Georgia vs Clemson NCAAF | Potential Playoff Preview

Easily the marquee game of Week 1 of the 2021 NCAAF season features No. 5 Georgia of the SEC and No. 3 Clemson of the ACC in a potential College Football Playoff preview. The Tigers are short betting favorites at a neutral site in Charlotte.

How to Bet Georgia at Clemson NCAA Football Odds & TV Info

When: Saturday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
TV: ABC
Stream: ESPN app
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAF Lines: Clemson -3 (total 50.5)

Series History

Georgia leads 42-18-4 and won the last meeting in 2014. Clemson and Georgia have met with both schools in the AP Top 10 only once: No. 8 Clemson’s 38-35 victory against No. 5 Georgia in 2013. Saturday’s matchup will represent the first time the two schools will meet with both programs in the AP Top 5.

Why Bet on Georgia?

Georgia checks in at No. 5 in the AP preseason Top 25 poll as well as the Coaches poll. This marks the fourth consecutive season that the Bulldogs begin in the top five.

In 2020, the Bulldogs went 8-2 and employed three different QBs. Georgia averaged 32.3 points/game, which ranked fifth in the SEC. When JT Daniels became the starter in late November, Georgia went 4-0 the rest of the season with wins over Mississippi State, South Carolina, No. 25 Missouri and No. 8 Cincinnati in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Daniels is one of eight starters back. The Bulldogs return their top five running backs, headlined by Zamir White who went for 779 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Georgia will enter the 2021 season with an NCAA record 330 consecutive PATs made. This streak started in 2014 and covers six kickers, including returning starter Jack Podlesny, who went 38-for-38 in 2020.

Thirty different teams have won a national championship since the FBS/FCS split in 1978. None of them has an active drought longer than Georgia’s. Since the Bulldogs’ last national championship in 1980, they’ve had 16 top-10 finishes in the final AP poll, the most during that span among teams that haven’t won a title. Georgia has come close to playing for — or even winning — a national title a handful of times since 1980, including a 26-23 loss in overtime to Alabama in the 2017 CFP title game. The Dawgs are good enough this year.

Georgia is 10-6 against top-10 teams under Kirby Smart. Ten of the games have come at neutral sites, three have been true road games and three have been in Athens. Most recently, the Bulldogs ended last season with a 24-21 win over undefeated Cincinnati during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Georgia’s highest-ranked win under Smart was over No. 2 Oklahoma (54-48, 2OT) in a CFP Semifinal at the 2018 Rose Bowl Game.

For this game, Georgia is going to be without star receiver George Pickens, who tore his ACL in spring practice, and there’s been no word that receiver Dominick Blaylock has been cleared. (He tore his ACL this time last year, his second time requiring knee surgery.) In addition, UGA likely will be without sophomore tight end Darnell Washington, who injured his foot in practice two weeks ago, along with nickelback Tykee Smith. Another tight end, Arik Gilbert, who transferred in after a good freshman season at LSU, left Georgia’s team for personal reasons early in the preseason, and there appears no timetable for his return.

Why Bet on Clemson?

Clemson, which is already the first team in ACC history to win six consecutive outright titles, attempting to become the first team in ACC history to win seven consecutive ACC titles outright. Clemson is attempting to join Oklahoma (12 straight Big 8 titles from 1948-59) and BYU (seven straight WAC titles from 1978-84) as the only FBS teams ever to win seven consecutive outright conference titles

The contest will be Clemson’s first since a 49-28 defeat at the hands of Ohio State to end the 2020 season in the College Football Playoff. The Tigers have historically responded well following losses under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. Swinney’s Clemson teams are 26-6 in games following a loss, including season openers following a loss in the previous season finale. Clemson has played 127 games since losing back-to-back contests, the longest active streak in the nation and the longest in ACC history. Clemson’s last time losing back-to-back games came in 2011.

Including games against No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Ohio State to end last season, the opener against No. 5 Georgia will be Clemson’s third straight contest against an AP Top 5 opponent. It marks Clemson’s first time in school history facing three consecutive AP Top 5 opponents. Clemson is attempting to improve to 10-6 all-time in games between two AP Top 5 teams. Clemson is 7-4 since 2016 when both teams enter a game in the AP Top 5.

Quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei enters game with zero interceptions on 117 career pass attempts. He needs 48 more pass attempts without an interception to tie the Clemson record for most pass attempts without an interception to start a career. Uiagalelei has thrown for 300 yards in both of his two career starts. He is already one of only 13 Clemson quarterbacks with a 300-yard passing game to their credit and one of only seven with multiple 300-yard passing games. Uiagalelei attempting to become the first quarterback in Clemson history to record 300 passing yards in each of his first three career starts.

Clemson is attempting to record at least two sacks in a 19th straight game to surpass an 18-game streak from 1991-92 as Clemson’s longest streak on record back to 1980.