Georgia atop SEC title odds, but Kirby Smart cites ‘brutal gauntlet’ ahead
ATHENS — Kirby Smart knows the road to the SEC championship game and College Football Playoff field better than anyone, but the next step is in his clubhouse.
“We’ve started getting ourselves better looking within,” Smart said on Tuesday as No. 5-ranked Georgia turns the page on a 27-24 loss to Auburn on Saturday and looks forward to an Oct. 31 showdown with Florida in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs remain the favorite, per the Fan Duel Sportsbook, to win what figures to be the last SEC championship game in history (provided the 24-team playoff model is approved, as expected), with UGA sitting at +135 odds.
But the same oddsmakers installed Georgia as a 20.5-point favorite over Auburn, and the SEC standings are jumbled enough that at least 12 of the 16 teams remain in contention for the league title game and the 12-team College Football Playoff field.
Odds to win SEC Championship Game:
• Georgia +135
• Ole Miss +400
• Alabama +850
• Tennessee +900
• LSU +1100
• Texas +1400
• Kentucky +1600
• Florida +1900
• Oklahoma +3500
• Missouri +4000
Smart was asked about the parity that exists in the wake of five of the top seven ranked teams in the AP Top 25 losing on Saturday, and he quickly pointed out this is the earliest in a season that every SEC team had at least one loss (in the last 20 years).
“I’d say it’s a new day and age,” Smart said. “It’s easy to use the word parity … anybody can beat anybody on a given Saturday.”
Changes that allow players to transfer and play right away along with Name, Image and Likeness financial incentives in place since after the 2021 season have indeed changed the landscape in collegiate revenue sports.
“The world we live in now is everybody’s got good players, everybody’s diversifying in terms of the amount of talent that spreads itself out,” said Smart, who stockpiled championship depth pre-NIL and transfer portal rules and won back-to-back CFP Championship Games after the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
“Kids want to play, and kids want to get paid, and starters get paid,” Smart explained. “So more players go to more places and there’s just more parity.”
Smart acknowledged the depth of quality teams in the SEC that has led to this season’s cannibalism, to the extent that transitive properties rationale is all but thrown out the window.
“I think among the coaches, we all agree it’s … (a) brutal gauntlet,” Smart said. “It’s already the fastest it’s ever been in terms of every SEC team having a loss (in the last 20 years).”
The Bulldogs face 20th-ranked Florida in a pivotal rivalry matchup on Oct. 31 before a dangerous road trip to play No. 7 Ole Miss on Nov. 7, a home game with No. 22 Missouri on Nov. 14 and a road trip to upset-minded South Carolina on Nov. 21.
“So what does that trajectory look like in four to five weeks or six weeks? Is it going to be an SEC champion with three losses? Is it going to be two? I don’t know.
“I just know that any given Saturday somebody can get their butt beat in our league.”