Georgia and Alabama meet in the first colossal clash of the 2024 college football season on Saturday.

It’s all you’ve probably heard about on ESPN this week and you’ll only hear more about it as kickoff in Tuscaloosa nears, and rightfully so. It’s the first of a handful of games that will alter the complexion of the season.

UGA/Bama is by far the most important game on the Week 5 schedule, so I wouldn’t blame you if you reserve your college football watching for Saturday night, but there are plenty of other intriguing bets to made.

 

Game of the Week: No. 2 Georgia (-2) at Alabama (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET)

Georgia had its wake-up call game two weeks ago in a 13-12 win over Kentucky.


A lot of people would bet that the Dawgs look the exact opposite when they hit the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It’s hard for one of the top three teams in the country to play that poorly in two straight games.

Alabama cruised to 3-0, but the most notable win over Wisconsin has an asterisk next to it because the Badgers’ starting quarterback was injured in the first quarter. Bama wasn’t really threatened in Madison.

Bama’s won five of the last six meetings between the two sides, but that was when Nick Saban was in charge of the Crimson Tide. Kalen DeBoer is now the head coach and this is his first test in the SEC.

Georgia owns a 1-2 against the spread mark, while Alabama is 2-1 ATS. Georgia is 3-0 to the under this season, Alabama is 2-1 to the over. Each of the last six meetings between the SEC rivals had at least 49 points. Saturday’s over/under is 48.5.

 

Favorite to Trust: Eastern Michigan (-15) at Kent State (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET) 

If you’re a Penn State fan, you know just how much Kent State stinks.

Well, life will be even worse for the Golden Flashes as they enter MAC play because they lost their starting quarterback to injury.

So yes this is a fade of Kent State, but it’s also riding the wave of Eastern Michigan, who is one of a select few teams with a 4-0 ATS record.

Eastern Michigan covered in all three of its victories and stayed within the 25-point spread in Week 2 against Washington.

Meanwhile, Kent State is 0-4 ATS and failed to cover as an underdog of 49 points in each of the last two weeks against Penn State and Tennessee.

 

 

Underdog To Trust: Western Kentucky (+13) at Boston College (Saturday, Noon ET)

Western Kentucky has a run-and-gun offense that serves as an opposite to Boston College’s methodical pace making down the field behind quarterback Thomas Castellanos.

BC can air it out when it wants, but it would much rather prefer to run the ball 30-plus times and tire out a defense.

That may happen on Saturday, but Western Kentucky can strike fast against a BC secondary that allowed more than 240 passing yards in the last two games against Michigan State and Missouri.

BC is probably going to win this game, but it’s too big of a number to trust the Eagles with in this type of stylistic matchup.

Online slots: make sure to check out the best online casino bonuses for Pennsylvania and New Jersey

 

Points! Points! Points!: Colorado at UCF (Over 64.5) (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET) 

Colorado is the ideal matchup for UCF’s offense.

The Knights put up at least 35 points in each of their first three games and are 2-0-1 to the over. They are one of 10 teams without a loss to the over (ironically enough Iowa is one of those 10 as well, but I digress).

Colorado has had a reputation under Deion Sanders to play in chaotic games that produce a lot of entertaining moments. The latest example of that was the converted Hail Mary to send last week’s game against Baylor into overtime. The Buffaloes went on to win 38-31.

The Buffs are actually 8-8 to the total in the Coach Prime era, but in this matchup specifically, they’ll be forced to push the issue on offense.

In the Pac-12 last year, Colorado did not hold a single opponent under 20 points. The conference may have changed to the Big 12, but that trend looked the same in the conference opener against Baylor.