Desmond Howard finally recognizes Smokey's superiority to that "ugly dawg"

ESPN's College Gameday has made its way back to Rocky Top on Saturday morning ahead of Tennessee football's rivalry matchup against Georgia. 

The weekly pregame show has gotten off to a hot start as the crew asked the question," Which is the better mascot: Smokey or Uga?"

Former Michigan star and Gameday co-host Desmond Howard didn't hesitate to let everyone know where he stands in the debate between Smokey and that "ugly dawg". 

"In the words of my friend Lee Corso," Howard started in front of an energized Tennessee crowd, "that dawg (Uga) is ugly. It's gotta be Smokey!"

Howard is, of course, referring to one of Lee Corso's many viral moments over the years on College Gameday. The specific moment he's referring to is from a 2008 edition of College Gameday, where Corso calls Uga ugly to his face and picks Alabama to beat Georgia.

Alabama won that game 41-30 in Sanford Stadium in Georgia's blackout game, so we will see if Howard's callback will end up favoring the Vols over the Bulldogs. 

The No. 15 Vols and No. 6 Bulldogs meet early in the season for the first time since 2018. The game started as a late-season matchup, then moved to a predominantly October/September game, but was moved back to November from 2021-2024 before the game moved back to September this season. 

The game also has a lot of implications for an early-season matchup. We could see the winner of this game become one of the favorites to make the SEC Championship Game this year and have an advantage in College Football Playoffs favorability.