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The Alabama Crimson Tide's 17-year betting streak is expected to come to an end in Week 5.
No. 4 Alabama is currently listed as the underdog on multiple sportsbooks two days ahead of its matchup against the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday (September 28), which would mark the first time the Tide weren't favored at home since the 2007 game against LSU, the first season of recently retired seven-time national champion Nick Saban's tenure as head coach. Alabama entered the week as consensus 2-point underdogs on all sportsbooks, however, lines have shifted toward the Tide.
Georgia is still favored by various margins, including a -2.5 spread on FanDuel, a -2.0 spread on DraftKings, a -2.0 spread on ESPNBET and a -1.5 spread on BETMGM. The Bulldogs were previously listed as 4.5-point favorites over the Tide in veteran Las Vegas oddsmaker Chris Andrews' early lines on big college football games for South Point sportsbook in July.
"I know that Georgia's good, really good. But they haven't been great; they haven't been as good as they were last year," Andrews told ESPN, acknowledging that he plans to offer a line shaded toward Alabama compared to other sportsbooks this week.
The Tide defeated the Bulldogs, 27-24, in the SEC Championship Game, which marked Saban's final SEC win and his last matchup against his longtime former defensive coordinator Kirby Smart. Smart, a former defensive back at Georgia, returned to his alma mater in 2016, leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022, following 10 consecutive seasons as a defensive position coach under Saban during stints with the Miami Dolphins (2006) and Alabama (2008-15), having also previously worked together for one season at LSU in 2004.
Saban's successor, Kalen DeBoer, will coach in his first SEC game on Saturday, having won his first three games as Alabama's head coach.