When the Tennessee Volunteers and Georgia Bulldogs meet, the game itself could very well determine who goes where in response to the college football playoff.
With only four teams getting into the playoff, how a team wins and loses games has become something of a national debate with the criteria changing year after year. For the Bulldogs and Volunteers, a win on Saturday not only continues the undefeated season each one is on but will all but lock up a spot in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta in about a month.
The Volunteers bring one of the best offenses in college football history, and Georgia can respond with a top defensive group.
Who comes out victorious in the matchup of the year? Let’s take a look.
#1 Tennessee Volunteers vs. #3 Georgia Bulldogs
Where: Sanford Stadium
When: 3:30 pm – ET
How to Watch: CBS
Spread: Georgia -7.5
Over/Under: 67
The Matchup
Hendon Hooker has now become the favorite to win the Heisman trophy and for good reason. The 24-year-old quarterback leads the nation in touchdown to interception ratio (24:1) and leads one of the best offenses in Tennessee program history.
Georgia on the other hand lost a lot of talent to the NFL draft last season, but the defending national champions have yet to lose a game this year. Stetson Bennett may not be a quarterback that’s close to Hooker skill-wise, but he’s made the plays necessary to help Georgia win.
The matchup itself comes down to if the Volunteers’ offense can put up points against a good, but not dominant Bulldogs defense. If Hooker plays as well as he has though, Tennessee could be looking at the perfect opportunity to get to Atlanta.
Top Prop Bets
Props Courtesy of DraftKings sportsbook. For more, click here.
Tennessee Team Toal Points -29.5
The Volunteer offense hasn’t put up less than 30 points yet this season. With Hendon Hooker playing at an extraordinary level right now and with plenty top receivers at his disposal, it’s no question that this offense is going to put up over 30 points again on Saturday.
Georgia’s defense hasn’t given up over 30 points this year either, however, it’s important to remember that they haven’t seen an offense like this yet this year. As good as Georgia’s defense is, this should be expected to be a shootout, regardless of who comes out on top.
1st to Score – Tennessee +115
Any offensive prop bet for Tennessee should be bet on from now until the end of the year. There hasn’t been a single defense in college football that has shown it can handle the Volunteer offense and it doesn’t look like that is going to stop anytime soon.
While I can easily see Georgia finding a way to stay in the game with their offense, I think it’s pretty easy to see how Tennessee can overwhelm the bulldogs at home and that starts with scoring early and often. This is an easy prop to win.
