Week 8 is here as we look toward multiple exciting conference matchups on Saturday’s slate of games. With how this season’s matchups have been panning out, these are ones you won’t want to miss.

No. 5 Georgia takes on No. 1 Texas in Austin as the Bulldogs look to hand the Longhorns their first loss of the season. The Bulldogs know it’ll take a complete effort to take down their top-ranked opponent, especially in Longhorns territory, but what exactly does Georgia need to focus on to win Saturday?

No. 11 Alabama will take a trip to Neyland Stadium as the Crimson Tide play No. 7 Tennessee in another exciting SEC matchup. Both teams are 5-1 (2-1 in SEC play) on the season, and as we’re at the midseason point, the stakes are even higher with the playoff not too far away. Could this game determine who might be out of the playoff picture?

It’s a touchdown celebration that you might have seen throughout college football and in the NFL this season. It gained national attention when Miami QB Cam Ward hit the celebration after a touchdown, but it didn’t start with Ward. So where did it come from?

Our college football experts preview storylines and big matchups to know about ahead of Week 8.

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Texas-Georgia | Zombieland celebration | Alabama-Tennessee
Five midseason surprises

What each team needs to capitalize on to win

Texas: The Longhorns’ passing game will need to keep Georgia off balance. Quinn Ewers returned last Saturday vs. Oklahoma, his first game since getting injured against UTSA on Sept. 14. He threw for 199 yards and struggled early, with Texas gaining just 13 first-quarter yards before the Longhorns started chipping away. The difference was when Ewers had time. The Sooners got pressure on 12 of his 32 dropbacks, and he went 3-of-9 with an interception on those attempts. But when he wasn’t pressured, he was 17-of-20 for 191 yards and a touchdown. Oklahoma also shortened the field: 18 of his 29 pass attempts were thrown within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, and he averaged a career-low 1.7 air yards on his completions, according to ESPN Research. By keeping the chains moving, the Longhorns were able to get production at running back from Quintrevion Wisner, who ran 19 times for 72 yards (3.8 yards per carry) in the Longhorns’ first three games but has averaged 7.9 yards per carry and totaled 206 yards over the past two games, including a career-high 118 against Oklahoma. — Dave Wilson

Georgia: Kirby Smart talked this week about his desire for the No. 5 Bulldogs to play a complete game, which they haven’t done since their 34-3 rout of Clemson in the season opener. Georgia got off to slow starts at Kentucky and Alabama, then struggled to put away Mississippi State in the second half at home last week. There’s no question it’s going to require a complete effort to take down No. 1 Texas on the road on Saturday. The Bulldogs need to generate turnovers (five in six games, second fewest in the SEC) and cut down penalties (71.5 yards per game, third most in the league). The defense needs to tackle well — the Bulldogs are averaging 9.6 missed tackles per contest — and do a better job on 50-50 balls. Offensively, Georgia has struggled to get its running game going, which won’t be easy against a Texas defense that is allowing only 103.7 yards rushing per game. Quarterback Carson Beck has played well at times but needs to cut down on his interceptions and not force throws into tight windows. Georgia has already played on the road twice and might be more battle-tested than Texas. It’s probably not a CFP elimination game given the Bulldogs’ schedule strength, but losing in Austin would surely leave them no margin for error the rest of the way. — Mark Schlabach

Zombieland celebration

For weeks, the touchdown celebration that Cam Ward ushered into the national spotlight was surrounded with so much mystery, even he demurred when asked for a deeper meaning.

“I don’t know if the world’s ready for that right now,” he said with a laugh a few weeks ago.

After some gentle prodding, though, he relented.

“You have to ask my old OC, Ben Arbuckle, at Washington State,” Ward explained.

Challenge accepted.

Arbuckle chuckles when asked about the celebration that Ward has brought to life — across college football and into the NFL.

“The Zombieland,” Arbuckle says. “It’s a national treasure now.”

Arbuckle arrived as the offensive coordinator at Washington State in 2023 after serving as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky. In order to familiarize Ward with the offense he wanted to run, Arbuckle showed him cut-ups from his time with the Hilltoppers.

It was during one of those sessions that Ward noticed a player doing a unique celebration after scoring a touchdown. He placed his left hand over his face mask and flopped his right arm straight in front of him. Intrigued, Ward asked Arbuckle, “What is he doing?”

Arbuckle told him about Zombieland. Ward said simply, “I’m going to start doing it.”

That player Ward noticed? Western Kentucky receiver Daewood Davis. But what exactly does Zombieland mean? Arbuckle said his players told him it meant they were telling their opponents, “You stink like a zombie.”

In a phone interview with ESPN, Davis explained the original meaning. During fall camp in 2022, Davis said one of his teammates, a defensive back named Upton Stout, first did the celebration after a pass breakup. “It came out of nowhere,” Davis said. Then he decided to do it after scoring a touchdown. He remembers defensive back Kahlef Hailassie doing it, too. Before long, the entire team used it as its signature celebration.

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Daewood Davis hits Zombieland celebration after hauling in 44-yard TD for Western Kentucky vs. Indiana

Daewood Davis hauls in 44-yard TD for Western Kentucky vs. Indiana

Now it needed a name. The players came up with “Zombieland” because zombies are unstoppable and hard to kill. Davis proudly proclaimed he was the first player to do the celebration on national television, when he did it following a touchdown catch against Indiana in 2022.

Soon, the Hilltoppers started attaching different meanings to Zombieland, including a jab at their opponents for well, stinking like a zombie. Davis said they tried hard to make the celebration go viral in 2022 but had no luck. The first time he saw Ward do it, he was so shocked, he turned to his wife and said, “He’s doing our celebration!”

“I didn’t even know how he knew about it,” Davis said. “I forgot our old OC went to Wazzu.”

Ward actually started doing it at Washington State in 2023, as he promised Arbuckle he would. The first time he did it in a game was against Oregon State last September. Ward threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Williams on the second play of the game.

“Cam got hit when he threw it, but he stayed on his feet. So he drifted over to the far sideline and he gave [then-Oregon State coach] Jonathan Smith the Zombieland right in his face,” Arbuckle said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my god.'”

Ward knew he would continue doing the celebration once he transferred to Miami. “I didn’t invent it, but I’m going to blow it up. The whole country is doing it now.”

Earlier this season, Washington State faced San José State and former Wazzu quarterback Emmett Brown. “He threw like four touchdowns and he hit the celebration every single time,” Arbuckle said. “I was like, ‘Oh, we’re getting Zombied right now.'”

Davis was watching when Deebo Samuel and the San Francisco 49ers hit the celebration a few weeks ago against Seattle, and he made sure to let the world know on social media where it all began.

“It’s surreal,” Davis said. “To see NFL players hitting it, Cam hitting it, there’s some other college players hitting it, man, it’s like we really set a trend. We left our piece of us in football. When I see someone do it, I can be like, ‘That’s me right there.'” — Andrea Adelson

Could Alabama-Tennessee be an elimination game from the playoff?

This version of the Third Saturday in October sets up as much more than just one of the SEC’s most storied rivalries, a rivalry that has been dominated by Alabama over the past two decades. The Crimson Tide have won 16 of the past 17 games in the series and reeled off 15 in a row until Tennessee won a 52-49 thriller the last time Alabama ventured to Neyland Stadium in 2022.

As we move into the second half of the college football season, the stakes get higher in terms of the playoff. The loser Saturday might not necessarily be out of the playoff picture, but it will find itself very much on the fringes. Alabama and Tennessee are both 5-1 and 2-1 in the conference, and both teams still face tough tests on the road. Alabama travels to LSU on Nov. 9, and Tennessee travels to Georgia on Nov. 16. Another way to look at it is that both teams would still have chances for marquee victories even if they were to lose this weekend. Either way, a three-loss team making the playoff in the first year of the 12-team format seems unlikely.

In a lot of ways, Alabama and Tennessee mirror each other this season. They both lost to unranked teams on the road, the Tide to Vanderbilt and the Vols to Arkansas. Alabama’s defense is trying to shore up the holes after allowing 90 points in its past 10 quarters. Tennessee’s offense is trying to find some pop after failing to score more than two touchdowns in regulation in each of its past three games. If that’s not enough, the two coaches — Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel — are both from South Dakota.

This will be DeBoer’s first taste of the rivalry after replacing Nick Saban this season. Both fan bases came into this season fully expecting to be in the playoff. It won’t be an enjoyable offseason at either locale if the season ends without a playoff appearance. But for DeBoer to miss the postseason in Year 1 after Alabama has played in either the BCS title game or the playoff in 10 of the previous 13 years would send Tide fans into a frenzy, especially if two of the losses were (gasp) to Tennessee and Vanderbilt. — Chris Low

We have a long way to go in this 2024 season, but this game going down as Upset of the Year seems like a lock. Vanderbilt engineered one of the greatest upsets in SEC history on Oct. 5, stunning the top-ranked Crimson Tide one week after they’d taken down Georgia. Diego Pavia‘s squad made this game thrilling to watch from start to finish, achieved the program’s first win over Bama in 40 years and got to watch Vandy fans carry a goalpost all the way down Broadway to the Cumberland River.

2. Jeanty’s dominance

Boise State‘s Ashton Jeanty was really good last season, so his emergence as the best running back in college football isn’t totally surprising. But 1,248 rushing yards and 18 total touchdowns through six games? Legitimately challenging Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record? Heisman Trophy front-runner? It has been a wonderful surprise to watch the Broncos back become one of the biggest stars in the sport.

3. The rise of Indiana

Curt Cignetti called his shot back in December: “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.” Indiana’s new head coach has done nothing but win since he arrived in Bloomington, and he’s making it look easy. He inherited a 3-9 team, flipped the roster with a ton of transfers and has rolled to a 6-0 start, climbing to No. 16 in the AP poll. He’s not the only first-year head coach who’s thriving at midseason. Texas A&M, Syracuse, Duke and UL Monroe all deserve praise as well for achieving 5-1 starts with new coaching staffs.

4. The fall of Florida State

It’s still hard to fathom that Florida State, just 10 months removed from nearly reaching the College Football Playoff, is 1-5 with little hope of becoming bowl eligible. The preseason No. 10-ranked Seminoles needed to replace 10 NFL draft picks but looked ready to reload and remain a contender in the ACC. Instead, it has been a brutal season in every way. Eight more teams from the preseason AP Top 25 are currently unranked: Utah (No. 12), Oklahoma (16), Oklahoma State (17), Arizona (21), Kansas (22), USC (23), NC State (24) and Iowa (25).

5. Unexpected QB struggles

Florida State going with DJ Uiagalelei as its new QB1 obviously did not work out, but he’s far from the only big-name quarterback who has had a tough season so far. Michigan has tried using three different QBs. Oklahoma benched former five-star recruit Jackson Arnold after four starts. UCF‘s KJ Jefferson and SMU‘s Preston Stone lost their starting jobs as well. Utah’s Cameron Rising, Florida‘s Graham Mertz, Wisconsin‘s Tyler Van Dyke and North Carolina‘s Max Johnson were all lost to season-ending injuries. Arizona’s Noah Fifita and Kansas’ Jalon Daniels have thrown more interceptions than touchdowns. At this point, the teams that haven’t gone through some hard times with their quarterback this season should feel fortunate. — Max Olson

ALABAMA COACH KALEN DeBoer and quarterback Jalen Milroe aren’t the only ones thrilled that receiver Ryan Williams decided to forego his senior year of high school to join the Crimson Tide this season. So are the high school football coaches who competed against Williams, the only two-time Mr. Football in Alabama history, the previous three seasons.

“Somebody texted me and said, ‘I bet you’re glad Ryan Williams reclassified,'” said Ham Barnett, head coach at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile. “I told him my defensive backs were happy for sure.”

In three seasons at Saraland High School, just 10 miles north of Mobile, Williams had more than 4,400 yards of total offense and scored 76 touchdowns in 39 games — 47 receiving, 24 rushing, 1 passing and 4 on punt and kick returns.

Williams’ meteoric rise as a Crimson Tide freshman has been one of the top stories in the first half of the 2024 season.

Going into Saturday’s contest at No. 11 Tennessee (3:30 p.m. ET/ABC, ESPN+), Williams leads No. 7 Alabama with 23 catches for 576 yards with six touchdowns. His 25-yard average on receptions leads the FBS.

Those who watched him compete in youth leagues and high school aren’t that surprised by his instant impact.

“He would make plays that were not there, when you think you’ve got everything covered,” Barnett said. “He’d just make people miss. He was just a problem — a matchup nightmare for everybody. The things I see on Saturday are exactly what he was doing on Friday nights.”

Williams’ biggest moment so far came on Sept. 28 when he beat two Georgia defenders to haul in a 75-yard touchdown with 2:18 left in Alabama’s 41-34 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

It was the type of explosive play Williams had made so many times before.

“Every game, he did something that left you just kind of scratching your head or laughing,” Saraland High coach Jeff Kelly said. “It was something all the time.”

BY NOW, YOU’VE probably heard more than once that Williams is only 17 years old. He turns 18 on Feb. 9.

“He’s an old soul,” said Tiffany Coleman, Williams’ mother. “People are like, ‘He’s so mature to be 17.’ His grandparents had a lot to do with that. His maturity and foundation came from them.”

Coleman was 18 years old when Williams was born. Williams’ father, Ryan Williams, was 17. A few months after the younger Williams came into the world, his father left for college. An all-state receiver at B.C. Rain High in Mobile, the elder Williams signed with Auburn as a cornerback in February 2007. He spent two seasons with the Tigers before transferring to Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Mississippi in 2009.

Williams’ father finished his college career at Louisiana Tech — a knee injury limited him to only two games as a senior in 2011.

While his father was at college, Williams lived with his paternal grandparents, Robert and Catherine Williams. His grandfather was retired, so he cooked breakfast for his grandson each morning and made sure his clothes were ironed for school. They were inseparable.

“He was always with his grandfather,” Coleman said. “He would take him to practice. He would take him to school. He was Robert’s shotgun buddy, you know?”

Robert Williams also helped introduce his grandson to football. They watched Auburn and Alabama games on TV together, as well as Michigan and Ohio State replays on the newly launched Big Ten Network. When Williams accompanied his grandfather to the neighborhood barbershop, the other patrons were surprised by the child’s vast knowledge of the game.

“With Ryan knowing that his dad played football, he was already all-in,” Coleman said. “He used to watch his dad do workouts when he came home. I’m not going to say he was destined to play football, but he already loved the game because that’s all he was around.”

Once Williams’ father returned home from Louisiana Tech, he nurtured his son’s interest in football. Williams was in the backyard on many mornings going through drills that his father learned at college — sprints, cones, proper angles and pass routes.

“When I came home from school, football was still fresh,” Williams’ father said. “He was just happy to be spending time with me, and we went in the backyard and did the same things we were doing in college. I broke it down to his level and it accelerated as we both got older.”

AS A 5-YEAR-OLD, Williams wanted to play running back. His first youth league coach put him at quarterback.

“He was a playmaker,” Coleman said. “When he was a quarterback, if he couldn’t find anybody open, he was like Cam Newton out there. He’s taking off and he’s going to score.”

Playing for the Spartans in the Saraland Youth Football League, Williams scored five touchdowns in a win over the Municipal Park Giants. His father’s best friend, Luther Page, dubbed his godson “Hollywood” after the game. The moniker has stayed with him throughout his career. “Every Saturday, we knew Hollywood was going to put on a show,” Coleman said. Soon, Hollywood was celebrating touchdowns with the latest dances he’d seen on the internet such as the Nae Nae or Woah.

Robert Williams didn’t like his grandson showboating, however, and told him, “Hey, man, act like you’ve been there before. Don’t get down there and celebrate. Just hand the ball to the referee and go about your business.”

The celebrations continued.

“If you’re Hollywood, you’ve got to be Hollywood,” Coleman said.

In the fifth grade, Williams joined the Eight Mile Giants of the Mobile Youth Football Conference. The Giants already had a quarterback, so he played receiver for the first time. Hollywood didn’t slow down at a new position on a new team.

“You’d see him working out with his dad before games, and you could just tell that the kid was different because of his work ethic,” said Jermaine Rogers, an assistant coach with the Giants. “His talent was out of this world, but his work ethic was out of this universe.”

The Giants came up with another name for their team, “First 48 Boyz,” because Rogers, a homicide detective for the Mobile Police Department, appeared in the reality TV show, “The First 48.” Williams’ teammates included Saraland High defensive tackle Antonio Coleman, who is committed to Auburn, and Williamson High offensive tackle Carde Smith, who is headed to USC.

Williams was a superstar for the Giants, even proclaiming in a video taken at the time, “My name is Hollywood Williams, and I’m the No. 1 receiver in the nation.”

The short clip would prove to be prophetic.

AFTER PLAYING QUARTERBACK for three seasons in middle school, Williams was poised to run the offense for the ninth-grade team at Saraland High in 2021. He was working with the varsity squad during preseason camp and stayed after practice one day to throw with receiver Jarel Williams, who is now a sophomore at West Virginia.

Just a week before the season opener, the Spartans were still looking for a third receiver, and assistant coach Brett Boutwell noticed Williams running routes and catching passes out the office window.

“Coach Boutwell looked out there and said, ‘Hey, we need to give Ryan a shot,'” Kelly said. “He had a natural something special to him. He was 14 years old and playing against 17- and 18-year-olds. By the second half of the season and the playoffs, he was making some big plays.

“If they didn’t stay after practice that day and get those extra reps, he might have been a ninth-grade quarterback that year. I don’t know. We kind of stumbled into it.”

The summer before Williams’ sophomore season, Kelly told anyone who would listen: “Ryan is going to take over the state and nobody knows who he is.”

In Saraland High’s season opener in 2022, Williams scored his team’s first four touchdowns on a 75-yard punt return and three catches. He had 12 receptions for 138 yards in a 42-23 win against Daphne High.

Two weeks later, on the Spartans’ first offensive play against St. Paul’s Episcopal, an official sent quarterback K.J. Lacey back to the sideline because he wasn’t wearing proper knee pads. Williams lined up at receiver, motioned to quarterback and scored a 71-yard touchdown on a sweep.

“We pinched everybody and they decided to run stretch,” Barnett said. “He made two guys miss and outran them. We had a Division I safety [Chris Bracy] on that team too. He’s a starter at UAB now, and he outran him and beat him to the edge.”

Lacey, who is committed to Texas, returned to the field on Saraland High’s next possession. Williams ran for 103 yards with three touchdowns and caught another score in a 42-14 victory.

THROUGH SIX GAMES as a sophomore, Williams scored 18 times in 50 touches on offense. He committed to play for Alabama coach Nick Saban after scoring twice in a 48-7 rout of Baldwin County on Oct. 7, 2022.

Two weeks later, Saraland High, ranked No. 1 in Class 6A, suffered its first defeat, losing 27-26 at Theodore High on a 25-yard field goal with 1:19 left. Williams scored on a 76-yard punt return and a 13-yard reception.

His best work was still to come.

In the second round of the state playoffs, Williams scored a 68-yard touchdown on a go route on the first play from scrimmage against Hillcrest High in Tuscaloosa.

“Right out of the gate,” Hillcrest High coach Jamie Mitchell said. “He let us know real quick what was coming.”

Against the unbeaten Patriots, who had one of the best defenses in the state, Williams had eight catches for 240 yards with three touchdowns. He ran for two scores and threw another one in a 56-31 rout. “I’ve coached for 34 years and it’s hard for me to remember a player that had a bigger impact on a game than him,” Mitchell said. “He just single-handedly dismantled us, and we had a really good football team. He made it look really easy against us.”

Mitchell’s teams won state championships in two states. He coached Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown at Starkville High in Mississippi.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to get those guys the ball, even as good as they are,” Mitchell said. “[Williams] just had a knack for finding space and creating huge, explosive plays. When you look at him, there’s nothing in his appearance that’s going to strike fear in you. He’s not a big kid.

“But once the ball is snapped, his twitch and his ability to create room and space for himself are unreal. He has an innate ability to get to 10th gear in just a blink of an eye.”

In a 57-56 win in overtime against Homewood High in the state quarterfinals, Williams ran 10 times for 159 yards with two touchdowns and caught 10 passes for 160 with one score. The Spartans needed every bit of his production after nearly squandering a 27-0 lead.

Saraland High avenged its only loss of the season with a 21-6 win over Theodore High in the semifinals to reach the state championship game.

At Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, Williams scored four touchdowns and had 291 all-purpose yards in a 38-17 win over Mountain Brook to give Saraland its first state title. Williams’ 58-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-1 play helped seal it. He was named MVP of the championship game.

As a sophomore, Williams had 1,641 receiving yards with 24 touchdowns and 700 rushing yards with 15 scores. He threw for a touchdown and ran back two punts for scores. He became the first sophomore to win the state’s Mr. Football honor.

“It was a highlight reel all year,” Kelly said. “He had big moments and dynamite moments and just played at a different speed and level. I don’t want to take it for granted, but it was kind of commonplace. The things that would stand out to everybody else watching him for the first time was just kind of another Friday night in Saraland.”

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Ryan Williams elevates for unreal Alabama TD

Jalen Milroe throws it up the sideline to Ryan Williams, who comes down with ball, stays inbounds, then scores a touchdown for Alabama.

IN MID-JULY 2023, Williams broke the news to Kelly that he was reclassifying to the Class of 2024 and his junior season would be his final one at Saraland High. Williams didn’t publicly announce his decision until Dec. 23.

“I think it speaks volumes about who he is,” Kelly said. “He didn’t want it to be out there because he didn’t want to be a distraction for his teammates. We had a team that had a chance to win another state title. He and his family did a tremendous job keeping that decision private.”

Saraland High’s opener against Lipscomb Academy in Nashville was broadcast by ESPN. Williams was covered by Tennessee commitment Kaleb Beasley throughout the game. He scored on a 50-yard catch and run in the third quarter, then put the Spartans ahead 31-24 when he ran into the end zone on the first play of overtime. Lipscomb answered with a touchdown but missed the extra point in Saraland’s 31-30 victory.

Along with Williams’ big-play ability and Lacey’s arm, Saraland relied on its dominant defense in going 10-0 in the regular season. After the nail-biter against Lipscomb Academy, the Spartans outscored their next nine opponents, 513-103. They scored on all 10 possessions in a 70-20 rout of Foley High, then Lacey threw seven touchdowns — three to Williams — in a 59-20 win against Blount High.

Saraland had a 35-0 lead at the half against Theodore High, the only team to beat them in 2022, before winning 42-13.

After cruising through its first four playoff games to run the state’s longest winning streak to 20 games, the Spartans faced Clay-Chalkville High with a chance to win back-to-back Class 6A state titles. The game was played at Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium, and Williams provided Crimson Tide fans with a preview of what was to come.

Williams had 343 all-purpose yards and scored all four of Saraland’s touchdowns in a 31-28 loss. Clay-Chalkville’s defense stopped Lacey at its 1-yard line on the final play of the game. Williams hauled in 11 passes for 232 yards with two scores, ran for 27 yards with one score and returned the opening kickoff of the second half 86 yards for another touchdown.

It was a fitting ending for a player who would become the state’s first two-time winner of the Mr. Football award, and it wouldn’t be the last time he would star at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Barnett, who describes himself as an Alabama football fan, is happy Williams is now competing for the Crimson Tide — and not against his team.

Barnett called Williams the best high school skill player the talent-rich Mobile area has produced. That includes former NFL players Julio Jones, T.J. Yeldon, Pat White and others.

“He’s something different with his wiggle,” Barnett said. “He can change direction and feel where defenders are, even in the air, and land and make a move like I’ve never seen before.

“We knew he was more elite than all the high school players he was going against. He gets to the [college] level, and you think it might even out a little bit, especially at his age. Watching him doing the same things he was doing against high school kids, at 17, really amazes me.”

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 as 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 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 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.

The action was much more balanced at ESPN BET, with Texas garnering approximately 52% of the bets and money wagered on the point spread.

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 with the 2021 SEC championship game against Georgia.