Texas poised to end Georgia’s streak as betting favorites

Georgia owns the longest active streak as a betting favorite in the nation, a 49-game run that is poised to end Saturday against top-ranked Texas.

The Longhorns were consensus 5-point favorites over the Bulldogs on Friday. The line opened early in the week with Texas a 3.5-point favorite, but a flurry of bets on the Longhorns hit multiple sportsbooks Wednesday, causing the spread to move to as high as -5.5, before settling at -5.

Texas remained a popular bet at sportsbooks entering the weekend. At BetMGM, more bets had been placed — and more money wagered — on Texas minus the points than any other team on the board.

Fanatics Sportsbook reported Thursday that the Longhorns had attracted six times as much money from bettors as any other team on Saturday’s college football slate. The money wagered on only Texas this week at Fanatics was already more than the total amount wagered on the Ohio State-Oregon game last week. Approximately 90% of the money bet on the Georgia-Texas spread was on the Longhorns at the Fanatics.

“[Texas] is definitely shaping up to be one of the biggest sides of the season,” Max Meyer, senior editor for Fanatics Sportsbook, said in a release.

Georgia has not been a betting underdog in a game since the 2021 season-opener against Clemson. Alabama owns the longest all-time streak of being favored. The Crimson Tide were favored in 92 consecutive games, a streak that began in 2015 and ended in the 2021 SEC championship game against Georgia.