The last two seasons, the Bulldogs have fallen to opponents in the CFP quarterfinal. Following the 2024 season, the Bulldogs lost to Notre Dame, who went on to the National Championship. This past postseason, the Bulldogs lost in a shootout to Ole Miss, who went on to the CFP semifinal before falling to Miami. Most teams would be happy to find themselves in the spot that Kirby got the Bulldogs in, but Smart describes it as missing the mark.

“I will never apologize for winning an SEC title,” Smart told On3’s Chris Low. I think it’s the hardest thing to do in sports, to win the SEC title in almost any sport. Our conference is so hard, and when we went to 16 teams, it made it harder. But we’ve missed the mark in the playoff two years in a row, and I give a lot of credit to those two teams (Ole Miss and Notre Dame).”

Smart and Georgia will be on a mission this year to not miss the mark again in the CFP, and teams will want to stay out of the Bulldogs’ way come playoff time.

Will Georgia make the College Football Playoff this year? Kalshi is taking early action on predictions!

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Notre Dame

88%

Ohio St.

79%

Oregon

76%

Georgia

70%

Texas Tech

70%

Texas

69%

Indiana

67%

Miami (FL)

65%

LSU

45%

Ole Miss

40%

Predict

The post Kirby Smart says Georgia has ‘missed the mark’ despite back-to-back SEC championships appeared first on Saturday Down South.

After losses to Bethune-Cookman and Ole Miss, LSU finds itself ranked outside the Top 25. They will have a chance to bounce back this week with a single game against Northwestern State and a series against Texas A&M.

Here are the 10 SEC teams ranked in D1Baseball’s Top 25:

• No. 4 Texas Longhorns
• No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs
• No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies
• No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide
• No. 13 Auburn Tigers
• No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners
• No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks
• No. 17 Mississippi State Bulldogs
• No. 20 Florida Gators
• No. 25 Ole Miss Rebels

There were only two SEC teams to have a perfect 4-0 week. Both Arkansas and Ole Miss went undefeated in the week prior. Arkansas took down Little Rock 7-0 on Tuesday and then swept Alabama over the weekend. The Razorbacks outscored the Crimson Tide 25-13 over the course of the series.

Ole Miss picked up a win over Alcorn State on Tuesday and took that momentum into the weekend as they swept LSU. They outscored the Tigers 26-12 over the course of the series.

Will the SEC keep its Omaha streak going? Predict the college baseball national champion today at Kalshi!

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UCLA

14%

Georgia Tech

12%

Texas

11%

North Carolina

6%

Georgia

6%

Mississippi St.

5%

Arkansas

4%

Auburn

4%

LSU

3%

Tennessee

2%

Predict

The post D1Baseball Top 25: 10 SEC teams ranked after Week 9 appeared first on Saturday Down South.

Martin played for Dusty May during their years at FAU. For four seasons, May was the head coach of Martin, and both helped lead the Owls to an NCAA Final Four in the 2022-23 season. After one more year together, both left FAU at the same time. May went on to become the head coach at the University of Michigan, and Martin transferred to the Florida Gators.

In his lone year at Florida, Martin would go on to help lead the Gators to a National Championship. The following year, his former head coach would help lead the Wolverines to a National Championship. Martin congratulated his former coach by posting a photo of the two of them celebrating winning the C-USA championship with the caption, “Welcome to the club Champ.”

Two former FAU Owls are now both national champions in back-to-back seasons.

It’s clear that not only is May a top coach in the college basketball world, but he also leaves an impact on his players unlike many others. Both Martin and May are now in the elite club of college basketball national champions.

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Michigan

15%

Duke

12%

Illinois

9%

UConn

8%

Florida

6%

Arizona

5%

St. John's

3%

Tennessee

2%

Alabama

2%

Saint Mary's

0%

Predict

The post Alijah Martin shares message for former coach Dusty May after Michigan wins national championship appeared first on Saturday Down South.

Brutus’ decision comes after LSU decided to fire head coach Matt McMahon and replace him with NC State head coach Will Wade. It was reported that Brutus developed a comfort level with the LSU staff under McMahon. The Florida native will now be searching for a new place to start his college journey.

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Brutus is ranked as the 98th player in the 2026 class according to 247Sports composite rankings.

Brutus signed with LSU over schools like Saint Louis, Gonzaga, and Utah, which were all schools he visited during his recruitment. Now, Brutus will be looking for a new home at the same time as the transfer portal is opening.

With Wade’s return to LSU, it was expected that players recruited and brought in by McMahon would more than likely look to enter the portal. Four different players from LSU have already entered the transfer portal this offseason. Matt Gilhool, Jalen Reed, Ron Zipper, and Dedan Thomas Jr. are all looking for new homes away from the Bayou.

It will be interesting to see how Wade puts together a competitive roster in the SEC with all the roster turnover happening.

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Michigan

15%

Duke

12%

Illinois

9%

UConn

8%

Florida

6%

Arizona

5%

St. John's

3%

Tennessee

2%

Alabama

2%

Saint Mary's

0%

Predict

The post LSU reportedly releases 4-star basketball signee after coaching change appeared first on Saturday Down South.

Henderson was a 3-star recruit in the 2025 class. He was ranked as the 237th player overall and the 11th player in the state of Virginia. In his lone season with Tennessee, Henderson averaged 1.8 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists on 32.1% shooting from the field in 6.9 minutes per game.

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Henderson played a total of 4 minutes in the NCAA Tournament. His best game came against Gardner-Webb back in December when he scored 9 points in 15 minutes.

Henderson is the 6th Tennessee player to enter the transfer portal. He joins Bishop Boswell, J.P. Estrella, Clarence Massamba, Jaylen Carey, and Cade Phillips as the Vols looking for a new home.

Coming out of high school, Henderson was originally committed to play basketball for the Fordham Rams. In March of 2025, he decommitted from Fordham and four days later committed to play with the Vols.

Henderson helped round out Tennessee’s 8th-ranked 2025 recruiting class. He and Massamba are both set to leave after just one season under head coach Rick Barnes.

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Michigan

15%

Duke

12%

Illinois

9%

UConn

8%

Florida

6%

Arizona

5%

St. John's

3%

Tennessee

2%

Alabama

2%

Saint Mary's

0%

Predict

The post Tennessee reportedly losing freshman guard to transfer portal appeared first on Saturday Down South.

The Kentucky guard recently announced that he is entering the NCAA Transfer Portal. The problem is that Aberdeen is out of college eligibility. The Florida native spent three seasons with the Gators before transferring to Kentucky this past season for his senior year.

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Aberdeen will need a waiver from the NCAA to play in the 2026-27 season.

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Aberdeen didn’t see much playing time in his first two seasons in Gainesville. After averaging just 9.7 minutes per game in his sophomore season, Aberdeen took a massive leap the following year.

In his junior year, he averaged 7.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 19.7 minutes per game and helped Florida secure a national championship. In the championship game, Aberdeen scored 7 points on 50% shooting from the field.

In this past season, Aberdeen took another step forward, raising his averages to 13.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. It wasn’t quite the year Kentucky fans had expected, but Aberdeen was a bright spot in an otherwise dim season for the Wildcats.

Aberdeen will likely point out his limited 12-game freshman season for a shot at a 5th year of eligibility.

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Michigan

15%

Duke

12%

Illinois

9%

UConn

8%

Florida

6%

Arizona

5%

St. John's

3%

Tennessee

2%

Alabama

2%

Saint Mary's

0%

Predict

The post Denzel Aberdeen makes surprising announcement about basketball future after 2025-26 season appeared first on Saturday Down South.

In his lone year, Wilkins averaged 4.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game on 10.2 minutes per game. Wilkins saw his minutes steadily decrease throughout the year, and the freshman had not cracked double-digit points since Jan. 17 against Arkansas.

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In Georgia’s only NCAA Tournament game, Wilkins scored 5 points on 1-for-3 shooting in its blowout loss to St. Louis.

Coming out of high school, Wilkins was ranked as the 45th prospect in the class of 2025, according to 247Sports composite rankings. The four-star held offers from Virginia, Alabama, Cincinnati, and Indiana before committing to Georgia back in October of 2023.

Wilkins is the 6th player from Georgia to enter the transfer portal this offseason. He joins Jordan Ross, Jackson McVey, Somto Cyril, Jeremiah Wilkinson, and Dylan James as the Bulldogs searching for a new home.

Head coach Mike White will have quite the job this offseason trying to put a roster together that can compete in the SEC. Almost half of the guys who saw action in Georgia’s lone NCAA Tournament game have entered the portal.

The post Georgia losing forward to the transfer portal appeared first on Saturday Down South.

Anything? Well, I guess it was worth a shot.

It’s always fun to see what teams try to trick their fans into believing on April Fool’s Day. Kentucky football was the latest to join in on the fun, posting a picture of a field that now has blue turf with the caption, “We’re going big with blue this fall.”

While clearly a joke, some fans are all in on the blue field. One X user even commented on the post, “Admin I know this is April fools but lowkey… why not make it real.”

The SEC has never had a permanently colored turf field at one of their home stadiums. Back in 2010, LSU pulled a similar trick on its fans, claiming that they were changing their turf color to purple for the upcoming season. While it did get some fans, LSU never actually changed its turf color.

We’re still all waiting for the day when an account posts the news on April Fools’ Day but follows through with it to really trick its fans. Maybe Kentucky will be the first.

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Texas

12%

Notre Dame

11%

Indiana

11%