Georgia looking to achieve notable first vs. Texas

When they face No. 1 Texas on Saturday, the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs will attempt to get a road victory over an Associated Press top-10 opponent for the very first time during Kirby Smart’s tenure as the program’s head coach.

The Bulldogs have defeated multiple top-10 opponents in neutral settings with Smart as their head coach, but they’ve never captured a true road victory over an AP top-10 team with Kirby in charge.

Saturday presents a great opportunity for the Bulldogs when they take the field inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, to see if they can be the first team to defeat the top-ranked Longhorns this season.

It’s not going to be an easy task for the Bulldogs by any means. Texas has clobbered all six of its opponents so far this season, winning by an average margin of 36.8 points. The school’s defense has been outstanding during the last few weeks, but the Longhorns offense has proved multiple times this year that they are fully capable of putting plenty of points up on the scoreboard as well.

Georgia, meanwhile, has seen the performance of its defense decline a bit in the last few weeks. After only allowing a total of 18 points in their first three games of the season, the Bulldogs have given up at least 30 points to two of their last three opponents.

Whatever mistakes Georgia has been making on the defensive side of the ball recently will have to be cleaned up if the team is going to have a legitimate chance at defeating Texas in the Longhorns’ home stadium.

Given that the Bulldogs are on the road this week, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that oddsmakers don’t view them as the favorite. As of Friday, ESPN Bet had Texas as a 4.5-point favorite over Georgia this weekend, and if this remains until kickoff on Saturday, it will be the first time in 49 games that oddsmakers haven’t had the Bulldogs as the favorite heading into a matchup.

Smart was asked about Georgia possibly being the underdog this weekend during a recent appearance on ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” and the head coach views it as something his team can possibly use as motivation during the matchup.

“We really haven’t talked about it much because I don’t think that lasts so long in the game. It doesn’t last the whole four quarters. Sometimes, it’s extra motivation, and our guys have talked about it a little bit. It’s not a position that we’ve been in a lot, but it’s one that you can take advantage of, or you can do something about it.”

Will the Bulldogs prove the oddsmakers wrong and give Smart his first-ever road victory over a top-10 opponent on Saturday, or will the Longhorns prove once again why they are regarded as the best team in the nation?