Georgia football is just a few days away from the biggest game of their season. No. 5 Ole Miss is coming to Athens on Saturday, Oct. 18 and the entire college football world will have their eyes on this game.
Vegas just released their opening spread for this game, and as one would assume Georgia is the favorite. But oddsmakers are very high on the Bulldogs to win this game to the point where it doesn't make much sense.
Georgia vs. No. 4 Ole Miss opening spread
As of 2:00 pm EST on Sunday, Oct. 12, Georgia is a 6.5 point favorite over Ole Miss according to FanDuel Sportsbook. At first glance 6.5 points may not sound like a lot since it is only a touchdown, but Georgia's recent results create some doubt as to why Georgia is being favored by this much.
The Bulldogs have faced three other really strong teams this season, and so far they haven't looked terribly strong against them. Everyone knows that Georgia lost to Alabama a few weeks ago, but the Bulldogs also had a tough time in their win against Auburn and Tennessee.
Both Auburn and Tennessee very easily could have beat Georgia if a couple plays went their way instead. On top of that, Georgia's offense was nonexistent at times against both teams and their defense couldn't get stops either. But even though that is the case, Vegas oddsmakers still believe in Georgia and think they will beat the Rebels by a touchdown.
Why is Vegas so confident in Georgia vs Ole Miss?
While Georgia has had their issues this season, so too has Ole Miss. The Rebels most recent game saw them beat Washington State 24-21 after being favored to win by 33 points. On top of that, Ole Miss only beat Kentucky by seven points and Arkansas by six points which doesn't instill much confidence in the Rebels either.
All of these close wins against subpar competition might explain why Georgia is favored by 6.5 points. This game also being in Athens likely is a big reason why Vegas is so high on Georgia as well. But at the same time it's hard to imagine Georgia deserving to be favored by this many points at this point in the season.
In just a few days Georgia will learn if they are contenders in the SEC or if they are pretenders. A win would put them in the drivers seat to make it to Atlanta while a loss would make it next to impossible to make the SEC Championship game. So if Georgia wants to win the SEC this is a game they need to win, and apparently Vegas has all the faith in the world that they will be able to pull it off.