Georgia’s 5-year SEC regular season stretch makes case for dynasty talk

ATHENS — Georgia just completed one of the most dominant five-year runs in SEC regular-season history, and the Bulldogs did it in an era of college football that features more parity than ever before.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 4 and in still in contention to play in the SEC championship game and College Football Playoff field, remain in the midst of a dynasty.

Georgia is currently 9-1 overall and finished the SEC portion of the schedule with a 7-1 regular season. This follows SEC regular season records of:

• 2024 6-2

• 2023 8-0

• 2022 8-0

• 2021 8-0

Georgia’s stretch of three unbeaten, 8-0 SEC regular seasons, from 2021 to 2023, was unprecedented.

“I don’t know what constitutes a dynasty or not, but these guys have played four straight SEC championship games and are trying for five,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said before his Longhorns played UGA last week.

After the game, a 35-10 Georgia win, Sarkisian was more convinced, saying, “That’s why they’ve been kind of the standard of college football for the last 10 years.”

Kirby Smart is not one to celebrate or even take note of milestones or accomplishments, but a 37-3 SEC regular season record over the past five years is special.

In fact, only former Alabama coach Nick Saban matches what Smart just accomplished at UGA — and Saban needed Smart to do it.

Smart was Saban’s defensive coordinator and top recruiter for two of the five-year span the Tide went 37-3 in regular-season games (2014-18).

Both Georgia (2021-2022) and Alabama (2015 and 2017) won two national titles in the five-year spans that saw them go 37-3 in regular-season games, and the Bulldogs have a chance to still add a third this season.

The 2025 season represents the final season of the eight-game SEC schedule (the eight-game schedule started in 1992) as the league announced in August it would be moving to a nine-game slate starting next season.

Two other College Football Hall of Fame coaches who approached the 37-3, five-year SEC regular-season win total were Steve Spurrier at Florida (1993-1997, 36-4) and Phillip Fulmer (1995-1999, 35-5) — both winning one national title in their era of dominance.

Smart, who played against those Florida and Tennessee teams while at Georgia as a player (1995-1998) was asked to compare the accomplishment with respect to the different eras of football over the 34 years of the eight-game SEC schedule.

“It’s a hard comparison because my perspective as a player and my perspective as an assistant is very different than my perspective as a head coach, and it’s changed in that window,” Smart said. “I don’t know that the early years you’re talking about in the five-year span were that different than those years I was an assistant.

“But the last two (years) since the SEC expansion and the increased transiency and the increased NIL, it has become a more parity league, so probably within the five-year spans, it’s been harder on the back end.”

Seven of Georgia’s 37 wins over the past five years came against top 10 teams, while six of Alabama’s SEC regular-season wins from 2014 through 2018 came against top 10-ranked teams:

Georgia football (2021-2025)

(SEC regular-season wins over top 10 teams)

• 2025 vs. No. 10 Texas, 35-10

• 2025 vs. No. 5 Ole Miss, 43-35

• 2024 vs. No. 7 Tennessee, 31-17

• 2024 vs. No. 1 Texas, 30-15

• 2023 vs. No. 9 Ole Miss, 52-17

• 2022 vs. No. 1 Tennessee, 27-13

• 2021 vs. No. 8 Arkansas, 37-0

Alabama football (2014-2018)

(SEC regular-season wins over top 10 teams)

• 2018 vs. No. 3 LSU, 29-0

• 2016 vs. No. 9 Tennessee, 49-10

• 2015 vs. No. 2 LSU, 30-16

• 2015 vs. No. 9 Texas A&M, 41-23

• 2015 vs. No. 8 Georgia, 38-10

• 2014 vs. No. 1 Mississippi State, 25-20

Florida football (1993-1997)

(SEC regular-season wins over top 10 teams)

• 1997 vs. No. 6 Auburn, 24-10

• 1997 vs. No. 4 Tennessee, 33-20

• 1996 vs. No. 2 Tennessee, 35-29

• 1995 vs. No. 7 Auburn, 49-38

• 1995 vs. No. 8 Tennessee, 62-37

• 1993 vs. No. 5 Tennessee, 41-34

Tennessee football (1995-1998)

(SEC regular-season wins over top 10 teams)

• 1999 vs. No. 10 Alabama, 21-7

• 1999 vs. No. 10 Georgia, 37-20

• 1998 vs. No. 10 Arkansas, 28-24