Football Friday: The epic Tennessee-Georgia showdown will be close

This week has been longer than usual because of football games. Football Friday is on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It's the weekend now. If it isn't, it's going to be awkward sending out this Football Fridays newsletter.

James Harden is out for a month. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey will play instead of him. The Sixers are 23rd in the league in defensive efficiency. They play the Knicks at 7 p.m. on Friday. The under is 5-2 in last 7 meetings. Knicks are 19th in offensive efficiency, so the game could be sloppy. Under 219.5 (-110).   Jonathan Coachman, Emory Hunt, Chip Patterson and Allan Bell give their picks for the Friday's best bets.

No. 1 Tennessee plays Georgia on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The winner is almost guaranteed a College Football Playoff berth. Georgia's best path to victory involves controlling the ball on offense and limiting big plays on defense. Tennessee's offense could prove too much for Georgia defense, but Georgia could be the only team capable of stopping the Vols. If Georgia wins, the game will be close.

No. 6 Alabama plays No. 10 LSU on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be high-scoring. LSU won the last game between the two teams 46-41. The over-under is 56.5. Alabama is the more explosive team with the better quarterback.

Air Force runs the ball on 87.7 percent of its snaps this season, while Army runs it on 84.3 percent. Both teams are running option offenses, so they need long drives to score. The under has gone 42-9-1 in games between service academies since 2005.

Panthers are playing without Christian McCaffery. The Bengals are without injured receiver Ja'Marr Chase. They are not as good as they looked against Cleveland. Carolina Panthers are favored by 7 points. Bengals will win the game. Carolina is playing better since Matt Rhule's departure.

Seahawks are on top of the NFC West and the Cardinals are 3-5. The teams met last month in Seattle and Seattle won 19-9. The Seahawks defense held the Cards out of an end zone.

Atalanta is in second place in Serie A, five points behind Napoli. Napolio lost to Liverpool in the Champions League this week. This will be Napolo's fifth match in 13 days. The betting expert recommends Atalant as a favorite. Georgia and Tennessee are playing football on Football Friday. The game starts at 1 p.m.

Liverpool has played five Premier League games this season and hasn't won any of them. Liverpool is on the road again this weekend. Tottenham has lost only once in nine home matches. Dejan Kulusevski is back for Tottenham. Antonio Conte will probably make some repairs over the World Cup break and in January.

Roma and Lazio play each other in the Derby Della Capitale on Sunday at 12 p.m. Roma is one point ahead of LazIO in fourth place. Lazia has been struggling recently. The team lost to Salernitana and Feyenoord on the weekend.