Georgia at Georgia Tech Odds

Written by Jack Jones

In a battle between Top 25 teams Saturday, the No. 13 Georgia Bulldogs will travel to face the No. 25 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in this annual in-state rivalry. The Bulldogs have clinched the SEC East title and will be moving on to the conference championship, while the Yellow Jackets have been eliminated from the ACC title race. Georgia has won nine of the last 10 meetings in this series, including a 42-34 home victory last season. These teams combined for 941 total yards, and the Bulldogs were victorious behind 271 passing yards and three touchdowns from Aaron Murray.

Taking a look at the spreads for Week 13 college football, I find a line of Georgia -6 over Georgia Tech.

Georgia

The season could not have started out any worse for the Bulldogs, who opened 0-2 with home losses to then-No. 5 Boise State and then-No. 12 South Carolina. Georgia (9-2, 7-1 SEC) has reeled off nine straight wins since, and this team is the perfect example of where perseverance can get you. They have taken advantage of an inconsistent SEC East division, and they have proven to be the cream of the crop in this side of the conference. And for now, Mark Richt has saved his job.

It wasn’t pretty last Saturday when the Bulldogs were trying to clinch the East title with a home game against lowly Kentucky. Georgia struggled all day offensively, but the defense rose to the occasion. The Bulldogs could only muster up 317 total yards, and they turned the ball over four times. However, the defense limited the Wildcats to 165 total yards while coming up with four big turnovers of their own. Murray completed just 16 of 29 passes for 162 yards with one touchdown and one interception, including a 7-yard scoring pass to Marlon Brown with 14:55 to play. That made it 19-10 Georgia, which ended up being the final score.

Georgia ranks 34th in the FBS in total offense (427.7 yards/game) and 4th in total defense (263.5 yards/game). They rank 2nd in the land in run defense (81.3 yards/game), which is huge considering they will be up against one of the nation’s top rushing teams Saturday. Murray is completing 60.6 percent of his passes for 2,446 yards with 28 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Isaiah Crowell has rushed for 832 yards and five scores, clearly living up to all of the hype coming into his freshman campaign.

Georgia Tech

After opening the season 6-0, the Yellow Jackets appeared primed to contend for an ACC title. But three losses in five games later, and they have been eliminated from contention. Georgia Tech (8-3, 5-3 ACC) suffered a 3-point loss at Virginia and a 37-26 loss to then-No. 10 Virginia Tech after leading the Hokies in the fourth quarter. Those are the two teams that sit ahead of them in the Coastal Division, and the two that will battle it out this week for a chance to play Clemson in the conference title game.

Georgia Tech was able to avoid a letdown last Saturday with a 38-31 road victory over an improving Duke team. The Yellow Jackets were more dominant than the final score would indicated, outgaining the Blue Devils 549-351 for the game. They rushed for 364 yards, including 136 and a touchdown from quarterback Tevin Washington. He also completed 6 of 13 passing for 185 yards. Tech got 66 rushing yards and two scores from Devin Sims as well.

The Yellow Jackets head into the Georgia game ranked 16th in total offense (469.0 yards/game) and 42nd in total defense (359.5 yards/game). Their strength is a triple-option rushing attack (323.5 yards/game) that ranks 2nd in the FBS. This Georgia Tech team has had much more success through the air than in year’s past. Washington has thrown for 1,481 yards and 10 touchdowns to six interceptions, while also rushing for a team-high 849 yards and 14 scores. Sims (662 yards, six TD) and Orwin Smith (570 yards, 10 TD) get the bulk of the carries aside from Washington. Stephen Hill leads all receivers with 23 grabs for 707 yards and four touchdowns.

Betting Trends

Georgia is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall, but just 1-4 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games.

The Yellow Jackets are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games, but only 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall.

The Bulldogs are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 meetings at Georgia Tech, and the road team is 12-3-1 ATS in the last 16 meetings.

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