The most important meeting of the SEC championship happened before the game kicked off.
As Alabama and Georgia prepared to play in a game loaded with potential ramifications on the College Football Playoff, two of college football's favorite dogs got the opportunity to sniff each other.
Uga, Georgia's mascot, was let out to exchange greetings with ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit's dog, Ben.
Ben has been traveling with Herbstreit as he jumps between jobs with Amazon Prime on Thursday Night Football and calling college football with ESPN.
Being the dog of such a high-profile announcer clearly has its perks, including meeting dog royalty in Uga XI.
Here’s the video of Big Ben meeting UGA pic.twitter.com/c1bd1UJuxN
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 2, 2023
College football fans, unsurprisingly, were delighted with the impromptu pup summit.
The matchup the world wanted
— Ace Football Analytics (@js_ace_football) December 2, 2023
Dog guy Herbie > Football Herbie.
— Brian H. (@Bri_Hen) December 2, 2023
(Actually don’t hate Herbie, I just want more dog content) https://t.co/rZVM0367WR
Ben traveling with Kirk has been the best thing to happen to college football this year https://t.co/tsQwgAI2Zu
— Jake Widmer (@LITTLEwidmer70) December 2, 2023
someone please call Animal Planet and give Ben a show going around meeting the mascots https://t.co/9ALeVIY9wK
— Lillian (@lilliantysinger) December 2, 2023
This might be the best moment in college football this season.
— Jackson Groff (@JacksonGroff) December 2, 2023
Sensational. The Pageantry. #BenMeetsUga https://t.co/XA5tdjKgHI
This is the best thing I’ve seen on the Internet this week, and it’s not particularly close. https://t.co/5sWqUfXAYY
— Jake Nichols (@jnichols_2121) December 2, 2023