This week’s game between the Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs has been circled on the college football calendar for months. The Bulldogs were the No. 1 team in the nation when the season began. Texas was No. 4.
Finally at the Week 8 showdown, the rankings have flipped. Texas is No. 1. Georgia is No. 5 in the AP Top 25, No. 4 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.
With just a handful of days before kickoff, the major college football analysts are making their predictions. CBS Sports analyst Josh Pate has seen enough. He’s already made his pick.
I think Texas is more ‘Georgia’ than Georgia is this year. The Georgia teams over the past few years, the way they’ve looked. Kirby is telling you … ‘Texas flat out looks like we’ve looked in our best years.’ And he’s talking about defense. He’s not even talking about offense.” — Josh Pate
Pate has a betting model that blends intel from insiders with his proprietary algorithm in an attempt to gain edges on college football lines. The line is Texas minus-3 1/2. Pate’s model says the line should be Texas minus-5. This led Pate to pick Texas.
“I think Texas is going to win this game. I think Texas will cover in the game. I think Texas is the best team in the country right now. … I think there are too many small to moderate edges that Texas holds, not to mention home field here as well. They did not get banged up. They did not get pushed to the wire against Oklahoma last week. Georgia’s back is kind of against the wall more so than Texas. But I don’t think that stuff matters in this one. I’m taking Texas. … Until proven otherwise I think that’s the best team in the country. And if they have home field, along with that, I’m taking them against anyone, Georgia included.” — Josh Pate
We’ll find out Saturday night at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.