Vegas may be buying into Georgia more than most people realize, and the numbers heading into the season opener back that up. The Bulldogs are favored in all 12 of their games right now, a sign that oddsmakers see plenty to like about this schedule.
That doesn’t mean the path is smooth. Two games stand out immediately as the ones most likely to test Georgia: Alabama and Ole Miss.
Those are the only matchups where the Bulldogs are not massive favorites. Georgia is listed as a three-point favorite against Alabama and a 4.5-point favorite against Ole Miss.
Both games come on the road, which helps explain why the margins are so tight. The bigger issue is the quality on the other side.
Alabama and Ole Miss both beat Georgia last season, and both return strong rosters this year. Among the teams on Georgia’s schedule, those are the ones Vegas views as the toughest outs.
Still, the oddsmakers are saying Georgia should win both, and that alone is a good sign for a team looking to stack another strong season.
The bigger picture is that Georgia’s schedule looks friendlier on paper than what the Bulldogs are used to. They still check in with the 20th most difficult schedule in the country, but that also makes it the easiest slate in the SEC. For a program that usually lives inside a brutal schedule grind, that’s a notable break.
That setup could give Georgia a real chance to push for another SEC Championship, where the Bulldogs could become just the third program to win the league three years in a row since the SEC Championship game began.
The catch is the stretch that begins with Alabama and runs through Ole Miss, with Florida and Auburn in between. That four-game run is the section of the schedule most likely to decide whether Georgia gets to Atlanta in the first place.
If the Bulldogs come through that gauntlet, the road ahead looks much clearer for both Atlanta and the College Football Playoff. Nothing in the SEC is ever simple, but on paper this is one of the most favorable schedules Georgia has had during Kirby Smart’s tenure.
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Have Every Right To Hate This Vanderbilt Kickoff Slot
The SEC has set up Georgias Week 5 trip to Vanderbilt for an early start, with the Bulldogs and Commodores slated for either noon or 12:45 p.m. ET rather than a night kickoff. It is a jarring assignment for a game that already has some extra juice, especially with both teams unbeaten at 3-0 and the conference choosing to put Arkansas at Texas A&M and McNeese State at LSU into the night windows instead.
Georgia fans have an obvious gripe, and the matchup only gets more interesting because Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis was once committed to Georgia before ending up with the Commodores. A primetime slot would have given the game a bigger stage, but instead the Bulldogs will have to get ready for an early one with plenty of context already baked in and a little less spotlight than many around the program probably expected. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Still Has One Clear Issue Despite Another Comfortable Win
Another Saturday brought another comfortable result for Georgia, but the wider SEC picture kept shifting around the Bulldogs anyway. Ole Miss 32-24 win over LSU at Vaught Hemingway Stadium pushed the Rebels up to No. 4 in the AP Top 25, and Trinidad Chambliss turned in the kind of performance that changes the conversation around a league in which Georgia remains one of the standard-bearers.
For Georgia, the ranking movement only sharpened the focus on what still needs cleaning up, even after another routine victory. The Bulldogs are still very much in the mix with Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee in the leagues weekly churn, but the latest results made it clear that comfortable wins alone do not erase the one issue that continues to linger in the background. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Just Got The Nate Frazier News Fans Needed
Nate Fraziers brief scare against Arkansas looks like just that, a scare. Kirby Smart said the Georgia running back suffered a minor injury in that game but is expected to be available for the Bulldogs upcoming matchup with Oklahoma, a welcome bit of news as the schedule starts to tighten up.
Georgia also appears to be trending in the right direction elsewhere on the depth chart. Linebacker Chase Linton, defensive back Tyriq Green and wide receiver Isiah Canion are all progressing well from injuries and are expected back soon, though it remains unclear whether any of them will be ready for Oklahoma. For a team heading into a tougher stretch, the bigger takeaway is that the Bulldogs are staying relatively healthy at the right time. [Read more 🡒]