Marshall Thundering Herd vs Georgia Bulldogs Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 08/30/25

The Georgia Bulldogs will open their season on Saturday when they host the Marshall Thundering Herd at Sanford Stadium in Athens. With Carson Beck off to Miami, the Gunner Stockton era begins, as he leads an offense ranked 105th nationally in returning production coming into this season, though full of talent. The Bulldogs will have slightly more continuity on the defensive side of the ball, as future pros Christen Miller, CJ Allen, and KJ Bolden return with Joenel Aguero, Daylen Everete, and Raylen Wilson stepping into bigger roles.

While there are many moving pieces on Georgia’s roster, one thing is undeniable – there is a massive talent discrepancy in this matchup. Not only that, but Marshall’s program was overhauled in the offseason. Their coach left for Southern Mississippi and was replaced by Tony Gibson, who is known for leading strong defenses as a coordinator but has never held a head coaching role. Gibson will have to lead a roster that returns the least amount of production in the country, and to make matters worse for the Herd in this particular matchup, more FCS and Division 2 transfers were brought in than those with any power conference experience. 

I struggle to see a path to success for Marshall’s offense in this game, as I don’t see much upside at the quarterback position regardless of whether Carlos Del Rio-Wilson or Zion Turner starts. Neither played football last year, and neither was very inspiring in the little bit of playing time they got in 2022 or 2023. In fact, they combined for 13 touchdowns and 18 interceptions over that span. It won’t help that the Thundering Herd will have 4 new starters on the offensive line, with 3 of them being transfers. It’s hard to expect much from this unit while incorporating a brand new system in its first game together on the road in Athens, a place where Georgia never loses.

Kirby Smart has never been one to run up the score in these non-conference “buy” games. In fact, Smart’s Bulldogs are 4-13 ATS when laying 33 points or more in these non-conference games in his tenure. If the Bulldogs had a bit more continuity on the offensive side of the ball, or at least had a quarterback with more playing time under his belt, I’d be more inclined to lay the points with Georgia despite the poor ATS history due to the pure talent mismatch in this game. However, given all the variables going into this Week 1 showdown, I lean to the Under. Look for Georgia’s defense to stonewall Marshall’s offense, and expect a heavy dose of Nate Frazier and Josh McCray out of the Bulldog offensive backfield.

Marshall vs Georgia prediction: Under 55.5 (-110) available at bet365 at the time of publishing. Playable to 55.

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