Oddsmakers believe Georgia will beat Florida for SEC East title… here’s why they’re wrong

The updated SEC odds are out and the Georgia Bulldogs are the favorites to win the East, but here’s why they’re wrong and it’ll be the Florida Gators.

Kirby Smart‘s Georgia Bulldogs have owned the SEC East the last three years and are the favorites to win the division for a fourth-straight year, according to the latest SEC odds from Las Vegas Sportsbook.

The Bulldogs figure to be a preseason top-5 team along with Alabama who is the betting favorite to come out of the West after losing their crown to LSU last season. Alabama and Georgia are two chalk picks as we sit here in mid-May after missing a spring practice evaluation period.

Based on the results of last season, it’s no surprise to see these two teams as the betting favorites. I am in total agreement that the Crimson Tide are the betting favorites to win the West, but I think the Florida Gators are going to beat their rivals and take home the SEC East for the first time in

The oddsmakers don’t believe in Florida but I do and it begins with their head coach Dan Mullen and quarterback Kyle Trask. While Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman is among the leading Heisman candidates after arriving in Athens,

I’m not drinking the Newman Kool-Aid, but I am ready for a glass of the Trask mixture. I have so much more confidence in Florida’s offense than I do Georgia’s and while the Dawgs get a slight advantage on defense, I don’t think it’s enough to counteract their strength on offense.

After replacing an injured Feleipe Franks last season, Trask put up better passing numbers than any Gators quarterback over the last decade. It’s an apples and oranges comparison but Trask’s passing stats compare favorably to Tim Tebow‘s during his 2009 Heisman Trophy-winning season.

Of course, Tebow added 1,000 rushing yards and double-digit touchdowns on the ground in 14 games compared to the non-mobile Trask in 10 games.

But the point remains, Florida football hasn’t been this set at quarterback in a decade. Even when Florida last won the SEC East when they won back-to-back titles in 2015-2016 under Jim McElwain, it was more of a smoke and mirrors approach. And in hindsight, those Florida teams weren’t great and were more of a product of the division being down.

Georgia is a much tougher foe today than it was before Smart replaced Mark Richt. I’m not taking the Dawgs lightly. But history is not on their side of winning the East for the fourth year in a row.

Since the divisions were adopted by the SEC in 1992, only Florida from 1992-1996 during the peak of the Steve Spurrier era was able to win the division more than three years in a row.

In other words, it’s time for Florida to reclaim their crown as the Beast in the East and beat Georgia and get to the SEC Championship Game and a potential showdown with Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide with a trip to the College Football Playoff on the line.

Mullen, Trask and history is just a few reasons why the oddsmakers are going to be wrong when these two teams meet in Jacksonville for one of the best rivalry games in college football.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this game is an instant classic and decided by three points or less. Maybe there’s a game-winning field goal in the closing seconds. Maybe there’s a clutch Trask touchdown throw on third down in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter to serve as the difference. Maybe there’s another botched late-game decision by Smart that leads to Georgia football fans coming up short again.

This is one of the games I’m most looking forward to this season because I can’t wait to be proven right that Florida, not Georgia, is the team to beat in the SEC East this year.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.