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ESPN College GameDay announces Ernie Johnson as guest picker for SEC Championship

Danby: Daniel Hager8 hours agoDanielHagerOn3

ESPN’s College GameDay has announced that Inside the NBA‘s Ernie Johnson will be the guest picker for Saturday’s SEC Championship Game between No. 4 Georgia and No. 10 Alabama.

Johnson is a Georgia alum and has been the host of Inside the NBA since 1990. This NBA season has marked Johnson and Inside the NBA‘s first season on ESPN programming, as the show departed from TNT in May after debuting on the channel in 1989.

College GameDay 2025 Guest Picker Records

  1. Patrick Mahomes (BYU vs. Texas Tech) 6-1
  2. Nate Bargatze (Vanderbilt vs. Missouri): 6-2
  3. Jelly Roll (Georgia vs. Ole Miss): 6-2
  4. Matthew Tkachuk (Florida vs. Miami): 4-2
  5. Sabrina Ionescu (Indiana vs. Oregon): 7-3
  6. Aaron Donald (Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh): 6-3
  7. Aidan Hutchinson (Michigan vs. Ohio State): 6-3
  8. Alex Smith (Cincinnati vs. Utah): 5-3
  9. Trae Young (Michigan vs. Oklahoma): 5-3
  10. Theo Von (Alabama vs. Vanderbilt): 5-4
  11. LaVarr Arrington (Oregon vs. Penn State): 5-5
  12. Marcus Mariota (Oregon vs. USC): 3-6
  13. Candace Parker (Georgia vs. Tennessee): 1-6

For the fifth time, No. 4 Georgia and No. 10 Alabama will collide in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. The Crimson Tide have won all four of the prior meetings against the Bulldogs in Atlanta.

This year’s matchup, however, will mark the first in the event between Kirby Smart and Kalen DeBoer. Since DeBoer took over at Alabama following Nick Saban‘s retirement in 2024, he is 2-0 against Georgia with a 41-34 win last season and a 24-21 win earlier this year on Sept. 27.

Although it suffered a shocking loss to Florida State in its season opener, Alabama boasts one of the best resumes in all of college football. If it were to lose to Georgia on Saturday, two of its three losses this season would be to College Football Playoff teams (Oklahoma and Georgia). It also compiled 10 wins, with four coming against then-ranked opponents (No. 5 Georgia, No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Missouri, and No. 11 Tennessee).

In this season’s matchup between the SEC’s two premier programs, Alabama took a 14-0 lead thanks to two early touchdown passes from quarterback Ty Simpson. Georgia then spent the remainder of the game attempting to play catch-up, which it was unable to do. Following the disappointing loss, the Bulldogs did not suffer another loss the remainder of the season. This includes victories over No. 5 Ole Miss and No. 10 Texas to punch their eighth SEC Championship appearance of the Kirby Smart era (3-4).

Alabama did suffer another loss following the Georgia win, which came on Nov. 15 to No. 11 Oklahoma. Still, the Crimson Tide should not be in danger of missing the College Football Playoff with a loss on Saturday. Nonetheless, the SEC crown remains extremely covenant to the program that wins.