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Georgia Football a Big Favorite, but Kirby Smart Sends Big Warning

Dean Legge|
Georgia Football QB Gunner Stockton at Sanford Stadium.
Georgia Football QB Gunner Stockton at Sanford Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS - Kirby Smart’s Georgia Football program has been heavily favored to win before. In fact, that’s been a common occurrence since 2017.

But this Saturday’s game at Arkansas is a bit of an outlier - even for the Bulldogs. Georgia Football is listed as a 24.5-point favorite by FanDuel to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks this Saturday in Fayetteville.

Smart’s Bulldogs have played over 100 games against power four conferences, Cincinnati (CFP) and Notre Dame. Only six other times since Smart took over have the Bulldogs been such massive favorites on the road.

In those six games Georgia won the actual contest by an average score of 45-9. The closest contest of the six was No. 1 Georgia’s 26-22 win at Missouri in 2022. Smart said Monday that he’s preparing the Bulldogs for a massive fight in Fayetteville.

“Playing on the road in the SEC is - humility is always a week away,” Smart said. “It’s a tough environment regardless of where you play in the SEC. There are no bad environments in the SEC. There are only raucous environments in the SEC, and they're really tough to play on; tougher earlier in the year than later.”

In fact, the Bulldogs have been massive favorites in the Ozarks before only to have to dig themselves out of trouble.

Smart’s Bulldogs were listed as 28-point favorites over Arkansas in 2020, and had to move to backup quarterback Stetson Bennett in the second quarter to jumpstart a sloppy offensive effort for the Bulldogs in Fayetteville.

The Bulldogs were losing as four-touchdown favorites at the half, but Bennett went 20 for 29 for 211 yards and two touchdowns - salvaging a performance that led Smart to suggest his Bulldogs "Look in the Mirror” after the 37-10 win.

“You find out a lot about yourself when you look in the mirror and you have to say: ‘What do I have to do make my team better?’ I think the whole team has to do that - every man on our team from special teams to defense to offense,” Smart said after the game.

Smart’s Bulldogs have on average been a 14-point favorite in games against power four conference foes over the last 11 seasons.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.


If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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Dean Legge
DEAN LEGGE

After two-plus decades of covering the Georgia Bulldogs and the SEC, Dean Legge is one of the definitive voices in Athens and beyond. Legge has authored two books - DAWGSTRUCTION and DOUBLE DAWGS - with each chronicling Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs' run to national titles in 2021 and 2022. Legge has been a Heisman Trophy voter since 2005 and a Biletnikoff Award voter since 2009. He’s covered SEC Championships, Peach Bowls, Orange Bowls, Sugar Bowls, the Rose Bowl Game, College Football Playoff National Championship Games, the NCAA Tournament, the College World Series as well as a slew of college football, basketball and baseball games. Legge graduated from Coker College in 1999 with a degree in Political Science. He played both tennis and basketball for the Cobras. After graduating, Legge completed his academic career at the University of Georgia where he earned a Master of Public Administration from the School of Public and International Affairs in 2001. In 2008, Legge was elected President of the Coker College Alumni Association. He served on the Board of Trustees at Coker from 2009 to 2017 and was a member of the Executive Committee, Student Services and Enrollment Committee and Athletic Committee in that time. Legge is a native of Tucker, Georgia.

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