Georgia football is one week away from their showdown with No. 14 Alabama in Athens. The college football world will have their eyes set on this game as there hasn't been two better programs than the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide over the last decade.
Vegas oddsmakers have had their spread set for this game for a few weeks now, and as one would assume it has adjusted over time. But the latest movement to this spread makes no sense.
Georgia vs. No 14 Alabama opening spread
As of 3:30 pm EST on Saturday, Sep. 20, Georgia is a 3.5 point favorite over Alabama according to FanDuel Sportsbook. 3.5 points may seem like a pretty solid spread for this game initially, but it doesn't make much sense when factoring in where the spread used to be.
The first spread fans got to see was published a few weeks ago and Georgia was favored by 6.5 points. As time went on that spread shrunk to 4.5 points before moving to 3.5 where it is now. Three points is a lot for a spread to move, especially when Alabama has had some struggles so far this season.
As everyone knows, Alabama lost their season opener aginst Florida State. That loss may not look as bad as it originally did, but a loss is still a loss. And it wasn't like it was a close game either as the Crimson Tide lost by 14 points. The Tide have had two solid wins since this loss as they beat UL Monroe 73-0 as well as Wisconsin 38-14. But no win against UL Monroe should impact the spread positively and Wisconsin just lost by 17 points at home to Maryland, so that isn't really a great win either.
Why is Vegas beginning to favor Alabama over Georgia?
Georgia's struggles in week two against Austin Peay explain some of this movement, but UGA did just beat Tennessee on the road last week. One would assume that would eliminate any concerns about Georgia but apparently it has not.
Alabama however has had Georgia's number over the last 10 matchups as the Crimson Tide have won nine of those 10 games, so maybe that is factoring into this movement as well.
Regardless, Vegas thinks this game is going to be much closer than they originally thought, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter all that much. The second this game begins all of the outside noise no longer matters as two of the most historic programs in the country will do whatever it takes to emerge victorious.
But Vegas does have some explaining to do because this line movement doesn't make much sense.