NCAAF Odds Favor South Carolina over Georgia

The NCAAF odds in the sportsbook favor the home team, the South Carolina Gamecocks, but the team to bet might be the Georgia Bulldogs.

Before getting into why, let’s just say that in Week 2 of this young college football season both South Carolina and Georgia butt heads in a game that could determine their 2010 College Football destinies. That’s how important this game between Georgia and South Carolina is this weekend.

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Will the favored Gamecocks stop the nationally ranked Georgia Bulldogs from handing them their first loss? 

#21 Georgia Bulldogs vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

Where:  Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina
When:  September 11th, 2010 at 12:00 pm EST
TV:  ESPN2, ESPN3.com

NCAAF Betting Lines

Georgia Bulldogs                    +3 -110

South Carolina                        -3 -110

The NCAAF game odds are right where they are based on the trends.

• The Georgia Bulldogs are 4 and 1 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
• The Road Team is 4-0-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.
• The South Carolina Gamecocks are 5 and 0 ATS in their last 5 games in September.
• The South Carolina Gamecocks are 4 and 1 ATS versus a team with a winning record.

The trends simply say that this should be a tight, very difficult, game for either team to win straight up.  That leads me to believe that Georgia is the team to bet against the spread in this game.

I always like to take the points in a game between two evenly matched teams.  These two teams appear to be evenly matched.  The Georgia Bulldogs beat Louisiana-Lafayette 55 to 7 last week.  The South Carolina Gamecocks beat Southern Mississippi 41 to 13. Those are comparable scores and the Gamecocks did play what some might consider a better team, but how evenly matched are these two teams, really?  There are actually some stats from each game that make me favor the Bulldogs more ATS than the Gamecocks ATS in this game.

South Carolina did give up only 13 points to Southern Mississippi last week, but they allowed Southern Miss to rack up 404 yards of total offense.  The game could have been much closer then what it ended up being.  Georgia’s offense racked up 377 yards against the Ragin’ Cajuns last week.

They figure to get close to that many this week against South Carolina.  As far as defense is concerned Georgia’s new 3-4 scheme worked to perfection against Louisiana-Lafayette.  They allowed the Ragin’ Cajuns to amass only 128 total yards.  The Gamecocks will get way more than that this week but way more could still be less than 300 total yards.

There are two more reasons to like Georgia in this game.  The first is the fact that their top rusher, Washaun Easley, who was held out of last week’s game, will suit up this Saturday against the Gamecocks.  The other fact is that Georgia coach Mark Richt is 33 and 6 on the road.

Based on the NCAAF odds, I have to go with Georgia in this game.  They’re getting 3 points and history tells us that Richt’s squad will be out to win. Also, I believe that Georgia’s defense might be somewhat better than South Carolina’s.

I’m going with the Bulldogs.

NCAAF Betting Pick:  Georgia Bulldogs +3 -110    

Read more NCAAF odds predictions by clicking this link.

Sources:  espn.com, usatoday.com, covers.com