Analyst: ‘Laughable’ that top Auburn rival is CFP underdog

Top Auburn football rival Georgia is currently the odds-on favorite to win the 2023 College Football Playoff — but Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart has constantly pushed to his players that they are underdogs, culminating in a mind-boggling post-championship win speech from UGA linebacker Nolan Smith in which he said the undefeated defending champs were doubted before the season.

“They thought we were gonna go 7-5, we end up perfect,” Smith prefaced before saying, “I can talk trash now cause I’m done. I’m a Dawg for life and I will always be a Dawg.”

Mike Farrell of Mike Farrell Sports chimed in on this narrative, which is continuing into the 2023 season with championship QB Stetson Bennett off to the NFL, calling it “laughable” that the Bulldogs are being considered an underdog right now.

“I keep seeing this being written, and it makes me laugh,” Farrell prefaced before saying, “Find me a poll where the Dawgs aren’t No. 1? I know it’s been forever since a team won three straight national championships but from polls to betting odds to everything else, Georgia is the hands-on favorite. No one is sleeping on them so the fan base can just zip it.”

Georgia is the new final boss for Auburn football and the rest of the SEC

For years, Georgia has had the number of the Auburn football program in what has become a lopsided Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry game. The rest of the country now understands the Bulldogs’ dominance following two titles and a historic beatdown of TCU in the CFP title game in January. At this point, UGA has taken the mantle Alabama once owned of the new final boss for not only the Tigers and the rest of the SEC but of the nation at large as well.

Smart could continue to sell his guys on being an underdog, and if it works, more power to them. But no one else believes for one second that Athens, Georgia is the home of an underdog Power Five program.