Latest Dawg odds

Per FanDuel:

• Georgia currently sits as a 17.5 point favorite over the Ducks for September 3rd, the season-opener for both teams.
• The next game that is on the books is the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party against Florida on October 29th where Georgia is also a large favorite, coming in at -15.
• One week later, Georgia takes on Tennessee in Athens as 15.5-point favorites.
• Despite the Wildcats being considered some of Georgia’s toughest competition in the SEC East, the Bulldogs are 16-point favorites on November 19th.
• The wrap things up in the regular season, Georgia hosts Georgia Tech where the Bulldogs are 28-point favorites.

Georgia is a bigger favorite against Oregon in Atlanta than at home against Tennessee.  Hmmm…

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Slammin’ before halftime

Matt is back with his first half point differential metric.  Here’s how the 2021 SEC regular season played out:

SEC

The 2021 SEC standings.

1HPD in SEC play (title game excluded).

Georgia was on pace to be one of the best SEC champions of all-time until their lackluster performance in the SEC Championship Game. I’m sure most Georgia fans will take the end result though. Meanwhile, despite winning the SEC in back-to-back years, Alabama showed some vulnerability as evidenced by their relatively low first half differential. Is this a temporary setback (they did play for the national title after all) or a sign that Saban’s stranglehold on the sport is slipping ever so slightly?

I’m gonna say nah to that.  But it does give credence to the idea that Alabama had to keep their offensive foot on the gas a lot longer than Georgia did, which explains some of the statistical differences in the two teams’ passing attacks.

Reddit wisdom

This is so spot on.

This West Virginia fan on @RedditCFB really summed up the long-term cost of conference realignment perfectly. pic.twitter.com/C6f0oUeqMv

— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) July 3, 2022

Not that the suits care…

“So, despite all those great names, the pick here is easy.”

Classic “other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?” vibes from Brandon Marcello here:

Alabama’s Bryce Young is the SEC’s best quarterback with the game on the line…

Yes, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett hoisted the national championship trophy with a win against Alabama (and was tremendous in the College Football Playoff with five touchdowns and zero turnovers), but Bryce Young lifted the Heisman as the top player in the country for his consistent, week-to-week performances and late-game heroics– and if his that’s not enough to be trusted in the final moments of the game, go ahead and take a chance on the other QBs in the SEC who have never faced such high-pressure moments and delivered under a time crunch.

I will give him credit for not mentioning Metchie and Williams, though.

Flat on the Flats

Some Georgia Tech nuggets for your morning pleasure:

–Most books have Clemson listed as an 18.5 to 19.5-point favorite vs. Ga. Tech in the season opener. The total is 49.5 or 50 points. The Tigers have won seven in a row over the Yellow Jackets in this rivalry. These teams will play on Monday night of Week 1.

–Ga. Tech finished last season -1,055 in net yardage and -2 in turnover margin.

–In Phil Steele’s National Unit Rankings which go up to the 58-67 range at most positions, Ga. Tech only made the list for QBs at No. 59. In Steele’s ACC Unit Rankings, the Yellow Jackets are No. 9 (out of 14 teams) at QB, No. 10 at RB, No. 12 at WR, No. 11 on the offensive line, No. 12 on the defensive line, No. 13 at LB, No. 12 in the secondary and No. 12 on special teams.

–FanDuel has Ole Miss listed as a 10-point road favorite (at a -105 price) at Ga. Tech in Week 3. The Rebels host Troy in their opener and then Central Arkansas before making the trek to Atlanta.

–FanDuel has Ga. Tech listed as a 28-point underdog in its regular-season finale at Georgia.

Ole Miss -10 might be the “bet the ranch” bet of the year.

Greg, it’s your problem now.

I only hope once the media gets done thoroughly chewing over expansion at SEC Media Days it can turn to the next burning question the conference will soon face.

Big 12 director of officials Greg Burks pleaded directly with Oklahomans on Thursday with the final comments of his annual presentation on rules changes when he was finally asked the question he’d been anticipating all morning.

“Is the Horns Down issue a dead issue?” asked Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman in the final question to Burks during his discussion on college football rule changes at Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium.

“I knew that question was coming sooner or later,” Burks cracked. “Let me be very clear with Horns Down. I have no ownership of this symbol or this symbol (gesturing Horns Up and Horns Down). It’s the same as all other symbols. It’s when you do it, who you do it to and in which manner you do it.

“Please, the state of Oklahoma, I meant no offense. You don’t have to send me emails. We are just looking at that as any other act, and you note that unsportsmanlike conduct is in there. It’s not about Horns up or Horns down. It’s the manner that you do anything on the field to an opponent that is an unsportsmanlike penalty.”

Who will be the first SEC school to be hit with a penalty for a Horns Down gesture, and why will it be Ole Miss?

I’ll take “duh” for $200, Alex.

I presume “Will expansion discussion overshadow football talk at SEC Media Days?” is a rhetorical question from Chip Towers.

Oh, my, Miz Scarlett.

Hale Almand, Jr.:  No lawyer is ever going to make a more embarrassing argument in court than I did with my ”We may not be able to make a university student out of him, but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbage man when he gets through with his athletic career.”

NCAA and SEC lawyers:  Hold our beers, Junior.

… In repelling previous efforts by college athletes to gain recognition as employees under the FLSA, the NCAA emphasized case law (Vanskike v. Peters) indicating that while the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, there is a so-called “slavery loophole” for prisoners and, arguably, college athletes. The key question for the Third Circuit is whether Judge Padova applied the appropriate test in dismissing the NCAA’s motion to dismiss.

McDonald, while referencing a South Park episode that satirized the NCAA and member schools as slaveholders, finds it telling that a core defense against paying college athletes is the slavery loophole. “The fact the NCAA—and now SEC—actually rely upon legal precedent about the 13th Amendment slavery loophole to defend the exploitation of free Student Athlete labor shows, in this case, truth is stranger than fiction.”

And to think some of y’all believe all that plantation talk was over the top.