College Football Best Bet Tonight: Hammer Georgia Tech Against Colorado

In the first year of the post-Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders era at Colorado, things were a bit bumpy. Well.. bumpy might be a bit of an understatement. Head coach Deion Sanders struggled to find a quarterback to stick with; the defense was one of the worst in the Big 12, and they needed an entire roster overhaul this offseason, including no coordinators on both sides of the ball.

Things couldn’t have been much different for Brent Key and Georgia Tech last season. Tech started the season 8-0 and put arch-rival Georgia on the ropes in their regular-season finale. A 1-4 close to the season isn’t a storybook ending, but it looks like he was finally able to get things moving in the right direction in Atlanta.

The dichotomy of both of these teams prior seasons is what makes their opener so special. Coach Sanders has been battling multiple health scares the last few years, and having to build a new team in the portal is wildly demanding. One, how good of a roster are we expecting this time around, and two, how much longer can he keep on coaching?

Key has a different, and maybe even harder challenge. How will he replace Haynes King, the heart and soul of Georgia Tech last year? The answer: Alberto Mendoza. The Indiana transfer, and brother of Heisman Trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza will be entering Georgia Tech with exceedingly high expectations. Replacing a fan favorite quarterback who left everything out on the field week after week is hard enough. Being the younger brother of last years Heisman winner is even more challenging.

Georgia Tech has a ton to replace, but I think they’re being fairly overlooked in the ACC. Their out of conference schedule might be the toughest in the country with Colorado, Tennessee, and Georgia all lined up, but I think this squad is up for the challenge.

Mendozza might have early struggles with an unproven offensive line, but he will have one of the best backfields in the country surrounding him. Malachi Hosley rushed for nearly 700 yards last season on 7.1 YPC, and they added Michigan transfer Justice Haynes in the backfield for even more depth. If transfers on the defensive line can make big steps forward and improve this defense, I think Georgia Tech can beat anyone on their schedule.

Colorado won’t have much of a run game this year, but redshirt freshman Julian Lewis will put pressure on their secondary. The Buffaloes added four transfers at receiver who combined for 28 touchdowns last year, so there’s a plethora of talent for him to use.

Kaidon Salter almost took out Georgia Tech last season, but things might be more tricky on the road this time around. I expect Georgia Tech to dominate this game’s time of possession. Colorado is basically lining up an entirely new defense this year, and I don’t think they’ll be able to slow this Tech rushing attack down.

Lewis might be able to keep this thing close but I just don’t think they’ll have enough in the tank by the 4th quarter, especially on defense. This line isn’t nearly large enough. I would hammer Georgia Tech -6.5 and might sprinkle a little bit on the over (51.5) as well.