College GameDay Crew Unanimously Picks UGA Football to Win SEC

ATHENS - The first edition of ESPN’s College GameDay for the 2024 college football season aired in Dublin, Ireland, where the feature game included one of UGA Footballs rivals beating a top 10 team.

Week zero had a few games on slate, the only one between two power schools being Florida State vs. Georgia Tech. The College GameDay crew took time at the end of the show to include their picks for the season in addition to the picks for the week. 

For the first time, Kirby Smart’s former mentor Nick Saban will not be on the sidelines for Alabama and has joined ESPN to be part of the popular pregame show. Smart now has to hear the “rat poison” from Saban. 

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The entire crew chose Georgia to win the SEC Championship Game this season. The group this year making picks consists of Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, and Pat McAfee. When picking the national champion, two of them chose Georgia to manage that feat as well: Saban and McAfee.

A year ago, the desk received some backlash on the internet when Herbstreit, Howard and McAfee picked Alabama to win the conference. They ended up being right. 

“Someone has to prove they can beat Georgia,” Saban said. “The only people that have beaten Georgia in the last two or three years is Alabama.”

Saban may have admitted earlier on the show to spreading a little bit of rat poison for ALabama when he picked Georgia to win the SECCG over Texas, he is also telling the truth. The only team that has been in Georgia’s way this decade is Alabama. 

McAfee brought up the fact that Georgia had a legit claim to be in the playoff last season. 

They weren't even allowed to complain about not being in the CFP because the FSU fans were complaining so loud, “ McAfee said. “I think Kirby has used that all off-season.”
Even though Smart and his players claim to not even listen to outside noise, he is known to use it as a tool for motivation. 

Howard and Herbsteit each chose Oregon to be college football’s winner at the end of the season. Howard thinks that Georgia is “still the top dog in the SEC,” yet selected Dan Lanning to win his first ring as a head coach. 

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