-53) beat Samford 33-0. In 2021, UGA (-52.5) took out Charleston Southern 56-7. In last season's opener, No. 1 UGA (-50.5) beat Tennessee-Martin 48-7.
UGA has never covered a 50-point line in school history (0-4). The under has hit in three of the four previous games with 50-plus point lines.
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Beck By Popular Demand
Senior Carson Beck improved to 14-1 in his career as the starting quarterback (6-1 against top 20 teams) following the 34-3 season-opening win over No. 14 Clemson. He finished 23-for-33 for 278 yards and two TDs against the Tigers. The Georgia offense is bolstered by four starting linemen returning in LT Earnest Greene III, LG Dylan Fairchild, RG Tate Ratledge and RT Xavier Truss. The skill players share the load as Beck utilizes multiple options in the backfield, at wideout and tight end.
Last season, he directed the Bulldogs to a 13-1 record in his first year as a starter. He ranked third in all of FBS with 3,941 passing yards and had a school record 72.4 Completion Percentage, good for fifth best nationally. Against ranked teams, he posted 73.9 Completion Percentage (125-169) for 1,693 yards, 13 touchdowns and only two interceptions. The 2023 offense set a school record by averaging 7.26 yards per play and led the country with a 3rd Down Conversion of 55.2 percent.
The Standard is the Standard
The more things change the more they stay the same. Seven of 11 starters return from Georgia’s 2023 defense that ranked fifth nationally in Scoring Defense (15.6 ppg) and led the nation in 3rd Down Conversion (25.7%). In the 2024 season opener, the Bulldogs limited 14th-ranked Clemson to three points including a first half shutout. Last year, Georgia opened the season by posting first-half shutouts against UT Martin and in week two against Ball State. This past Saturday, Clemson’s first half totals were 76 yards on 20 play and eventually finished with 188 yards of total offense on 52 plays. CU was 4-for-13 on 3rd down.
Georgia’s leading tackler against the Tigers was junior Jalon Walker with six stops including 1.5 sacks. Five Bulldogs were next with four tackles apiece including sophomore Raylen Wilson who had half a sack too. Junior Malaki Starks registered another incredible interception, the sixth of his career.
JUNKYARD DAWGS TRI-BLEND T-SHIRT
Aiming To Be Elite On All Fronts Again
The Bulldogs opened the 2024 season ranked No. 1 in the AP and US LBM Coaches poll for the third time in school history (2008, 2023). After dispatching No. 14 Clemson last Saturday, Georgia (1-0) should remain No. 1 this week. The Bulldogs have the longest active streak of being ranked in the AP top 10 (50 straight polls). The Bulldogs will face five teams preseason ranked in the top 15 including three of those on the road in No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Ole Miss and the fourth at a neutral site (No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta).
Did You Know? Georgia is the only team to have finished in the top seven of the final AP poll in each of the past seven seasons. The last team to start and finish a season at No. 1 was Alabama in 2017. Did You Know, Part II? Head coach Kirby Smart is unbeaten against all active head coaches over the past five years. Georgia is 63-6 in that span. The coaches no longer active who have wins over Georgia during this stretch: Nick Saban (3) along with Will Muschamp, Ed Orgeron and Dan Mullen. Did You Know, Part III? The Bulldogs were the only FBS team to finish the 2023 season nationally ranked in the top five in both Scoring Offense (40.1 ppg/5th) and Scoring Defense (15.6 ppg/5th).
In the Smart era, the Georgia defense has ended the year ranked in the top five nationally in Scoring Defense five times including leading the nation twice (2019 at 12.6 ppg & 2021 at 10.2 ppg).