Charles Barkley is an Auburn graduate, so it’s natural that he was rooting against Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday as the Crimson Tide faced Georgia.

And the Bulldogs did the job, defeating the Tide in Indianapolis for their 1st national championship since 1980.

While Barkley mentioned on TNT’s “NBA Tip-Off” on Thursday, that he “called” Georgia beating Alabama, he admitted that he “actually wanted a tie”. While Auburn’s obviously the Crimson Tide’s archrival, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is a mainstay on the college football schedule, too.

“I didn’t want either of y’all to win…(but) the lesser of the 2 evils won,” he told host Ernie Johnson.

But no one on the panel was happier than Johnson, a 1978 Georgia graduate, who was ready and waiting with a Bulldogs helmet: