Vegas oddsmakers are setting the bar high for Georgia after dismantling Tennessee State at home 63-3 in their season opener.
The Bulldogs were 47.5 point favorites over Tennessee State last week which Georgia ultimately covered with ease. This was the first time Georgia has covered a spread of at least 38.5 points with Kirby Smart as their head coach, and their reward for doing so is another massive spread as FanDuel Sportsbook has Georgia favored over Western Kentucky by 40.5 points.
Vegas is buying the Georgia hype after convincing Week 1 win
It's important to not read into Georgia's win too much since the level of competition they played was so low, but they deserve a lot of credit for handling their business like they did. Georgia was predicted to blow Tennessee State out and that's exactly what they did, so they deserve a little praise for doing so and not let them hang around.
Other teams around the country were less fortunate against the "lesser" team on their schedule. Just look at Michigan who beat Western Michigan by one point after being outplayed all game and being gifted a free second to run one final play. They were predicted to win by nearly four touchdowns and arguably should've lost that game, but Georgia looked like the better team the entire game.
Vegas saw how great Georgia looked the entire game. They saw their starters scores in the first five possessions of the game and witnessed Georgia's backups continue to dominate Tennessee State for the rest of the game. Vegas is convinced that Georgia will do something similar to Western Kentucky this weekend, so that is why they are setting a massive spread for the second week in a row.
Kirby Smart’s main focus against Western Kentucky will remain unchanged
Heading into their season opener Kirby Smart was hoping Georgia would get a chance to play their backups a lot. Not only would this allow their starters to get rest more and avoid injury, but it would give the backups a chance to develop more and in cases like their backup quarterback battle give them a chance to compete for the backup job.
Smart will likely want that same outcome this weekend. He probably would love nothing more than to give his starters extra rest again this season and to allow Georgia's backups the chance to play a lot again too, and if Georgia plays like they did last week they'll probably be given that opportunity.
It may be wise for Smart to let the starters play a little more this week though regardless of how the game goes. SEC play begins after this week and Gunner Stockton and the starters will likely have to play the entire game for the rest of the season, so to ensure their conditioning is where it needs to be they should probably play at least the first half if not a little more.
It still is important for them to get rest though and to allow their backups a chance to play again and that ultimately will be Georgia's goal again this week.
Game odds adjust periodically and are subject to change.
Add us as a preferred source on Google