Joel Klatt predicts winner of Week 12 showdown between Georgia, Texas
By Jake Faigus
Published:
The SEC has a massive matchup between two titans in Week 12.
Texas travels to Athens, Georgia, in a monster game that will have a hand in shaping the SEC and College Football Playoff standings. Georgia is 8-1 and Texas is 7-2. This game will either seal Texas’s fate or emphatically answer the question of whether it belongs. Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt isn’t sure.
Klatt broke down the game on the latest episode of The Joel Klatt Show. He emphasized that he is picking Georgia to win and cover at home, mainly due to his trust in the Bulldogs.
“Texas, in general, is a team that, let’s face it, we haven’t seen a complete game from them,” Klatt said. “If we’re really being honest with ourselves, don’t we know, deep down, that it’s going to take a complete game from any team to beat Georgia in Athens? It’s what it took from Alabama. They played one of the great halves of football that we’ve seen so far in the college football season in that win over Georgia in Athens. Ty Simpson was amazing in that game.”
This game means everything for a crowded SEC, where a tiebreaker could very easily determine the championship game participants. It would be extra crucial for Texas, given that the Longhorns already have 2 losses. If the Longhorns lose, they’d be in danger of missing the Playoff after opening the season at No. 1.
“So, you have to believe that Arch [Manning], at some point, would have to go otherworldly and play the best football that he’s played in his career for Texas to win this game,” Klatt said. “You see, if you just boil this down to trust, let’s really talk honestly about this. Which team do you trust in this game?”
For Klatt, that trust comes down to Georgia at home against a team they swept last year.
“Do I have faith that Texas is going to, all of a sudden, put something together that I have not seen from them yet this season? I have not seen evidence that Texas can go in and beat Georgia,” Klatt said. “
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Georgia is a 6.5-point favorite, per BetMGM.
