Georgia vs. Tennessee: Betting trends
It’s almost time for the biggest game in the history of Sanford Stadium. No. 3 Georgia will host No. 1 Tennessee in the highest-ranked matchup in the history of the venue. It’s the first ever top-three showdown between the hedges and the first top-five clash since 1983.
The Volunteers are ranked No. 1 for a reason. They have wins over two top-10 teams according to the College Football Playoff Rankings. Tennessee knocked off No. 6 Alabama in Knoxville a few weeks ago and before that it blasted No. 10 LSU at its place.
Georgia has just one really impressive win over No. 8 Oregon in the season opener. The Bulldogs won that one 49-3 with the nation watching but none of UGA’s other seven victims are ranked in the CFP top 25.
The betting line for this game opened at Georgia -12.5 according to VegasInsider.com. That number didn’t last long. Within a couple of hours it had been bet down to Georgia -9 or -8.5. It is now at eight points and has been for a couple of days.
The line coming down means that a lot of bets and money have been put on Tennessee vs. the spread. VegasInsider’s analysis reflects that. So far 81 percent of the bets are on Tennessee to cover. That covers a variety of point totals because some got it at 12.5 while others had to settle for a lower number all the way down to eight. That’s a big figure for the number of bets but the money leans even harder to Tennessee. VegasInsider says that 92 percent of the cash is on the Vols against the spread.
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That’s not as high as it was earlier this week. Two days ago 97 percent of the against-the-spread money was on the Volunteers. That number fell to 94 percent on Wednesday.
Let’s move to the money line, which is betting either team straight up. Again, Tennessee is getting a lot of love from the public. VegasInsider doesn’t provide the percentage of money on either team for the money line but it does say that 78 percent of the bets are on Tennessee straight up.
As of right now, sports books will take a hit if the Volunteers leave Athens, Ga. with a victory. But let’s look at one more interesting betting trend in this game. The over/under total opened at 59.5. That seemed low to us and the public agreed. The over has been hit so hard that it has risen a full 6.5 points to 66. Things have leveled out there a bit as 65 percent of the bets are on the over but 66 percent of the money is on the under.
Kickoff between UGA and UT is set for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be televised by CBS as its SEC Game of the Week.
