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Kirby Smart trolls Texas, Steve Sarkisian about SEC Championship: 'In what sport?'

by: Alex Byington05/27/25_AlexByington
Georgia Kirby Smart and Texas Steve Sarkisian on Nick Saban texting
© Brett Patzke & Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart returned to the top of the SEC mountain by knocking off conference upstart Texas in overtime of last season’s SEC Championship game in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was the Bulldogs’ third league title since 2017 and first since 2022.

But, given how difficult it was to reacquire, don’t expect the highly-competitive Georgia coach and alum to be willing to give up the SEC crown anytime soon. Least of all to the Longhorns.

Smart made that point explicitly clear during a behind-the-scenes moment at the recent “EA Sports’ College Football 26” photo shoot with Texas-based YouTube influencer “Big Game Bengal,” who dared to suggest Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian would hoist the SEC Championship trophy this upcoming December.

“In what sport? Baseball or basketball …” Smart deadpanned.

Jokes aside, it’s clear both Georgia and Texas will once again be in the mix to be the preseason conference favorite. And with much-ballyhooed former No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning taking over as the Longhorns’ QB1, it’s not much of a leap to imagine a world where Texas is the media’s pick to win the SEC in just its second season in the league.

But, if his response to “Big Game Bengal” is any indication, it’s clear Smart will do everything in his power to keep the SEC Championship inside the state of Georgia.

Aaron Murray ‘not sold’ on Arch Manning as top NFL Draft prospect

Many are already predicting success for Arch Manning in his first season as a full-time starter at Texas, with some early NFL mock drafts projecting him as high as the No. 1 pick. But former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray isn’t ready to go that far.

During a recent appearance on Sirius XM Radio’s SEC This Morning podcast, Murray said that he isn’t even sold on Manning as a top quarterback prospect in the draft at all. He explained his reasoning being that Manning was not able to win the starting job from Quinn Ewers, who fell to the seventh round of this year’s NFL Draft.

Murray claimed that Ewers was “holding Texas back” from competing for a national championship last season. His logic seemed to be that if Manning couldn’t beat out Ewers, he must not be a better player.

“I am not sold, like so many of the other people are, that this guy is going to be the number one pick in NFL draft, that he’s going to just be unbelievable, that he’s going to be the next coming of Peyton and Eli, but that’s mobile,” Murray said. “…I thought Quinn did some good stuff at times last season, but let’s be honest, Texas had probably the second or third best roster in America, probably the second or third. Why were they not competing for a national championship?

“It was because Quinn was holding them back. Quinn did not perform to the level that I thought he could, and then you see now in the NFL Draft, I mean, he gets drafted in the seventh round? So even NFL scouts are saying, like, this guy’s just maybe not as good as anticipated coming out as a recruit, or maybe even two years ago.”

— On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.