Bowl projections forecast return to College Football Playoff for Georgia
The Georgia Bulldogs have made the College Football Playoff in three of the previous four seasons, as Kirby Smart’s program has become a fixture in the national championship picture come the end of the season.
And even with plenty of questions surrounding this Georgia team, the expectation is that the Bulldogs will once again end up in the playoff. At least based on various bowl projections.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has Georgia ending the season as the No. 5 ranked team and hosting Boise State in a first-round playoff game. Bonagura has Georgia beating the Broncos and then taking down Clemson in the Orange Bowl before losing to Texas in the semifinals.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach also had Georgia reaching the semifinals, an improvement over last season when the Bulldogs lost to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.
Schlabach had Georgia getting a first-round bye as the No. 4 team and beating Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia’s season would end a week later in the Fiesta Bowl with a loss to Texas.
“The Georgia-Texas matchup in the Fiesta Bowl would be a rematch of last year’s SEC championship game, which the Bulldogs won 22-19 in overtime,” Schlabach wrote. “The Longhorns also lost to the Bulldogs at home during the regular season in 2024, and they might have to once again figure out a way to get past them to win the SEC. Texas plays at Georgia on Nov. 15 in one of the league’s most anticipated games.”
CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford is slightly lower on Georgia than his ESPN counterparts, as he has Georgia finishing the season as the No. 7 ranked team.
That would still have Georgia in the playoff and hosting a team in a first-round game. Crawford has the No. 10-seed Oregon Ducks coming to Athens in his respective projections.
That potential contest would pit former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning against Smart. The two teams last met in 2022, with Georgia winning 49-3.
“Repeating as SEC champions will be difficult, but that’s not the ultimate prize for a program that’s captured a pair of national titles in the last four seasons,” Crawford wrote. “Kirby Smart remains at the top of his profession, and the only way the Bulldogs fail to reach the playoff in 2025 is if Mike Bobo’s offense flatlines with (quarterback) Gunner Stockton at the helm.”
While there seems to be a lot to like with this Georgia team, Smart won’t want to hear any of it.
He’s spent much of preseason camp discussing how young this team will be and how unproven the group is. Only 11 players on this team were members of Georgia’s last championship team in 2022, and most of them were not contributing members.
“Honestly, they have to be ready to play because of the volume of players we have,” Smart said this week. “We have 50% of our team is year one and two. So if you don’t come in on year one thinking you’re going to play, then probably the wrong place.”
This year’s College Football Playoff field will be announced Dec. 7. Georgia opens the season at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at home against Marshall.
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
