ESPN GameDay crew provides motivation for No. 1 Georgia

Those predictions differ from most this year. Reporters at SEC Media Day, Associated Press writers and SEC coaches all picked Georgia to win the 2023 SEC title.

Earlier this summer, Davis revealed his national championship pick to be Michigan.

Bulldog fans, certainly feeling entitled after watching their team capture the last two national championships, reacted harshly on social media, lighting up the broadcasters’ feeds and calling attention to the prediction.

Earlier in the week, Smart was asked on Davis’ GameDay Podcast if he had “any concept of what you’ve done to your fanbase?”

“I don’t think I’ve done that,” Smart said with a chuckle. “I think fans are passionate, especially here in the Southeast. … Anybody you put (No.) 2, they’ll say they should’ve been (No.)1, right? It doesn’t matter who they put there, they’ll always argue their team is best.”

The college football season officially opened Saturday with a handful of games. The real season, of course, gets under way this week with a full slate of games across the country. That includes the Bulldogs’ opener at home against Tennessee-Martin (6 p.m., SEC Network-Plus).

Last January, after the Bulldogs had put the finishing touches on a 15-0 season with a 65-7 win over TCU in the College Football Playoff Championship, several Georgia players referenced being motivated by some prognostications that had them going 7-5 in 2022. In truth, nobody thought that or predicted it.

The fact, the Bulldogs have been a preseason Top 5 pick in both preseason polls every year since 2018. They were a consensus No. 3 before last season.

Last week, Smart denied planting the 7-5 narrative.

“I never expressed that,” Smart said. “I saw something where a player said that on the field or something, but these players read more stuff on Twitter and social media than I do. So, what I (share with) them is maybe a level of disrespect before maybe one game or two games, but not a season or not a thought of that.”

The Bulldogs admitted to being supremely motivated last November by Tennessee’s distinction as the nation’s No. 1 team and being favored over Georgia the week visited Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs won 27-13 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.

“A lot of people doubted us throughout the season,” Smart said. “You go back and watch some of the games before we played a team that was ranked higher than us. So, that may have been a case for one game, but not necessarily the whole season.”

There certainly is some doubt about the Bulldogs this season. That’s due primarily to a change at the quarterback position.

“I committed the atrocity of picking you No. 2; forgive me for wanting to see how the quarterback plays,” Davis said playfully to Smart.

The irony is that Alabama is also undergoing a quarterback change. And while the Bulldogs have settled on fourth-year junior Carson Beck, Tide coach Nick Saban and his staff are still debating between three candidates – redshirt sophomore Jalen Milroe, Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner and redshirt freshman Ty Simpson.

Simpson, by the way, is the son of Tennessee-Martin head coach Jason Simpson. Bama opens the season Saturday at home vs. Middle Tennessee, then plays Texas in Week 2.

The late surge of confidence in the Crimson Tide appears to be based a strong Alabama’s offensive line and a defense led by outside linebacker Dallas Turner and cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry. Again, Georgia has similar traits.

In the end, none of it matters. As Smart told Davis, “I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”

Will he invoke it at some point to provide motivation? Perhaps.

ESPN College GameDay could provide more fuel this weekend. In its 30th season of going on the road to promote college football, the GameDay Week 1 setup will be in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday, where North Carolina and South Carolina meet in the annual Dukes Mayo Kickoff game.