Too close for comfort is a perfect way to describe it. After getting off to a tremendous 16-3 (4-2) start to the season, Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs have lost three conference games in a row. While all were Quad 2 or better defeats, falling to Texas, Tennessee, and Texas A&M in succession has been a tad problematic. It has knocked the Dawgs down several pegs in a few recent Bracketology updates.
In Joe Lunardi's latest for ESPN, he has Georgia falling to a No. 10 seed and playing No. 7 Saint Louis in the first round. That not only has Georgia dropping from a No. 7 to a No. 10 seed over the course of four biweekly updates, but it has the Dawgs as one of the last four teams to get a bye into the field of 68. As far as if they can flip the script vs. LSU on the road, let's take a look at the latest betting odds...
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, LSU will be laying 1.5 points to visiting Georgia on the road for a Saturday evening tip in Baton Rouge. The associated moneylines are by the slimmest of margins with LSU at -115 and Georgia at -104. This game's projected point spread comes in at a combined 163.5 points. FanDuel believes LSU is going to beat Georgia by a final score of something around 82.5-81.
In a way, this Quad 1 road game for UGA may end up deciding the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament fate.
Latest betting odds suggest Georgia at LSU shall go down to the wire
When looking at the nine conference games Georgia has left, LSU is one of five Quad 1 games remaining on the Bulldogs' slate. They have a home game coming up after that vs. Florida (Feb. 11), a road game at Kentucky (Feb. 17), a road date at Vanderbilt (Feb. 25), and a home game vs. Alabama (March 3) on the Quad 1 side of things. A Georgia win in any of them will open up some wiggle room.
As for their four other regular-season games, they have a Quad 2 game at Oklahoma (Feb. 14), a Quad 2 home date with Texas (Feb. 21), a Quad 3 matchup vs. South Carolina at home (Feb. 28), and a Quad 2 road date at Mississippi State to end the regular season (March 7). One could easily argue that those are all must-win games for UGA. A loss at home to South Carolina would be utterly devastating.
So in all honesty, a road victory over LSU could be the game that decides if Georgia is comfortably in the tournament field or not. If they go 4-5 in their final nine games, UGA will finish the regular season with a 20-11 (8-10) record. That should be good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, without the SEC Tournament having any bearing on the situation. Again, the LSU game will provide wiggle room.
At this time, Georgia being a 1.5-point road underdog largely hints at its chances of making the field.