2023 Georgia Bulldogs Football Predictions and Betting Odds
2022 Record: 15-0 overall, 8-0 in SEC
Head Coach: Kirby Smart, 8th year: 81-15
It is time to settle in, because this Georgia freight train is not slowing down anytime soon. Maybe because it seems so new, and that is why there has not been a national outpouring of emotion one way or another when it comes to the first outright no-split back-to-back National Championship run since 2011 and 2012 Alabama and before that 1994 and 1995 Nebraska.
Maybe it is because there’s nothing villainous about Georgia football yet -- there’s no hate-watching or Evil Empire factor like there is with Duke basketball, or the New England Patriots, or Alabama football.
This is the best team in college football again -- last year’s team was sort of young. It has a pipeline of four- and five-stars recruits who keep rising, it has another amazing rotation of running backs, another amazing group of defensive linemen, another amazing offensive line, and another amazing corner tandem.
The defense has been the star of the two National Championship runs, but the offense was even more of a machine. The D was ninth in the nation in total defense. The O was fifth, averaging more than 500 yards per game with a terrific balance, peak efficiency, and finished No. 1 in the nation in red zone efficiency. All of that, and it did the near-impossible by being explosive while still being able to control the clock.
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Bulldogs Offensive Outlook for 2023
It all starts with the offensive line. The Bulldog front five paved the way for 205 rushing yards per game, was fourth in the nation in sacks allowed, and second in tackles for loss allowed. It might have been the most underappreciated position group in the country last season, and it gets a slew of key guys back, starting with C Sedrick Van Plan and the guard tandem of Xavier Truss and Tate Ratledge. They’re all great, but there’s a shot OT Amarius Mims is the first of the bunch drafted next year, and it’s possible the most talented blocker of all is 6-4, 330-pound redshirt freshman Earnest Greene, who’s expected to take over for 14th overall pick Broderick Jones at left tackle.
Leading rusher Kenny McIntosh is done, but Georgia went with a deep enough rotation to be just fine with the ground game. Daijun Edwards was second on the team with 769 yards, Kendall Milton is a 220-pound breakaway threat who averaged seven yards per pop with eight scores, and Brandon Robinson is another 220-pounder who added 330 yards and the fourth back in the mix.
The top target is Brock Bowers -- a do-it-all tight end with top-ten overall talent and receiving skills - leading the way with 63 grabs for 942 yards and seven touchdowns. Top wide receiver Ladd McConkey returns after making 58 grabs, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint is a dangerous deep threat who’ll get the call on the X now, and coming in from Missouri is the team’s top receiver, Dominic Lovett after catching 56 passes for 846 yards and three scores -- he hit Georgia for six catches for 84 yards last season. Also coming over is Mississippi State transfer Rara Thomas after making 62 grabs with 12 scores over the last two seasons.
Who’s going to throw them the ball? Stetson Bennett was even better than you think, throwing for over 4,000 yards last year with 27 touchdown passes, just seven picks, and running for 10 scores. That, and he pulled the Missouri game out of the fire and came up massive late to pull off the thriller over Ohio State. He was the walk-on-made-good story. The current Georgia quarterbacks are all big-time recruits with all the tools and talent needed to rip it up.
Five-star sophomore Brock Vandagriff is a good all-around quarterback who could be the most effective runner of the bunch. four-star redshirt freshman Gunner Stockton can also move, but he’s likely the third guy in the mix. Five-star Dylan Raiola is the most talented option, but he’s not arriving until 2024, so the odds-on favorite is 6-4, 215-pound junior Carson Beck. Let’s just call him a 4.5-star prospect who has the most experience in the system and should be the best passing option -- for now. This will all be locked down in fall camp.
Bulldogs Defensive Outlook for 2023
Alabama and Ohio State have this problem all the time, and now Georgia is experiencing the job of having a ton of NFL talent to replace. Nineteen Bulldog defensive players were drafted over the last three years, with five selected last season -- and there’s a lot more where that came from.
The secondary lost likely NFL starters CB Kelee Ringo (Eagles) and S Christopher Smith (Raiders) and somehow might be even better. The safety combination of Malaki Starks, Javon Bullard, and Tykee Smith is next level -- Starks was third on the team with 68 stops, Bullard is a possible first rounder who can get into the backfield. Kamari Lassiter is the new top corner, getting Smoke Bouie from Texas A&M helps, and sophomore Daylen Everette is likely taking over for Ringo.
Linebackers Smael Mondon and Jamon Dumas-Johnson are destructive forces. They finished 1-2 in tackles, respectively, combining for 146 stops and 17 tackles for loss. Nolan Smith might have been the 30th pick overall to the Eagles, and Robert Beal is off to the 49ers, but Chaz Chambliss has been around long enough to be a factor at one of the outside spots.
Georgia Bulldogs Season Prediction, Win Total, Best Bets
The Bulldogs are loaded everywhere, and the depth is in place. And even with the change at quarterback, and with a few new parts on defense, it’ll take something amazing for anyone to touch this bunch.
Even so, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss -- they all have scholarship players, with several of them receiving NIL compensation. They can all play, any one of them can beat Georgia because it’s the SEC, and weird things happen in the league.
But there’s no one on the schedule -- and possibly no one in college football other than Ohio State, Alabama, USC, and Michigan -- that has a real shot to beat Georgia if both sides are bringing their respective A games.
2023 CFN Preseason Prediction: 11-1
2022 Record: 15-0
Aug 26 OPEN DATE
Sept 2 UT Martin W
Sept 9 Ball State W
Sept 16 South Carolina W
Sept 23 UAB W
Sept 30 at Auburn W
Oct 7 Kentucky W
Oct 14 at Vanderbilt W
Oct 21 OPEN DATE
Oct 28 Florida (in Jacksonville) W
Nov 4 Missouri W
Nov 11 Ole Miss L
Nov 18 at Tennessee W
Nov 25 at Georgia Tech W
Georgia Bulldogs Football Best Bets
To win the SEC -115
To win the National Championship +215
Carson Beck to win the Heisman +2000
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