One computer model does not have much faith in Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The betting website OddsShark projected a 22-17 win for Mercer over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, a result that would be a stunner, given that the FCS team is in its fourth year of playing football and has never played an FBS opponent.
The OddsShark predictive model is fed by 20 offensive and defensive statistics and also looks at betting lines and how they have correlated to the outcomes. Most betting outlets have not put a line on Saturday's game, but one rates Tech a 32.5-point favorite over Mercer.
“We heavily weigh a team’s recent performance, so the four consecutive losses posted by Georgia Tech at the end of 2015 season are likely the cause for the computer choosing Mercer to win in Saturday’s game,” OddsShark spokesman Jon Campbell wrote in an e-mail.
Tech has lost one time in school history to an FCS (formerly known as Division I-AA) opponent, although FCS wins over FBS opponents have become increasingly common, including three last Saturday – Richmond over Virginia, Northern Iowa over Iowa State and Eastern Washington against Washington State.
OddsShark picked Northern Iowa to beat Iowa State, which was favored by 9.5-11 points. In fact, the model predicted a 26-21 win, and the Panthers won 25-20. The model misfired on the other two FCS wins, going with Virginia and Washington State to win comfortably.
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