Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich predict Week 8 winner between Georgia, Texas

In arguably the biggest game of the entire college football season, the Georgia Bulldogs will travel to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns in Week 8.

It’s the two teams first meeting as SEC competitors, and it’s bound to be a doozy. Ahead of the highly-anticipated clash, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich locked in their predictions, as everyone is looking forward to this game.

“I’d go with Texas,” Finebaum predicted, going with the Longhorns. “Even though Georgia has played a more competitive schedule, they beat Clemson handily, they played Alabama to a one-score game in Tuscaloosa, but I don’t like the vibes. Carson Beck hasn’t had a lot of support. The defense has really let Kirby Smart down.”

Dinich evidently agrees, as she’s also riding with Texas to get the win: “I’m going to go with Texas too, because of the depth in that quarterback room, and Georgia’s inability to run the ball,” she explained.

The Longhorns are coming off a 34-3 drubbing of Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry showdown, while Georgia hasn’t been the same dominant force we’ve seen over recent seasons, already losing to Alabama and skating by teams like Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Of course, the Bulldogs can change the narrative with a huge win against the top team in the country in Week 8. Time will tell, but the victor of Georgia-Texas will be set up nicely for the College Football Playoff, even with Kirby Smart’s team having a loss on the season.

Paul Finebaum: Georgia will be in a ‘fight for survival’ if Bulldogs lose to Texas

Alas, there’s a lot at stake for Georgia when the Bulldogs travel to take on Texas this weekend. Georgia lost a thriller to Alabama a couple of weeks ago and now get the No. 1 team in the country, a team that happens to also be in the SEC.

With two losses, Georgia cannot afford another misstep post-Texas. If they want to make the playoff, they likely have to win in Austin, according to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. Safe to say, this is not quite the Georgia of the last few seasons, at least right now.

“Georgia doesn’t want to lose two of these three ‘Game of the Century’s,’” Finebaum said on SportsCenter. “Remember two weeks ago when they lost Alabama and another loss would almost be incalculable to think about Georgia, the team that has literally owned college football here for three years. They didn’t lose a regular season game, you have to go back to COVID!

“Now, they’re underdogs, and very few people think they’re going to win here. So if they do lose, they’re in a fight for survival. They’ll have to go to Ole Miss in a couple of weeks, and they can’t lose again, or otherwise, they will be out of the playoffs.”

Moving forward, Georgia has to get through Texas, play rival Florida and then have ranked SEC games against Ole Miss on the road and will host Tennessee. The narrative around Georgia has changed a little bit, but even critics like Paul Finebaum will surely change their tune if they come out of Austin unscathed.

On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this article.