Georgia goes into Georgia Tech rivalry game as massive favorites
The opening line for Georgia-Georgia Tech was released on Sunday afternoon, and needless to say, Vegas doesn’t expect this year’s edition of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate to be too close. Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs are 35.5 point favorites according to the Vegas Insider Consensus with FanDuel having the Dawgs out there on the market at that number. Circa Sports is slightly lower on Georgia’s chances but still sees the Bulldogs winning big as 33 point favorites.
Georgia is coming into the contest at 11-0 on the season and in search of its second straight unbeaten regular season. The Bulldogs beat Kentucky over the weekend 16-6 in what wasn’t the prettiest of affairs.
“I was really proud of our guys tonight with the resiliency and composure and the toughness they showed,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the game. “We knew it would be this kind of game. We talked about it all week. We actually showed clips from the last time we came up here in terms of the number of snaps played and the shrinking of the game which I think was smart by Mark to keep the game tight and lower the number of possessions. Under those conditions, you’re going to play games like this. Really proud of when our guys backs were against the wall, how they came out fighting in what they do. Certainly could have played better in the red area. We could have stopped some drives defensively where we gave them a couple of conversions and penalties and things. I give Kentucky a lot of credit for bouncing back and being a really physical football team. We won the line of scrimmage tonight which we had to do.”
As for Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets are 5-6 and fighting for bowl eligibility after Saturday’s win over North Carolina. Interim head coach Brent Key, who played at Georgia Tech from 1997 to 2000, has won three games since taking over, the same amount that Geoff Collins had in each of the last three seasons overall.
“I don’t know a lot of about them,” Smart said when asked about Georgia Tech after the game. “Obviously, we broke them down a lot in the offseason. I’ve got a lot of respect for Brent. I know Brent well, I’ve known him for a long time. I respect the rivalry. I look forward to going and preparing for them. I look forward to honoring these seniors in the class, one that has a chance to be the winningest class that’s ever had a chance to play at Georgia, and they had a COVID year.”
Kickoff time for Saturday’s game is set for 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Georgia will honor its senior class before the game with it being their final career game at Sanford Stadium. In 115 all-time meetings between these two teams, Georgia holds a 69-41-5 advantage including four straight since a loss in Kirby Smart’s first season on the job. The Bulldogs won 45-0 last year in Atlanta. This will be the Yellow Jackets’ first trip to Athens since 2018 with the 2020 game being cancelled due to COVID-19.
