Scott Van Pelt shares pick against the spread in Georgia-Alabama game
Scott Van Pelt has made his pick against the spread for Georgia’s top 5 showdown against Alabama on Saturday.
Van Pelt is going with the Crimson Tide at home this weekend. The SportsCenter host said the opportunity to back Alabama as a home underdog was “too tempting” to pass up.
“I’m rarely involved in these massive TV showdowns,” Van Pelt said on his weekly ‘Winners’ segment. “But the Tide as home dogs is just too tempting to pass on against the Dawgs. So we’re going to take Bama. Roll Tide as home dogs for the first time since 2007.”
Per ESPN, Van Pelt is 10-5 all-time when picking top-5 matchups as part of this segment.
Indeed it’s been since Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa that Alabama has been an underdog at home. The ’07 season was also the last time Alabama lost to Georgia in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide have won 8 of the last 9 meetings in this series, including last year’s SEC Championship Game.
Van Pelt is taking Alabama +2, but this line has already seen some movement. Most sportsbooks have Alabama as a 1-point underdog as of publication, but there are some shops that have this as a pick ’em or even Alabama -1. The line could continue to shift up until kickoff on Saturday night.
Kickoff between Georgia and Alabama on Saturday is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
Here’s video of Van Pelt’s full segment for this week:
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