Georgia vs Florida SEC Football Picks and Odds: Oct 30

Georgia vs Florida Betting Preview

WagerTalk college football handicapper Tony Finn offers his Georgia vs Florida SEC Football betting preview for Saturday, October 30 from TIAA Bank Stadium in Jacksonville. At the time of posting, the No. 1 Bulldogs are 14-point favorites over the Gators with the total sitting at 51 points.

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Georgia vs Florida Predictions

Georgia Bulldogs -14 vs Florida Gators
Total: 51 Points
Dating back to last season, Florida is 4-8-1 against the spread in the Gators’ last 13 games including 0-4 ATS in their last four road games.

It is the time of year when casual dialog on the topic of football is more than an exchange of views. Watercooler talk turns to repartee, which morphs into more of a Brannigan than deliberation. Every year without fail Halloween weekend brings out the best and the worst of those passionate about their college football. The dominion of one’s team equates to one’s social standing in Gainesville and Athens. The guiding and mumming that the English, Scottish and Irish partake in before and after their Halloween football parties rule the day, today, just as it did in 1904. Or was it 1905? The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party may not officially carry the title of the single greatest pregame ritual in the history of college football, but those who witnessed Run, Lindsay, Run. Ole Ball Coach get picked off three times, and coach Richts’ Stomp would lovingly disagree.

Coaches come up with game plans that completely befuddle the opponent. Sports Illustrated contributor Andy Staples wrote about the history of the Florida and Georgia pregame parties a half-decade ago and captured the smell and taste as well as anyone ever has. Staples characterizes the-Georgia Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt as having lit the fuse in 2015, “Richt cracked the door Wednesday on the possibility of a quarterback change before Saturday’s meeting with Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., it only strengthened the possibility that this is going to be one of “those” editions of the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.”

“All I can tell you is we’ve been repping more than one guy with the ones,” Richt chuckled to the national media in 2015, the Friday presser before Saturday’s gameday. “And we’re going to continue to do that.” The game where one of the two head coaches will without fail lose his mind. One coach is more likely to perform a gameday miracle, orchestrating a play that results in the wrong team beating the right team. The event, The Party, sends over 80,000 Gators, Bulldogs, and Bull Gators into the house of the Jaguars, TIAA Bank Field, to witness a battle to the death between young Georgia and Florida footballers on the banks of the St Johns River is on my Bucket List.

Those true-blue to their alma maters believe life begins and ends with the substantiveness of their college’s football team, unofficially made it official that their self-worth is tied directly to how the Gunslinger, Predator, Prime Time, or Johnny Football (maybe not) played on Sunday have likely been to Jacksonville on the last Saturday in October (or the first Saturday in November) for spiritual basking in the blood bath between Florida and Georgia.

The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs square off against the Florida Gators for their annual meet in Jacksonville, Florida at TIAA Bank Field for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and an important SEC matchup. The kickoff is set for 3:30pm ET on Saturday, October 30th. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

The Bulldogs (7-0, 5-0 SEC) were off last week, but most recently won against former No. 11 Kentucky, 30-13. Stetson Bennett appears to be in charge of the Bulldogs army, with J.T. Daniels’ new station being the backup to the former backup. Bennett threw for 250 yards and three touchdowns for the Dawgs.

The Gators (4-3, 2-3 SEC), also the recipient of an off week, lost to LSU 49-42 in their last game. The final score wasn’t indicative of what the Gators showed on game day. The large number of Gators armchair quarterbacks that will have had one, two, or a dozen beverages on Saturday will tell another two or a dozen, how they feel about coach Dan Mullins and coordinator Todd Grantham. That feeling could change by Saturday night if Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson can pull off the double-digit dog upset over Kirby Smart and his Dawgs.

If Mullins and his Florida men are going to take down Smart and his Georgia elite, they have to manage some form of success via the ground. The negative of operating an offense with a field general that is a dual-threat quarterback is only a problem if that general, a signal-caller, is not only the leading passer but, as well, the leading rusher. Welcome, Emory Jones to the TIAA Bank Field.

Florida’s running game is at its best with the same player that throws the passes in the Gators aerial attack. Dual-threat quarterbacks are not a concern for a Georgia defense that is as technically sound as any I can recall since the turn of the century. Jones is the team leader with 1,305 passing yards and ten touchdowns and is taking the ball for a scamper on the grass, recording 495 yards as a runner this season. My first thought in the direction of the unexpected for this College Saturday contest was Florida would be the coaching staff and the team to throw a change of pace to the game. A switch in starting quarterbacks was the most influential and most complex for Georgia to adjust to in-game. It is my opinion that starting Jones on Saturday is short-sided and predictable. Coach Mullen is sharp when coming up with a plan to confuse the opposition on gameday. There isn’t a better or more influential misdirection for the Gators coaching staff than to throw their change-up by switching starting quarterbacks. Richardson has yet to start a game this season, and there is little to no tape on the quarterback working inside the playbook that is being used to relay gameday plays to Jones.

Stating that the Bulldogs present some matchup issues for Florida isn’t breaking news. Georgia presents all forms of matchup issues for most. Florida limped into the bye with a 4-3 record after being dominated in the trenches by the LSU Tigers. Tigers’ tailback Tyrion Davis-Price rushed for an LSU-record 287 yards and three touchdowns against Florida’s defensive front seven. The Tigers’ defense, an injury-plagued unit, intercepted Gators’ quarterbacks, Jones and Richardson, four times. LSU ranked 127th nationally in rushing offense entering the game against LSU two Saturdays ago.

“The offensive line has been busting their tails with extra work and I couldn’t be more proud of them. I love doing work for them.” Davis-Price told the Baton Rouge media earlier this week. “There were big holes for me to run through; they deserve all the credit in the world,” he added.

Florida is out of the January Four loop with three losses. They would have to win out to be a part of the New Year’s 6 groupings, and I recommend you bet against either of the two previous mentions; first, the Gators will not win out, and secondly, they have already been eliminated from being a part of the New Year’s 6 Bowl Bash.

Jones has thrown for 10 touchdowns this year, but he has also connected with the opposition’s secondary nine times in seven games. The Bulldogs don’t have a quarterback controversy. They don’t have an issue with head coach or coordinator contracts. There isn’t drama surrounding the team nor the fanbase as to who should be starting at quarterback. The Bulldogs Stetson Bennett will cross over into the 1,000-yard passing mark in this game and it won’t surprise if he stretches his current 11 touchdowns to 14 or more. His eleven TDs against two interceptions on the year is one of the reasons there is no controversy in this positional container.

Georgia is averaging nearly 35 points per game. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 ranked defense in points allowed per game, yards allowed per game, and net yards per play. The defensive front-seven is surrendering a mere 2.2 yards per rush and holding teams to an average of 64.3 total rushing yards per game.

ESPN’s FPI issued the Bulldogs a notice, this being the nation’s No. 1 rated strength of record. Also, the Dawgs are the No. 3 team in FBS in offensive efficiency and at the top of the charges in defensive efficiency.

A maligned Florida team under the direction of a head coach who understands himself to be the smartest guy in the room, has convinced his players they can win Saturday. These two sides always have that Cocktail Party, swagger no matter a team’s record or national standing, and that constant won’t change regardless of reality. Try telling a group of Gators their roster has “no shot” of beginning better than the No #1 rated badass in college football on Saturday afternoon and you are likely to be challenged in the delivery of your opinion.

Absurd things happen in Jacksonville when the Gators and the Dawgs square off on Halloween weekend. Blame it on the Florida sun, or point fingers at the sun that didn’t shine. Blame it on the tide and the sea. Blame it on a love of the game if you want. But what is most logical is to blame any craziness on or off the field in Jacksonville Saturday on The Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party on Halloween. I have seen both of these teams in action on multiple occasions this season, and all things equal, by the time this game reaches the finals stanza, the fourth quarter, things will have already begun to get ugly. Georgia has a large group of Seniors, a handful of Super Seniors, and this game is personal to them. They remember last year’s results and have sold themselves and parts of their anatomy to make this Cocktail Party one that goes down in the annals of Georgia vs Florida football.

Oregon State controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 North. Can the Beavers stay atop the division standings with a road win at Cal on Saturday? Join Ralph, Drew and Rob for the Best Damn College Football Show. https://t.co/EEX8rtkz6W

— WagerTalk (@WagerTalk) October 27, 2021

Georgia vs Florida Analysis from The GoldSheet

Georgia hasn’t lost since the 44-28 beating the Gators laid on the Bulldogs at last year’s cocktail party, or his QB Stetson Bennett, who endured a rough afternoon when completing just 5-of-16 passes and suffering a separated shoulder on his best play of the day. Dan Mullen, however, is not getting the sort of production at QB he was about this time last year from Kyle Trask, with controversy bubbling again after Emory Jones was pulled at LSU for Anthony Richardson in the hard-to-digest 49-42 loss before last Saturday’s bye. But the combined inconsistencies of each only figure to get exacerbated by the raucous, top-ranked Bulldog defense which has been wrecking opposing offenses since the Clemson opener. Meanwhile, there’s a chance that QB J.T. Daniels will be available from his injury for the first time in a month, but by this point, it’s apparent that Smart’s offense works just as smoothly with Bennett who also might have a bit of a score to settle this week.

Georgia vs Florida Video Preview

On paper, Florida appears to be the last remaining test for Georgia before the No. 1 Bulldogs head to the SEC Championship Game. How much resistance can the Gators provide on Saturday? WagerTalk college football handicappers Drew Martin, Tony Finn and Rob Veno offer their Georgia vs Florida predictions.

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