College Football

Orange Bowl: Michigan vs Georgia 12/31/21 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

Georgia Bulldogs (12-1) vs. Michigan Wolverines (12-1)
December 31, 2021 7:30 pm EDT
The Line: Michigan Wolverines +8 / Georgia Bulldogs -8; Over/Under: +43
(Get latest betting odds)

The Michigan Wolverines and Georgia Bulldogs clash Friday night in the college football Orange Bowl playoffs at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens

The Georgia Bulldogs come into this one as the #3 team in the playoff and is one of two SEC representatives after going unbeaten in the regular season at 12-0 before a loss to Alabama in the SEC title game. Stetson Bennett has thrown for 2,325 yards, 24 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on 64.1% passing while Zamir White has 718 rushing yards with 10 TDs and James Cook has 619 rushing yards with 7 scores. Brock Bowers leads the Bulldogs with 47 grabs for 791 receiving yards while Ladd McConkey and Jermaine Burton each have 400+ receiving yards and Adonai Mitchell has 342 receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Nakobe Dean and Lewis Cine each have a team-high 61 total tackles with Dean logging a team-high 5 sacks and a pair of interceptions while Channing Tindall has 4.5 sacks as well this season.

The Michigan Wolverines come into this one repping the Big Ten after going 12-1 with a Big Ten championship, helping earn head coach Jim Harbaugh coach of the year honors this season. Cade McNamara has thrown for 2,470 yards, 15 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on 64.6% passing while Hassan Haskins has 1,288 rushing yards with a team-high 20 touchdowns and Blake Corum has 939 rushing yards with 11 TDs as well this season. Cornelius Johnson has a team-high 38 catches for 609 receiving yards while Erick Ali and Roman Wilson each have 350+  receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Josh Ross has a team-high 95 total tackles while Aidan Hutchinson has a team-high 14 sacks on the year.

Georgia is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 bowl games and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games while the under is 4-1-1 in their last 6 games following a loss. Michigan is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games while the over is 13-3 in their last 16 neutral site games.

I get why the points with Michigan are tempting, as you want a competitive matchup in the playoffs and a double-digit game doesn’t necessarily provide that. However, the Bulldogs have had some time to stew on that loss to Alabama in the SEC title game and I think that has the Bulldogs even more hungry to prove that it was just an off day. The Bulldogs pretty much are the Wolverines only they do everything just a bit better in my opinion. Respect to Michigan for getting to this point, but the Bulldogs are on a mission. I’ll lay the points with Georgia here.

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: Georgia -8

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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