SEC Week 7 Predictions, Odds, Preview

• October 17, 2020
• By Brian Edwards
• VegasInsider.com

Editor's Note: Be sure to cash College Football Week 7 winners from Brian Edwards on VegasInsider.com. Click to win!

Week 7 has arrived! It’s been an eventful one for sure, and we aren’t even to the games yet.

First, the Vanderbilt-Missouri game was postponed to Dec. 12 due to a rash of positive test results for COVID-19 among Vandy’s players. The Commodores weren’t going to be able to meet the SEC mandate of 53 scholarship players available for Saturday, prompting the postponement.

Then on Tuesday, UF’s school newspaper, The Alligator, reported that 19 Florida players tested positive for COVID-19. Florida AD Scott Stricklin revealed Wednesday that 18 scholarship players, three walk-ons and multiple assistant coaches had tested positive. Stricklin tested positive several months ago.

UF had 15 players who were unavailable for various reasons for last week’s 41-38 loss at Texas A&M. This Saturday’s Florida-LSU game was postponed on Wednesday and it remains to be seen if UF will have 53 players available for next week’s home game vs. Missouri.

LSU is probably okay with the postponement because starting QB Myles Brennan was ‘doubtful’ to play with a shoulder injury. And like UF and Alabama, the Tigers have major issues on defense that need to be fixed soon.

SEC Week 7 Schedule & Odds

(Sides-Totals)

• Auburn (-3.5, 51.5) at South Carolina
• Kentucky at Tennessee (-6, 46)
• Ole Miss (-2, 75) at Arkansas
• Texas A&M (-5, 54) at Mississippi State
• Georgia at Alabama (-4.5, 57)

Postponed Games
LSU at Florida
Vanderbilt at Missouri

Odds Subject to Change

Later on Wednesday, a bombshell hit the league when Alabama’s legendary head coach Nick Saban and AD Greg Byrne both tested positive for COVID-19. Saban immediately left the facility for his house, where he had TV screens galore monitoring practice from every conceivable angle.

Saban, who has remained completely asymptomatic, was reportedly on the phone with a team manager barking instructions to be relayed to coaches and players in real time.

Then late Friday afternoon, long-time Alabama beat writer Cecil Hurt of The Tuscaloosa News reported that Saban tested negative for COVID on Thursday at an SEC appointed lab. The initial positive result came from an outside lab Alabama was using.

The school releases a statement that said if Saban tests negative again Friday and on Saturday, the first result would be ruled a false positive and would clear a path for him to be on the sidelines for Saturday night’s showdown vs. Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

How to Handicap SEC Week 7

Auburn at South Carolina

• Odds: Tigers -3.5, Total 51.5
• TV-Time: ESPN, 12:00 p.m.
• Venue: Williams-Brice Stadium
• Location: Columbia, SC

-- As of early Friday, most books had Auburn (2-1 straight up, 1-2 against the spread) installed as a 3.5-point with a total of 51.5. However, by Friday afternoon, most spots had adjusted the Tigers to 2.5-point favorites and the total was up to 2.5. The Gamecocks were +140 on the money line Friday morning, but that number was down to +120 or +125 by Friday afternoon.

-- South Carolina (1-2 SU, 2-0-1 ATS) improved to 5-0 both SU and ATS in five games against Vanderbilt during the Will Muschamp Era. The Gamecocks went into Nashville last weekend and captured their first win of the season by a 41-7 count as 13.5-point road favorites. True sophomore RB Kevin Harris was the catalyst, rushing for 171 yards and two TDs on 21 carries. He also had four catches for 29 yards. Senior QB Collin Hill connected on 16-of-24 throws for 196 yards, with zero TDs or interceptions. The grad transfer from Colorado State had a pair of rushing TDs. TE Nick Muse had five catches for 85 yards, while senior WR Shi Smith hauled in four receptions for 46 yards. Dakereon Joyner had a 47-yard TD run.

-- Harris has produced back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. For the season, he has 326 yards on the ground, four TDs and a 5.8 yards-per-carry average. Harris also has nine catches for 65 yards and one TD. Smith has a team-best 26 receptions for 271 yards and two TDs, while Muse has 11 grabs for 156 yards.

-- Hill has completed 69-of-110 passes (62.7%) for 698 yards with a 3/1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also has three rushing scores.

-- During Muschamp’s five-year tenure, USC has compiled a 5-6-1 spread record in 12 games as a home underdog. The Gamecocks are 18-11 SU in 29 home contests on Muschamp’s watch.

-- Auburn was the benefactor of some vintage Jordan-Hare Stadium good fortune once again last week. Trailing 28-27 and in field-goal range for a potential game winner with 30 seconds remaining on third-and-1 at the Arkansas 20, sophomore QB Bo Nix attempted to spike the ball to stop the clock. However, he fumbled the snap and then picked the ball up again and spiked it. In the process of doing so, his body turned to the side and the spike was clearly done so in a backward motion. In other words, it was a lateral and should’ve been a live ball, which was indeed recovered by Arkansas. Now certainly, it’s extremely rare to see that happen, so it’s difficult to blame the officials who blew their whistles. The referee threw a flag for intentional grounding since you can’t spike the ball after muffing it initially on the center-QB exchange. Replay officials should’ve ruled that the Razorbacks recovered the fumble. Instead, they confirmed the call, but apparently intentional grounding is a spot foul in college football. That rule should be changed for this scenario, regardless of how rarely it occurs. Auburn wasn’t even pushed back 10 yards for the penalty. Obviously, most intentional-grounding penalties come 7-15 yards behind the line of scrimmage when a QB is attempting to evade oncoming defenders. But when the foul is committed merely two yards behind the line of scrimmage, there should be at least a 10-yard penalty. On the next play, Auburn’s Anders Carlson buried a 39-yard field goal to lift the Tigers to a 30-28 win. Arkansas easily took the cash as 13.5-point underdog.

-- As a road favorite on Gus Malzahn’s watch, Auburn has posted a 9-6-1 ATS record.

-- Nix is struggling despite a respectable 4/1 TD-INT ratio. He’s completed only 54-of-95 passes (56.8%) for 597 yards. He has 72 rushing yards and one TD on 26 attempts for a 2.8 YPC average. In five career road starts, Auburn is 2-3 with Nix under center. In a 27-6 loss at Georgia two weeks ago, Nix completed 21-of-40 passes for 177 yards and one interception. He was limited to eight rushing yards on 11 attempts in Athens.

-- Nix has an outstanding trio of WRs in Eli Stove, Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz. However, Stove and Williams are both listed as ‘questionable’ at USC. Stove has missed back-to-back games with an undisclosed injury after making four catches for 55 yards and one TD in a 29-13 home win over Kentucky in the season opener. Williams is dealing with a lower-body issue. He has 12 receptions for 216 yards and two TDs, while Schwartz has 21 catches for 197 yards and one TD.

-- Auburn is currently ranked No. 67 out of 76 FBS teams (that are currently playing) in total offense, No. 59 in passing yards, No. 57 in rushing yards and No. 62 in scoring with its pedestrian 21.7 points-per-game average.

-- Auburn senior DE Big Kat Bryant was a first-team All-SEC pick in Phil Steele’s preseason magazine. DC Kevin Steele was expecting big things out of Bryant, who had 16 tackles, nine QB hurries and 1.5 sacks in 2019. However, he missed last week’s win over Arkansas with an ankle injury and is ‘questionable’ at USC. Bryant has only one tackle in two games this year.

-- South Carolina star CB Israel Mukuamu has an injured groin and will be a game-time decision. Mukuamu has six tackles and one interception in three games. He was a second-team All-SEC selection in 2019 when he produced 59 tackles, nine passes broken up, two tackles for loss, four interceptions and one pick-six. He had three interceptions and the pick-six off Jake Fromm in last year’s 20-17 double-overtime win at Georgia as 21.5-point road underdogs.

-- South Carolina is ranked 13th in the country in run defense, limiting foes to an average of 96.3 rushing yards per game.

-- The ‘under’ is 2-1 for Auburn, 1-0 in its lone road assignment. The Tigers’ first two games had combined scores of 42 and 33 points.

-- The ‘over’ is 3-0 for South Carolina with its combined scores coming out at 58, 62 and 48 points.

Kentucky at Tennessee

• Odds: Volunteers -6, Total 46
• TV-Time: SEC, 12:00 p.m.
• Venue: Neyland Stadium
• Location: Knoxville, TN

-- Tennessee has won 17 consecutive home games over Kentucky at Neyland Stadium. The Volunteers are 11-2 SU against the Wildcats in the past 13 seasons.

-- As of Friday afternoon, most spots had Tennessee (2-1 SU, 1-1-1 ATS) listed as a 6.5-point home favorite with a total of 45.5. The number moved up one-half point around lunch on Friday after sticking at six nearly all week. UK was +200 to win outright.

-- Tennessee took a 21-17 lead into halftime last week in Athens after a huge goal-line stand denied Georgia points on the final play of the first half. However, it was all UGA over the last 30 minutes as it coasted to a 44-21 victory as a 12-point home ‘chalk.’ UT managed only 13 first down and had negative one rushing yards on 27 attempts. The Vols also committed 10 penalties for 84 yards and coughed up a pair of fumbles.

-- UT senior QB Jarrett Guarantano completed 23-of-36 throws for 215 and two TDs with one interception at UGA. Senior WR Josh Palmer had four catches for 71 yards and two TDs.

-- For the season, Guarantano has connected on 56-of-90 passes (62.2%) for 664 yards and four TDs compared to one interception. He also has three rushing TDs. Palmer has 14 receptions for 227 yards and three TDs. Ty Chandler has a team-best 187 rushing yards, one TD and a 4.7 YPC average. RB Eric Gray has 170 rushing yards, two TDs and a 4.7 YPC average. Gray also has 10 catches for 98 yards and one TD.

-- Tennessee owns a 4-5 spread record in nine games as a home favorite during Jeremy Pruitt’s three-year tenure. The Vols are 10-6 SU and 7-9 ATS in 16 home games under Pruitt.

-- In its season opener, UT won a 31-27 decision at South Carolina as a four-point road favorite.

-- Kentucky (1-2 SU, 1-2 ATS) lost a pair of heartbreakers to start the season. The Wildcats were on the wrong end of a 29-13 decision at Auburn in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated. Then two weeks ago at home, UK lost 42-41 at home to Ole Miss in overtime after its kicker missed the extra point in OT. In the first half against the Rebels, RB AJ Rose started celebrating a long run that should’ve been a TD way too early, putting his hand in the air at about the 30 yard line, only to get chased down at about the two. Then on the next play, Rose coughed up a fumble and the ‘Cats got zero points when they should’ve had at least six in a game they lost in OT.

-- Mark Stoops’s team put those two tough L’s behind it and dominated Mississippi State in a 24-2 win last week as a three-point home ‘chalk.’ The 26 combined points dropped ‘under’ the 57.5-point total. UK’s defense had six different players register an interception apiece, including an eight-yard pick-six from Jordan Wright, who also had six tackles and one sack. Josh Paschal had one tackle and an interception that he returned 76 yards to set UK up inside MSU’s five.

-- UK senior QB Terry Wilson had a team-high 50 rushing yards on 13 attempts. He completed just 8-of-20 passes for 73 yards, but he had one TD pass without an interception. Keaton Upshaw was the recipient of a 12-yard scoring strike from Wilson.

-- Wilson has completed 46-of-75 passes (61.3%) for 463 yards with a 2/1 TD-INT ratio. He has a team-high 221 rushing yards and three TDs with a 4.6 YPC average. RB Chris Rodriguez has 184 rushing yards, three TDs and a 5.6 YPC average, while Rose has 170 rushing yards, one TD and a 5.7 YPC average.

-- Wilson’s favorite target is senior WR Josh Ali, who has 18 receptions for 208 yards.

-- Kentucky sophomore RB Kavosiey Smoke remains ‘out’ with broken ribs sustained in the loss to Ole Miss. Smoke had run for 91 yards and one TD on 12 carries (7.6 YPC) before getting hurt. Paschal is ‘questionable’ at UT with a knee issue.

-- UK is 14-15 ATS in 29 games as a road underdog in the Mark Stoops Era. The ‘Cats haven’t tasted a victory in Knoxville since 1984.

-- Kentucky’s defense is ranked eighth nationally in run defense, holding opponents to an average of 83.3 rushing yards per game. This unit is fourth in the country in takeaways with six. They’ve giving up an average of 24.3 PPG to rank 24th nationally.

-- The ‘under’ is 2-1 for the ‘Cats, who have had combined scores of 26, 83 (70 in regulation) and 42 points.

-- The ‘over’ is 2-1 for the Vols, who have had combined scores of 65, 47 and 58 points. The ‘under’ cashed in its lone home contest, a 35-12 win over Missouri that saw the 47 combined points duck ‘under’ the 49-poin tally.

Ole Miss at Arkansas

• Odds: Rebels -2, Total 75
• TV-Time: SEC, 3:30 p.m.
• Venue: Razorback Stadium
• Location: Fayetteville, AR

-- As of late Friday afternoon, most books had Ole Miss installed as a 1.5-point favorite with a total of 76.5.

-- Is there any such thing as a Coach of the Year with a losing record? We’re obviously only three games deep into the season but if the vote was taken today and I had one, I would pencil in Sam Pittman and Lane Kiffin as SEC Co-Coaches of the Year. Pittman took over an absolute disaster in Fayetteville, where basically nothing has gone right since Bobby Petrino took that assbeating from the fiancée of his mistress. (He never fell off a motorcycle, people, that was just his excuse for the injuries he sustained via the hands of the dude that caught him with his future wife.) Anyway, Pittman inherited a program that had lost 30 of its last 38 games, with seven of those eight wins coming against FAMU, New Mexico State, Coastal Carolina (not the unbeaten 2020 version, the ’17 Chanticleers), Eastern Illinois, Tulsa, Portland State and Colorado State. In other words, the Razorbacks’ owned a grand total of one win over a Power Five foe – a 38-37 win at Ole Miss in 2017 on a walk-off, game-winning field goal – in three seasons and had losses vs. San Jose State and at Colorado State, in addition to getting run out of its own stadium by North Texas (44-17) and Western Ky. (45-19).

-- In a three-game stretch under Pittman, Arkansas took an early lead against Georgia in its opener as a 28-point home underdog. UGA, which is currently ranked third and undefeated, didn’t take its first lead until midway through the third quarter. UGA would pull away for a 37-10 win, but the Hogs still took the cash. Then in Week 2, Arkansas (1-2 SU, 3-0 ATS) went into Starkville and ended a 20-game SEC losing streak by winning a 21-14 decision over the Bulldogs as a 16.5-point road underdog. As previously described, Pittman’s team then got robbed of a victory on The Plains last weekend.

-- Arkansas senior QB Feleipe Franks has six TD passes without an interception in the last two games. The grad transfer from Florida completed 22-of-30 passes at Auburn for 318 yards and four TDs. Junior RB Trelon Smith had 81 rushing yards on 21 carries, while senior WR De’Vion Warren had five receptions for 95 yards and two TDs. Mike Woods caught six balls for 81 yards and one TD, and Smith was also a factor in the passing game with six catches for 78 yards and one TD.

-- For the season, Franks has connected on 61-of-94 throws (64.9%) for 730 yards with a 7/2 TD-INT ratio. Warren has 10 receptions for 223 yards and three TDs, while Woods has 12 grabs for 150 yards and one TD. Smith has run for a team-best 167 yards on 41 carries for a 4.1 YPC average. He also has 14 catches for 113 yards and one TD.

-- Arkansas is 15-12 ATS in 27 games as a home underdog since 2010. The Razorbacks went 4-3 ATS as home ‘dogs during Chad Morris’s brief tenure that spanned the 2018 and ’19 seasons, and they took the cash vs. UGA in the opener as previously noted.

-- Ole Miss (1-2 SU, 2-1 ATS) gave Alabama fits for 60 minutes in last week’s 63-48 loss as a 24-point home underdog. The 111 combined points catapulted ‘over’ the 74-point tally. The Rebels had three separate seven-point leads, there were six ties and the Crimson Tide didn’t lead by more than seven points until DeVonta Smith’s 14-yard TD run with 3:16 remaining. Even then, Ole Miss answered with a Luke Logan 29-yard field goal that made it a one-possession game again at 56-48 with 1:29 left.

-- Ole Miss redshirt sophomore QB Matt Corral was outstanding in the losing effort, throwing for 365 yards and two TDs without an interception. The California native completed 21-of-28 passes, in addition to rushing for 40 yards on 13 attempts. RB Snoop Conner had a team-best 128 rushing yards and two TDs on 21 carries, while RB Jerrion Ealy had 120 rushing yards and two TDs on 19 totes. Senior TE Kenny Yeboah had seven receptions for 181 yards and two TDs, while Elijah Moore had 11 catches for 143 yards.

-- For the season, Corral has completed 67-of-88 passes (76.1%) for 1,080 yards with a 9/1 TD-INT ratio. He also has 141 rushing yards on 39 attempts for a 3.6 YPC average. Moore leads the nation in receiving yards per game (154.0) with his 31 receptions for 462 yards and one TD. Yeboah has 15 catches for 355 yards and four TDs, while Jonathan Mingo has nine grabs for 139 yards and two TDs.

-- Ealy has 243 rushing yards, four TDs and a 5.4 YPC average. Meanwhile, Connor has 179 rushing yards and four TDs with a 4.8 YPC average.

-- During Wednesday’s media scrum on Zoom, Kiffin revealed that “a number of players” were going to be out at Arkansas after testing positive for COVID-19. However, VegasInsider.com has learned that none of those players are offensive starters. In other words, I wouldn’t let this news impact your judgement in terms of a bet on the total that’s one of the highest SEC tallies in recent memory.

-- Ole Miss has limped to a 5-13 spread record in its last 18 games as a road favorite going back to 2010.

-- After losing four straight head-to-head meetings with the Razorbacks, Ole Miss has won in the last two encounters. The Rebels rallied to win 37-33 at Arkansas in 2018, but the Hogs covered as 6.5-point home underdogs. Then last year in Oxford, Ole Miss won by a 31-17 count as a six-point home favorite.

-- The ‘over’ is 3-0 for the Rebels this year. Ole Miss is ranked second in the nation in total offense (573.0 YPG), fifth in passing yards (380.7 YPG) and 11th in scoring with its 41.7 PPG average. On the flip side, the Rebels are ranked last (76th out of 76 FBS teams) in the nation in total defense (641.3 YPG), run defense (303.3 YPG) and scoring ‘D’ (51.7 PPG).

Texas A&M at Mississippi State

• Odds: Aggies -5, Total 54
• TV-Time: ESPN, 4:00 p.m.
• Venue: Davis Wade Stadium
• Location: Starkville, MS

-- As of late Friday afternoon, most shops had Texas A&M (2-1 SU, 1-2 ATS) listed as a 5.5-point favorite with a total of 55.5. The Bulldogs were +180 on the money line.

-- Jimbo Fisher probably produced the signature win of his three-year tenure to date last week, as Texas A&M rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat Florida 41-38 on a 26-yard walk-off field goal by Seth Small. The Aggies won outright as six-point home underdogs, while the 79 combined points soared ‘over’ the 59-point total.

-- Senior QB Kellen Mond might have played the best game of his career, completing 25-of-35 passes for 338 yards and three TDs without an interception. His 51-yard TD pass to Caleb Chapman with 4:30 remaining knotted the score at 38-38 with 4:30 remaining. Florida was on the move just inside of Aggie territory when its RB Malik Davis coughed up a fumble. From there, Fisher’s team chewed up the rest of the clock, converting a crucial 3rd-and-8 play on its way to getting deep into UF territory for a short FGA.

-- Texas A&M sophomore RB Isaiah Spiller had a monster performance, rushing for 174 yards and two TDs on 27 carries. Chapman had a breakout game, catching nine balls for 151 yards and two TDs. However, the sophomore WR tore his ACL on his clutch TD catch in traffic and will miss the rest of the season. In three games, Chapman had 14 receptions for 197 yards and three TDs.

-- Before beating UF last week, Texas A&M looked like a disappointing squad in the first two weeks of the season. Even with Vandy missing several key players and its star LB Dimitri Moore, the Aggies only beat the Commodores 17-12 as a 31-point home ‘chalk’ in the season opener. Then they got run out of Tuscaloosa by a 52-24 count.

-- Mond has connected on 67-of-107 passes (62.6%) for 845 yards with a 7/1 TD-INT ratio. RB Ainias Smith has 12 catches for 203 yards and two TDs. Sophomore TE Jalen Wydermyer, a second-team All-SEC selection in 2019, has 15 grabs for 154 yards.

-- Spiller has run for 316 yards and two TDs with a 6.9 YPC average. Smooth has 103 rushing yards, one TD and a 5.2 YPC average.

-- Texas A&M owns a 2-0 spread record in a pair of games as a road favorite on Fisher’s watch.

-- When these teams met in College Station last year, the Aggies won 49-30 as 10.5-point home favorites. Mond threw for 234 yards and three TDs without an interception, in addition to rushing for 76 yards and two TDs on nine attempts. Spiller had 90 rushing yards and one TD on 22 totes, while Wydermyer had two catches for 63 yards and one TD.

-- Mississippi State (1-2 SU, 1-2 ATS) had a great season opener to start the Mike Leach Era, beating the defending national champions 44-34 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. The Bulldogs won outright at LSU as 14.5-point road underdogs. KJ Costello, a senior QB who grad transferred from Stanford, set an SEC record for passing yards (623). The 2018 second-team All-Pac-12 selection completed 36-of-60 passes with five TD and two interceptions against the Tigers. Kylin Hill, who was a fourth-team All-American RB in 2019, had just 34 rushing yards on seven carries at LSU. However, he more than compensated for a lack of rushing yards with eight catches for 158 yards and one TD. Osirus Mitchell had seven receptions for 183 yards and two TDs.

-- Hill suffered a head injury on his first touch two weeks ago vs. Arkansas. He left the game and didn’t return. Trailing 21-14, Mississippi State got nothing out of three possessions that went deep into Razorback territory in the fourth quarter. Costello was intercepted in the red zone to kill one drive. Then on a fourth-and-2 play, Costello short-hopped what should’ve been an easy completing for a first down, and then MSU was stuffed on a running play in a fourth-and-1 situation. Arkansas won outright in Starkville by a 21-14 count as a 16.5-point road underdog. Costello completed 43-of-59 throws, but he had only one TD pass and three interceptions, including his second pick-six of the season.

-- MSU lost 24-2 a UK last week. Costello was horrible, completing 36-of-55 passes for 232 yards with four interception, including his third pick-six of the season. True freshman Will Rogers was ineffective, too, connecting on 9-of-15 passes for 43 yards and two interceptions. Hill returned to the lineup but was limited to 17 rushing yards on seven carries. Hill had 15 catches for 79 yards.

-- MSU is 0-6 ATS in its last six games as a home underdog dating back to 2017.

Georgia at Alabama

• Odds: Crimson Tide -4.5, Total 57
• TV-Time: CBS, 8:00 p.m.
• Venue: Bryant-Denny Stadium
• Location: Tuscaloosa, AL

-- As of early Friday, most spots had Alabama (3-0 SU, 1-2 ATS) listed as a four-point favorite with a total of 56.5. However, by late Friday afternoon, most shops had the Crimson Tide at -4.5 and the total was increased to 58. UGA was +170 on the money line.

-- Alabama failed to cover the number in last week’s 63-48 win at Ole Miss as a 24-point road ‘chalk.’ Mac Jones was spectacular, completing 28-of-32 throws for 417 yards and two TDs without an interception. Najee Harris, who I backed at 35/1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy, enjoyed a Heisman-like performance with 206 rushing yards and five TDs on 23 totes. He also had three catches for 42 yards. Smith had 13 receptions for 164 yards and one TD, in addition to the 14-yard rushing score. Jaylen Waddle had six grabs for 120 yards, while RB Brian Robinson added 76 rushing yards and one TD on 10 carries.

-- Alabama failed to cover in its 38-19 season-opening win at Missouri, but it easily took the money in a 52-24 home win over Texas A&M as an 18-point home favorite two weeks ago. The Tigers posted a backdoor cover as 28-point home underdogs after trailing 35-3 when Saban took Jones and other starters out of the game.

-- Jones has completed 66-of-83 passes (79.5%) for 1,101 yards with an 8/1 TD-INT ratio. Waddle has caught 19 balls for 396 yards and three TDs, while Smith has 27 receptions for 316 yards and two TDs. John Metchie has 11 grabs for 298 yards and two TDs. Harris has 347 rushing yards and 10 TDs while averaging 6.7 YPC. The Heisman candidate also has seven receptions for 76 yards. Robinson has run for 154 yards and one TD with a 6.4 YPC average.

-- Alabama is No. 1 in the nation in scoring with its 51.0 PPG average. The Tide is ranked third nationally in total offense and second in passing yards. On the flip side, Saban’s team is ranked No. 65 (out of 76 FBS teams) in total defense, No. 69 in pass defense and is giving up an average of 30.3 PPG.

-- Georgia has lost five straight games to Alabama and hasn’t beaten the Tide since Matthew Stafford threw a TD pass to lift the Bulldogs to a 26-23 overtime win at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2008.

-- Georgia (3-0 SU, 2-1 ATS) has wins at Arkansas (37-10), vs Auburn (27-6) and vs. UT (44-21). Junior Stetson Bennett has emerged as the starting QB, throwing for 689 yards and five TDs without an interception. He’s completed 63.1 percent of his passes and has one rushing TD.

-- Zamir ‘Zeus’ White, a redshirt sophomore RB who was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, has run for a team-high 209 yards and four TDs. However, he’s averaging merely 3.9 YPC.

-- Sophomore Kearis Jackson has emerged as Bennett’s favorite target to date, hauling in 19 receptions for 300 yards and one TD. WR George Pickens, who led UGA with 49 catches for 727 yards and eight TDs as a true freshman last year, has eight grabs for 87 yards and two TDs through three games.

-- Georgia sophomore LB Azeez Ojulari has 12 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Senior safety Richard LeCounte has eight tackles and two interceptions.

-- UGA is ranked second in the nation in total defense, first in run defense and fifth in scoring ‘D’ (12.3 PPG).

-- UGA is 1-1 both SU and ATS as a road underdog during Kirby Smart’s five-year tenure. The Bulldogs lost 45-14 at 23rd-ranked Ole Miss in 2016, but they won 20-19 at Notre Dame as five-point ‘dogs in 2017.

-- Alabama is 37-32-2 ATS in 71 games as a home favorite since 2010. Regardless of the venue when the Tide has been favored by seven points or fewer since 2016, it is just 4-5 SU and 3-6 ATS.

-- The ‘over’ is 3-0 for Alabama with its combined scores coming out at 111, 76 and 57 points.

-- The ‘under’ is 2-1 for the Bulldogs, 1-0 in their lone road assignments. They’ve had combined scores of 65, 47 and 33 points.