The South Alabama Jaguars host the Georgia Southern Eagles at Hancock Whitney Stadium for a Sun Belt showdown on Thursday night.
This head-to-head series has been dominated by the Eagles, but the Jaguars are looking for their first winning season in 2021 and are slight college football betting home favorites for this matchup.
Will the Eagles’ seven-game winning streak in this series be snapped? Find out in our Georgia Southern vs. South Alabama picks and predictions for October 14.
Georgia Southern vs South Alabama odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Georgia Southern was a 3.5-point underdog when this game first hit the market, but the team is now getting only a field goal on most books, with some -3.5 available (with extra juice) at the time of writing. The total opened at 49.5 and is now as high as 50.5 on some books. Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Georgia Southern vs South Alabama picks
Picks made on 10/12/2021 at 10:28 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Georgia Southern vs South Alabama game info
• Location: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, AL
• Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021
• Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPNU
Georgia Southern vs South Alabama betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Georgia Southern: Amare Jones RB (Questionable), Davin Adcock DT (Out), Derrick Canteen DB (Out), Todd Bradley LB (Out).
South Alabama: Kazeem Walker RB (Questionable), Atanza Vongor S (Out), Allen Dailey Jr. WR (Out), Patrick Rosette LB (Out).
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Georgia Southern is 7-1 ATS in its last eight games against teams with winning records. Find more NCAA betting trends for Georgia Southern vs. South Alabama.
Georgia Southern vs South Alabama predictions
Georgia Southern +3.5 (-128)
These teams have met seven times since 2014, with Georgia Southern emerging as the winner in every game. The Eagles are also 6-1 ATS in those games, although the one game in which they didn’t cover came on the road.
Heading into Week 7 this season, the Eagles are actually behind the Jaguars in the Sun Belt standings but Georgia Southern is still going to love its chances of winning this one. While a 2-3 record is not good, the Eagles have covered in three straight games — two of which they were underdogs.
One of the reasons we love head coach Kevin Whitley’s team in this one is that Georgia Southern has the seventh-best rushing offense in college football this year. The Eagles are rushing for 253.2 yards per game and have a stable of backs that are capable of making plays, headlined by Logan Wright, who is averaging 7.2 yards per carry this season.
All of these guys will play a part in wearing out the Jaguars’ defenders, and they should be able to make life easier on quarterback Justin Tomlin, who hasn’t thrown for a touchdown yet this season. Tomlin has thrown four picks and taken 10 sacks for the Eagles, but this game offers him a chance to snap out of it — and he’s also will take off and run himself.
Defensively, Georgia Southern’s secondary will need to be up to the task in this one. Under center for South Alabama is Jake Bentley, who has FBS experience having started games for both South Carolina and Utah in his career. Bentley is a talented thrower but this Eagles defense will benefit from knowing that the Jags have a nonexistent running game.
It’s also worth noting that Georgia Southern was a 10-point road underdog when these teams faced one another back in 2019. So, the Eagles aren’t strangers to coming into this game and being expected to lose. That didn’t stop them from earning an ugly 20-17 win, which could be what this one ends up looking like.
Under 50.5 (-110)
Each of the last two games between these teams have gone Under the total, with an average total of 39 points per contest.
This year, neither of these offenses have been particularly special. The Eagles do have an elite rushing attack but they don’t have the punch through the air to match it. They are successfully moving the chains and keeping the clock moving, but it doesn’t mean they’re a threat to score a lot of points in this game.
The Under also happens to be 6-1 in South Alabama’s last seven home games, while also going 8-2 in South Alabama’s last 10 Sun Belt games.
Did you know that if you parlayed our Georgia Southern vs. South Alabama picks, you could win $24.01 on a $10 bet?
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