ATHENS — Once again, Georgia is a gargantuan favorite to win a football game.
The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (6-0, 3-0 SEC) opened this week as nearly 40-point favorites over Vanderbilt (3-3, 0-2), Saturday’s opponent at Sanford Stadium (3:30 p.m., SECN). Las Vegas sportsbooks on Monday varied on lines set between 38 and 39.5 points.
That’s only the second-largest line on a Georgia game this season. The Bulldogs were favored by 44 ½ points when they played host to Kent State.
With the exception of that game, which the Bulldogs won 39-22, and the one the next week against Missouri, in which Georgia had to come from behind for a 26-22 win, the Bulldogs have been covering. UGA was a 28-point favorite when it defeated Auburn 42-10 this past week. It was also posted as a 17 ½-point favorite against No. 11 Oregon in the season opener, a game the Bulldogs won 49-3.
The line for Saturday’s game is thought to be one of the largest ever favoring Georgia in an SEC game. The Bulldogs were favored by 35 points over the Commodores last season in Nashville, a game they eventually won 62-0.
Georgia’s dominance has left it in a strange place with its fan base this season. Even though the Bulldogs enter the seventh game of the season undefeated with bright prospects for the rest of the season, they’ve found themselves apologizing at times for not winning more decisively. For instance, there was some grousing last Saturday after the Bulldogs led only 14-0 at halftime before finally distancing themselves with a 21-point fourth quarter.
“We let people tell us how we should feel about a 42-10 SEC victory against Auburn,” Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett said Saturday. “Like, enjoy it. Yeah, we have things to clean up, but that’s football. We’re not perfect. We want to be, but we shouldn’t kill ourselves if we’re not.”
Georgia’s lopsided victories over Oregon and South Carolina (48-7) early in the season merely fed the beast of great expectation.
“I’m not apologizing for winning 42-10,” coach Kirby Smart said Saturday. “What I’m saying is we have to get better. The monster that’s created is that you have to live up to this expectation.”
Credit: Sarah K. Spencer/AJC
Health check
The best news for the Bulldogs is what Smart previously described as a “beat-up football team” is getting healthier.
The Bulldogs are expected to be without preseason All-American defensive tackle Jalen Carter (sprained knee) for at least another week and likely more. However, Smart said linebacker Smael Mondon (hamstring) should be able to return to the field after sitting out last Saturday, and he expects running back Kendall Milton (groin) will be able to play as well.
“Smael was close to being able to go (against Auburn),” Smart said. “He didn’t practice last week; hopeful to get him back this week. And the same with Kendall.”
Starting split end A.D. Mitchell (ankle) actually returned to the field last Saturday after missing the previous three games. However, he got only a few snaps and was not targeted in the game.
Punting exhibition
Only two SEC teams have punted fewer times than Georgia’s 14 this season, and that’s Tennessee and Florida, with 12 each. But most of the Bulldogs’ punts have come lately – five times against Auburn and three against Missouri. That’s after not punting but once at the end of the Oregon game and not at all against Kent State.
But the little Smart has seen of first-year Australian punter Brett Thorson, he likes. Thorson is averaging 42.9 yards per punt with eight being downed inside the 20 and 10 resulting in a fair catch. He is not ranked by the SEC or the NCAA because he doesn’t meet the required minimum of 3.6 punts per game.
“I thought his punting Saturday was one of the positives in terms of not only the pins (inside the 20), but the hang and distance was really good,” Smart said.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Thorson came to Georgia from Victoria, Australia. There he starred as an Australian rules football player before attending Prokick Australia academy, which trains “footies” to play the American game.
“They do an incredible job of preparing those guys for coming to the States, being part of a college atmosphere, being a part of a team,” Smart said. “And he’s accepted that really well.”
