Predicting Georgia’s 2026 SEC schedule ahead of Tuesday announcement
The SEC confirmed it will announce the three annual opponents and the matchups and sites for the 2026 schedules Tuesday.
The full schedules will be revealed in December, the SEC announced Friday.
The announcements will offer a first look at a finalized nine-game conference schedule, a change the SEC announced in August.
The schedules will have three annual opponents and six rotating foes, ensuring that every four-year athlete gets a home and away game against every conference member.
“When you start from the fan perspective and you think about a ninth SEC opponent and what it allows us to do in terms of schedule variability now that you can guarantee that we’re going to play every SEC opponent at least once every two years,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said earlier this month. “You’re going to get them at home and on the road once every four years. I think that’s good. When you talk to fans and the desire for higher quality opponents and then knowing the rotation and being able to plan the next four years, you’ll be able to come out and plan your next four years and say, ‘I’m going to go to this trip in this year.’ I think that’s good for fans.”
From a Georgia perspective, there’s a ton of intrigue and moving parts that come with the schedule. For one, Georgia previously had four nonconference games on its schedule: Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, Louisville and Georgia Tech. One of those games will have to be dropped. Georgia’s game against Georgia Tech satisfies the SEC’s rule of playing one nonconference Power Four opponent.
On the conference front, the Bulldogs faced Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida, Mississippi State and Texas over the previous two years. If the SEC follows through on the desire for teams to see more of the league, most of those schools will be cycling off the schedule.
As for the annual opponents, Florida and Auburn seem like locks. The third foe is trickier to predict. Tennessee and South Carolina could be candidates, given their history with Georgia.
But when the SEC first kicked around the idea of going to a nine-game conference slate, Kentucky would have been Georgia’s third annual foe. The SEC did add it will revisit its annual opponents every four years, giving the league some wiggle room to change things up.
One final note to keep in mind is that in the event that Florida, Auburn and Kentucky are annual opponents for Georgia, that means there will be one school Georgia does not play over the four-year span stemming from 2024 through 2027.
Georgia football 2026 predicted SEC schedule
Road games: Texas A&M, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Kentucky
Analysis: Georgia has not visited Kyle Field since the Aggies joined the conference in 2012. Although the SEC could continue to put off this trip, we believe it will happen next season. Georgia was set to visit Oklahoma during the 2023 season, but that game was scrapped after the Sooners announced they were joining the SEC. With Georgia hosting South Carolina during the 2023 season, we believe Georgia sends the Bulldogs to Columbia, South Carolina, for the first time since the 2022 season. Last, we do think Kentucky will be one of Georgia’s three annual opponents.
Home games: LSU, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Arkansas
Analysis: This would be LSU’s first visit to Athens since the 2013 season. Georgia gets Auburn at home as an annual opponent. Vanderbilt and Arkansas both visit Georgia, as well, with Missouri being the SEC team left off Georgia’s schedule over the four-year span.
Neutral site: Florida (in Atlanta)
Analysis: With the stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, undergoing renovations, the rivalry will move to Atlanta in 2026 and Tampa in 2027.
Nonconference slate: Western Kentucky, Tennessee State, Georgia Tech
Analysis: If Georgia keeps the game against Louisville, that would give it 11 Power Four opponents for the 2026 season. Does Georgia have the appetite for that? We’ve already seen Alabama and Florida cancel future nonconference series against Power Four teams.
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.
