Tennessee football hasn’t beaten Georgia since the Josh Dobbs hail mary to Jauan Jennings in 2016 and hasn’t won inside Neyland Stadium since 2015. If ESPN’s prediction made by the company’s analytics-based matchup predictor is correct, the Vols are going to get over the hump this year.
ESPN has Tennessee at a 51.5% chance to win this Saturday, as of Monday morning. Obviously, this makes it a 48.5% chance that Georgia fends off UT for a fifth-straight time in Knoxville, though.
According to FanDuel, the betting line has been bet down from about a touchdown in favor of the Bulldogs to just a -4.5 spread for UGA on Monday morning. FanDuel has Tennessee receiving 60% of the money to cover at this point, as well.
More From RTI: Vegas Betting Odds Take Decent Swing in Favor of Tennessee vs. Georgia After One Day
If Tennessee is able to pull off the win, it’d be a somewhat historic victory. The Vols are yet to win a game against Georgia under Josh Heupel, and haven’t necessarily gotten very close at home, either. In 2021, Heupel’s first season in Knoxville and the Bulldogs’ first title year in decades, Georgia ran away with it 41-17. In 2023, Tennessee struck first with a Jaylen Wright touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, but UGA won 38-10.
On the road, the Vols have gone to Athens with two of their better teams in recent history. Both times, Tennessee has come up short, though. In 2022, the matchup was between the College Football Playoff and AP Poll rankings’ No. 1 teams in the country. Hendon Hooker’s UT team lost its first game of the season 27-13, though. Last year, Nico Iamaleava’s squad couldn’t keep up in a 31-17 loss.
Overall, Tennessee is 23-29-2 all-time against Georgia. This may be the last time the Vols get the Bulldogs on their schedule on a yearly basis, as well. With a nine-game SEC format beginning next year, it’d be very surprising if Tennessee and Georgia were paired up as one of the schools’ three annual opponents. This would mean they play every other year, instead. The next time they don’t play in a season will be the first since they started playing annually in 1992.
