After back-to-back national titles, Georgia is set to be the preseason No. 1 team again in 2023.
In the eyes of Paul Finebaum, the Bulldogs have replaced their SEC adversary Alabama as the “safe” pick to win the national championship when making preseason predictions.
“I think that’s what happens when you’re in that number one spot and trending,” Finebaum said on “McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning” at SEC Media Days Tuesday.
“It was like that with ‘Bama. There were some years where I said Alabama was going to win it all and I had no idea why. But making that statement had been very good to me.”
While we don’t subscribe to Finebaum’s theory that Nick Saban’s legacy could be on the line if Alabama does not return to the College Football Playoff in 2023, this take seems spot-on.
Georgia has things rolling, so much so that they are looked at as almost a shoe-in for the Playoff, particularly with their “soft” non-conference schedule (don’t so that in front of Kirby Smart though).
The Bulldogs should be most people’s default national title pick for 2023, but it only takes one season for them to relinquish that pedestal if they fall short.