What Vegas Thinks: Betting line grows for Georgia vs USC, still smaller than year ago
It’s not last year’s betting line, which marked the first time in over two decades South Carolina football entered a game as a 30-plus-point underdog.
But it’s still a cozy margin of victory.
Oddsmakers have deemed No. 1 Georgia a consensus 24.5-point favorite for Saturday’s game against USC at Williams-Brice Stadium, according to VegasInsider. It’ll be one of the largest lines — if not the largest line — South Carolina faces all season.
Here’s a closer look at betting trends entering Saturday’s game between the Gamecocks (1-1, 0-1 SEC) and the reigning national champion Bulldogs (2-0, 0-0 SEC). Kickoff is set for noon on ESPN.
South Carolina against the spread last week
USC earned its first underdog moniker of the year in its first SEC game of the year, traveling to Arkansas as a 9.5-point underdog. Trailing by two scores most of the game, South Carolina flirted with a backdoor cover when it got the ball back late in the fourth quarter and trailing by 12. But an Arkansas safety ended up marking the final points of a 44-30 Razorbacks win.
That didn’t impact the majority of bettors. Only 29% of all bets and 23% of all monies were on South Carolina to cover. Arkansas also picked up 96% of all bets and 71% of all monies on money line (or straight-up win-loss) bets.
Georgia against the spread last week
Georgia, understandably, wasn’t on oddsmakers’ minds entering a cupcake matchup. Only one major sportsbook, WynnBET, provided a line for the Bulldogs’ game against Samford of the FCS Southern Conference and set the margin of victory at 52.5 points.
Georgia stayed far under that total in a game they won 33-0. The Bulldogs went up 30-0 at halftime but only added a field goal in the second half, jumping up to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 while making a few Samford bettors (20% of bets and 26% of money to cover) happy.
South Carolina vs Georgia betting trends
This line was a little volatile early on but appears to have settled down. Sportsbooks deemed Georgia anywhere from a 16-point to 25.5-point favorite Sunday, but most have adjusted closer to the Tuesday consensus line of 24.5 points.
As of Tuesday, Georgia’s getting 78% of all bets and 95% of all monies to cover the spread, as well as 95% of all straight-up bets. But a few adventurous bettors are showing faith in USC. The Gamecocks have picked up 96% of the money being placed on straight-up bets as a +5,000 underdog, meaning that a USC win would net $5,000 for a $100 bettor.
Perhaps playing a role in those gambles is South Carolina’s double overtime win against then-No. 3 Georgia in 2019 as an unranked 24.5-point underdog in Athens. Georgia is 5-1 against USC under coach Kirby Smart and won 40-13 last year (though that 27-point margin did mean USC covered).
South Carolina is 1-1 overall against the spread and 1-0 at home against the spread this season, while Georgia is 1-1 ATS and 1-0 in road/neutral-site games ATS this season.
SEC Week 3 odds
Consensus lines via VegasInsider.com
No. 1 Georgia (-24.5) at South Carolina
Youngstown State at No. 9 Kentucky (-25.5)
Abilene Christian at Missouri (-33)
No. 20 Ole Miss (-16.5) at Georgia Tech
No. 22 Penn State (-3) at Auburn
Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois (-2.5)
UL Monroe at No. 2 Alabama (-49)
Mississippi State (-2) at LSU
Missouri State at No. 10 Arkansas (-23)
Akron at No. 15 Tennessee (-47)
South Florida at No. 18 Florida (-24.5)
No. 13 Miami at No. 24 Texas A&M (-5)
