CFB YTD: 13-7 (+5.3 units)
After a tough 1-2 Saturday, we're ready to get back to our winning ways in college football. Our pick on the Iowa Hawkeyes couldn't have turned out any better, as they trounced Washington by a large margin. Unfortunately, we suffered bad beats on both Ole Miss and Pitt to lose a little bit in Week 7.
The best overall matchup for this Saturday comes from the SEC. Get ready for the biggest game of the Week 8 college football card by diving into our betting preview for Georgia vs. Texas. Get all the info you need to make the best decisions for your bankroll.
Oddsmakers are expecting a close game between these two Top-5 teams, as the line opened Texas -3.5 on Sunday afternoon. The point spread briefly moved to Texas -4 after a flurry of Longhorn money hit the market. However, there was enough buyback on the Dawgs to bring the line back to its current number of Texas -3.5.
Most of the betting market is looking for this iconic matchup to be high- scoring. The total opened at 55 but has since been bet up to 56.5 or so. The move makes sense considering that both of these offenses are high-powered.
Georgia dropped a tough one on the road against Alabama a few weeks ago, but they rebounded to win two conference games by ten points or more. Carson Beck has the Bulldogs offense running like a well-oiled machine, as he's thrown for 1,818 yards and 15 touchdowns on the young season.
Beck will have to bring his A-game against a Texas defense that only allows 126 passing yards per game (1st). Georgia's defense isn't as dominant as last year's bunch, but they still do a fine job of getting off the field on third down.
That said, the Dawgs have been kind of underwhelming against the pass this season (74th in yards per pass allowed). Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins leads the team with 3 sacks so far this season. He'll need to find a way to make Quinn Ewers uncomfortable in this one.
Steve Sarkisian has helped this Texas team earn a No. 1 ranking, and they certainly looked like the nation's best squad last week against Oklahoma. The Horns fell behind 3-0 but went on to score 34 unanswered points to route their archrival Sooners in the Red River Rivalry.
Ewers is the main man on the Texas offense, and you couldn't even tell that he'd missed several weeks with an oblique injury by the way he dominated OU. His favorite target is Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond, who has already found the end zone three times in 2024. The Horns offense ranks 10th in both yards per play and red zone efficiency.
As good as the Texas offense has been, most of the improvements to this team have been made on the defensive side of the ball. The Longhorns lead the country in both points allowed and yards per play allowed. Anthony Hill Jr. leads the team with 4.5 sacks, so Georgia may have to double-team him to keep Beck upright.
This is one of the rare cases where I'm going to go against my power ratings. My numbers make Texas a 5-point favorite, but I'm rolling with the more battle-tested Bulldogs in this spot. Sure, UGA has a loss but they've also played the 12th-toughest schedule in the country.
Texas has been impressive, but their strength of schedule is just 64th. This will be the Horns' first true test of the year, and I think they'll have a tough time winning the game, much less winning by 4 or more points. Give me the Dawgs!
Prediction: Georgia 31 - Texas 28