All offseason it has been a race between Texas and Georgia for who would be the favorite to win the SEC this season. Georgia knows better than anyone else that it really only matters what happens on the field, but it is still nice to honored as the preseason favorite to win the league.
Entering this week the Texas Longhorns were the favorite to win the conference. That however was beginning to change as the media voted Georgia as the favorite to win the league with Texas trailing behind in second place. Then in the blink of an eye it was Georgia who surged on FanDuel Sportsbook to take the top spot from Texas according to Vegas oddsmakers.
As it stands right now, Georgia is the favorite at +290 with Texas now trailing at +330.
Odds adjust periodically and are subject to change.
Vegas oddsmakers are finally giving Georgia the hype they deserve
Heading into the 2024 and 2025 seasons Vegas was all over Texas. They named the Longhorns as the favorite to win the SEC each season, but ultimately it was Georgia who ended up on top.
Fast forward to this year and it was Texas who has been their favorite since last season ended. But that quickly changed this week when Georgia became the new favorite overnight.
Georgia probably should've been the favorite all along. They not only won the SEC the last two years, but they returned the fifth-most production in the country from last year's team. Kirby Smart is also still the head coach in Athens, and as long as that is the case Georgia should probably get as much respect as humanely possible.
Georgia now has to navigate a season for the first time in the expanded conference as the preseason favorite. They however are used to having a target on their back, so this shouldn't be a problem for them this year.
The media can be thanked for Georgia's newfound respect
Georgia likely has the media to thank for being the favorite in Vegas's eyes now. Vegas refused to give Georgia the respect they deserved until the media voted Georgia as the SEC favorite on Friday, so they likely saw this news and decided to follow their lead.
So while Smart and his team probably don't care what anyone else thinks, fans can thank the media for showing Vegas how wrong they've been this whole time.
Now it feels like Georgia has to win the conference this year. Fans have constantly made fun of Texas for failing to live up to their hype over the past two years, so the last thing they can do is fall short the second they are the preseason favorite again.
Only time will tell if Georgia wins the conference again this season, and if they do they will be just the third school to win three consecutive conference titles since the SEC Championship game was introduced in 1992. But Georgia will always have a good chance to win the conference, and that is the case regardless of what Vegas or the media think.
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