It was simply over a month in the past that Alabama humbled Georgia. The Crimson Tide ripped aside the nation’s high protection, cruising to a 17-point victory that was by no means unsure.
Monday evening, the 2 groups meet once more, and similar to that first assembly, Alabama is the underdog.
Sure, that’s proper. The defending nationwide champion — with arguably the best coach of all time (Nick Saban), the Heisman Trophy winner (Bryce Younger) and probably the most dominant defensive participant within the nation (Will Anderson Jr.) — is predicted to return up brief in opposition to the very workforce it so just lately manhandled.
“If you happen to take a look at the season in its entirety, Georgia was far more constant and significantly better all through [the regular season],” mentioned Chris Andrews, the sportsbook director at South Level in Las Vegas. “The one time they did lose, and lose fairly handily, was to Alabama. However Alabama has been far more inconsistent. They misplaced to Texas A&M, they in all probability ought to’ve misplaced to Auburn, Florida. There have been plenty of video games they may’ve misplaced, plus they’re lacking their high receiver [John Metchie III].”
The SuperBook Sports activities opening line favored Georgia by 1. South Level and DraftKings put in the Bulldogs as 2.5-point favorites. The road has fluctuated at totally different locations, rising to three earlier than settling again in at 2.5. Georgia was a 6.5-point favourite within the first matchup.
Jay Kornegay, govt vice chairman of SuperBook Sports activities; DraftKings director of race and sportsbook operations Johnny Avello; and Andrews all utilized the identical reasoning: Georgia was the higher workforce on a weekly foundation in the course of the common season. It didn’t have any shut calls. Each Kornegay and Avello see the revenge issue as a big edge. Not solely is Georgia trying to bounce again from the SEC title sport, but it surely hasn’t received a nationwide championship since 1980. Avello felt Georgia’s semifinal opponent, Michigan, was higher than Alabama’s foe, Cincinnati.
“There’s a few the reason why we expect Georgia ought to be the favourite,” Avello mentioned. “Their energy ranking is slightly larger, simply by a contact, and it’s the revenge issue the bettors will see. They’ll assume the Georgia protection will present up for this one after they didn’t present up for the primary one.”
All three oddsmakers have seen elevated motion on the sport, greater than in recent times for school soccer’s championship sport, with this a lot time earlier than kickoff. It has gone in each instructions. For example, Kornegay mentioned the SuperBook obtained a $187,000 wager for Alabama and one $145,000 wager for Georgia.
There are a couple of elements concerned, the longtime bookmakers say. The rematch has truly added intrigue as a result of the primary outcome was so sudden, and so has Alabama’s uncommon position because the underdog. It was favored in 92 consecutive video games earlier than the 2 groups met the primary time.
“Enormous betting sport — one of many greatest faculty betting video games of all time,” Avello mentioned.
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