Oregon is a massive underdog in its season-opening showdown with Georgia.

That’s according to an early line from FanDuel, which released a batch of point spreads for marquee games at the front of the 2022 college football calendar earlier this week. The Ducks are viewed as a 16.5-point underdog in the neutral site game with the Bulldogs on Sept. 3. A time has not yet been set for the game.

This will be just the second meeting all-time between the two programs, with the first coming in 1977. Georgia won that game 27-16.

Few expect their season-opening matchup with the defending national champions to be as close. Georgia recently had 15 players drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft, but the Bulldogs have signed a top-five national recruiting class in six straight cycles. They’re expected to once again be among the country’s elite.

The game will also be played at a “neutral site” in Atlanta, Georgia, some 70 miles from Georgia’s campus.

Oregon will have at least one thing working for it: first-year head coach Dan Lanning helped construct the Bulldog defense that just took a wrecking ball to the rest of the sport. That’s not a trump card, but he will have a working knowledge of what UGA head coach Kirby Smart likes to do.

Remember, too, Oregon was a 14.5-point underdog in its Week 2 road trip to Ohio State last season, but shocked the Buckeyes 35-28.

Other Oregon lines released by FanDuel:

  • 6.5-point favorite vs. BYU (Sept. 17)
  • 13-point favorite vs. Stanford (Oct. 1)