Boise State and Georgia Ready To Fly Over the Total

The No. 5 Boise State Broncos and No. 19 Georgia Bulldogs are scheduled to open their respective seasons Saturday night inside the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Kickoff is expected at 8:00 EST and will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Lines-makers have established Boise State as 3.5-point neutral-field favorites, as the program seeks revenge for a 48-13 loss in the last meeting to begin the 2005 campaign in Athens. The Broncos have certainly come a long way as a program, as they were 7.5-point underdogs in the first-ever meeting six years ago.

Professional bettors love wagering on revenge situations, but this particular one is minimized, considering nobody on either roster participated in that contest.

Bettors are also being asked to lay points on a team that has never beaten an SEC opponent in four tries. Boise State has registered a 2-2 against-the-spread mark as an underdog when facing teams from the nation’s most-respected conference.

Broncos quarterback Kellen Moore will not be overwhelmed by the bright lights of the Georgia Dome—the senior led the team to a 33-30 win over the Virginia Tech Hokies as 1.5 point underdogs at FedEx Field in last year’s season opener.

Head coach Chris Peterson has watched Moore register 38 victories in his first three years on campus, as members of his current senior class are just 11 wins shy of the school record that was set in 2009 (49).

The entire contest may be determined in a battle between an experienced Broncos offensive line and an aggressive Bulldogs defensive front. Boise State’s proud unit has compiled 92 career starts.

Georgia is coming off its first-ever losing season in head coach Mark Richt’s 10-year run, but has a good chance of bouncing back quickly against a non-conference opponent. 

The Bulldogs have tallied a dominating 41-6 record against such teams under his direction. Given the current odds, it’s important to note that three of those losses came by a field goal or less.

Be careful in wagering on the Bulldogs to capture a straight-up victory, as they’ve dropped four consecutive games against teams ranked in the top five—with the last win coming in a 37-17 road win over Auburn in 2006.

Aaron Murray completes the high-profile quarterback duel, coming off a first year that led him to earn Freshman All-SEC honors at the position. He directly resulted in 3,216 yards of total offense, a mark that was good enough to sit fourth in school history.

In a previous article, I’ve written that I expect points to be scored, which is strengthened by the Bulldogs averaging 39.5 points in their 10 season-opening contest under Richt.

Total bettors will find that the Broncos have gone over in five consecutive September games, while the Bulldogs have exceeded the total in their last five neutral site games as an underdog.