Paul Finebaum predicts winner of Georgia-Tennessee showdown

Live from beautiful Baton Rouge, Louisiana, prepping for the Florida at LSU contest in Week 3, SEC Network star Paul Finebaum stopped by SportsCenter to make his pick on the other notable SEC matchup of the weekend, Georgia at Tennessee

College GameDay is in town for Tennessee's best shot at the Bulldogs perhaps in this decade. The stakes couldn't be higher for two College Football Playoff hopefuls meeting in their first huge ranked-on-ranked bash of the year. But also, the Volunteers haven't beat UGA since 2016 and must nab the victory to prevent Georgia from breaking Tennessee's own all-time series record of eight straight wins with a ninth in a row over the Vols on Saturday.

When breaking down this massive matchup, Paul Finebaum explained that Tennessee has confidence heading into the game with an advantage, he perceives, at quarterback.

"Well, they have the best quarterback, and that's the first time you can say that maybe in a while," Finebaum said of Tennessee's chances. "The reason is Joey Aguilar, who went to Appalachian State, then to UCLA, then to Tennessee during the Nico controversy. He is really playing at a high level and he looked great against Syracuse in the opening game."

Meanwhile, Georgia's offense hasn't quite exploded like fans had hoped heading into the season with Gunner Stockton taking the reins while Kirby Smart added dangerous pieces to the wide receiver corps.

"The other side of the coin here, though, is really the problem for Georgia and why so many Georgia fans are nervous and Tennessee fans are the most optimistic they've been in this series: Gunner Stockton has been very pedestrian with the Dawgs," Finebaum declared, explaining that Stockton just hasn't looked great at any stage of his career quite yet.

"He filled in last year in the SEC championship game for Carson Beck, he acclimated himself with them in the Sugar Bowl game, and he was very average," Finebaum continued. "So far this year, he has not looked very good at all. That's why there is a lot of push and pull, the line is very narrow, Georgia is a 3.5-point favorite, this game is in Knoxville, though, where Tennessee rarely loses."

With all that said, what's the pick? Paul Finebaum says...

"You're going to make a Tennessee graduate very unpopular right now. I am picking the Dawgs to do what they always do: beat Tennessee."

There you have it. Finebaum likes the QB advantage for Tennessee but still sticks with Georgia to gut out their ninth straight win over the orange and white.