Commodores vs Bulldogs NCAA Football Spread/Handicapping
Vandy fought hard but they came up just short in games against South Carolina and Northwestern.
Vanderbilt Commodores (1-2) vs #6 Georgia Bulldogs (3-0)
Saturday September 22
Sanford Stadium – Athen, GA
7:45PM
Moneyline: Georgia -550, Vanderbilt +425 from TopBet.eu
Spread: Vanderbilt -13.5
O/U: 55
Vanderbilt
This is a tough team that is playing good defense but has had trouble making dynamic plays on offense to lead the team to victory.
They got fat last week with a shutout victory against Presbyterian but this week at Georgia might just be the toughest test yet, possibly of the whole season.
Vandy QB Jordan Rodgers has the right pedigree to be successful and when you watch him you kind of wonder how he wound up with the Commodores. He is joined in the backfield by Zac Stacy who is unheralded among SEC runners but had little or no success prior to the game against Presbyterian last week.
Against the big boys like Georgia they need to be able to run the ball or else it is lights out for Rodgers and the passing game.
The last time Vanderbilt beat Georgia was in 2006. Since then they have lost 5 in a row with a 3-2 ATS record. The smallest number from that group of games was back in ‘07 when the number was just 7.
Vandy is tough but in the end they don’t have enough talent to beat a team like Georgia, especially on the road.
Georgia
The Bulldogs have really yet to be tested this season with victories over Buffalo, Florida Atlantic and Missouri. [soliloquy id=”82219″] I thought the Tigers might upset at home but Georgia put them away in the second half pretty easily.
The defense was supposed to be dominating this year but so far has just shown flashes. They are giving up more than 20ppg to weak competition putting some doubt into whether this is really an elite unit.
The most impressive part of Georgia’s start is the play of freshman running back Todd Gurley After dismissing Isaiah Crowell from the team there was concern about who would tote the rock but Gurley has been superb, averaging nearly 10 yards per carry with a 100 yard kick return to boot.
The longer Georgia stays in the BCS hunt the more consideration he may get as a Heisman candidate as QB Aaron Murray has been just average so far.
Georgia is just 1-2 ATS as they have failed to completely overwhelm inferior opponents so far this season.
They are back to SEC play and Vanderbilt seems to have been able to drag them down to their level in the past. If this number stays below 14 then Georgia is a decent play.
They just haven’t show that they are capable to playing the kind of complete game to cover big numbers this year.
Spread Pick: Georgia -13.5
O/U Pick:
Score Prediction: Georgia 38 – Vanderbilt 16
