Georgia has become what all the College Football Playoff expansion naysayers feared could happen.
This is the best program in the SEC. It won two straight conference ***** les, three in the last four years, came achingly close to making it four in a row, and ...
Notre Dame 23, Georgia 10.
Ole Miss 39, Georgia 34.
Two appearances in the 12-team College Football Playoff, two instant outs.
The regular season still matters, but who wants to put on a 2025 SEC Championship t-shirt when the team left the playoff building in a hurry?
And that's not fair.
Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Last year's Georgia team was brutally flawed in several key ways.
It was too inexperienced, the defense couldn't rush the passer, there weren't enough downfield shots, and to be totally honest, it's not like it dealt with a tough Big Ten-level schedule.
Including the playoff, it played all SEC teams, Marshall, and Austin Peay. The only Power Four non-conference game was Georgia Tech, and that was a 16-9 fight of a victory.
And even with all of the problems, and all the inconsistencies, that team not only gut-checked its way to thrilling wins over Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, and Georgia Tech.
It totally dominated Bama in the SEC Championship, rolled at will over Texas, and it got a prime spot in the playoff - it came super-close to being 14-0 and on the way to deal with Miami.
And that was in a relatively just-okay season under Smart.
The defense is about to be a destructive force, the offense will pound away like it did last year, and there should be more consistency to it all.
There will be plenty of preseason hype around Texas - and rightly so. Alabama is good, LSU is a burgeoning monster, Oklahoma is great, and it's still the SEC. (These things go in cycles.)
Georgia is the SEC standard-bearer, but it has to be even better.
- 2026 Georgia Schedule ***** ysis
#playoff #four #Football #Tech
This is the best program in the SEC. It won two straight conference ***** les, three in the last four years, came achingly close to making it four in a row, and ...
Notre Dame 23, Georgia 10.
Ole Miss 39, Georgia 34.
Two appearances in the 12-team College Football Playoff, two instant outs.
The regular season still matters, but who wants to put on a 2025 SEC Championship t-shirt when the team left the playoff building in a hurry?
And that's not fair.
Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Last year's Georgia team was brutally flawed in several key ways.
It was too inexperienced, the defense couldn't rush the passer, there weren't enough downfield shots, and to be totally honest, it's not like it dealt with a tough Big Ten-level schedule.
Including the playoff, it played all SEC teams, Marshall, and Austin Peay. The only Power Four non-conference game was Georgia Tech, and that was a 16-9 fight of a victory.
And even with all of the problems, and all the inconsistencies, that team not only gut-checked its way to thrilling wins over Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, and Georgia Tech.
It totally dominated Bama in the SEC Championship, rolled at will over Texas, and it got a prime spot in the playoff - it came super-close to being 14-0 and on the way to deal with Miami.
And that was in a relatively just-okay season under Smart.
The defense is about to be a destructive force, the offense will pound away like it did last year, and there should be more consistency to it all.
There will be plenty of preseason hype around Texas - and rightly so. Alabama is good, LSU is a burgeoning monster, Oklahoma is great, and it's still the SEC. (These things go in cycles.)
Georgia is the SEC standard-bearer, but it has to be even better.
- 2026 Georgia Schedule ***** ysis
#playoff #four #Football #Tech
6 days ago
