What’s next for Georgia football after Florida State series falls through?

When the Georgia-Florida State football home-and-home series was originally announced in May 2022, the Bulldogs had won just one of their back-to-back national championships. The College Football Playoff had just four teams and the SEC had divisions.

Four years later, the series was called off.

It’s the fourth marquee home-and-home series Georgia has canceled since July 2024, joining UCLA, Louisville and NC State.

“Georgia and Florida State have mutually agreed it is in the best interest of both schools to cancel our home-and-home series scheduled for 2027 and 2028, with the focus shifting to a future neutral site contest between the two programs,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said Thursday in a statement released by the school. “While we are still early in the process regarding neutral site plans, we remain optimistic and look forward to further conversations with Florida State.”

The latest cancellation comes after both the SEC and ACC moved to schedules with nine conference games. With Georgia and Florida State having annual rivalry games against Power Four foes, there wasn’t much of an appetite to play an 11th game against another Power Four opponent.

Had the Georgia and Florida State game been played in 2027, the Bulldogs would’ve potentially had five home games, six road games and a neutral-site game against Florida in Tampa, Florida.

“I don’t think we actually know what the effect of the nine-game (conference schedule) will be,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said earlier this month. “I think it will be very interesting to look back and say, OK, this is when we did it and what has the fallout been.”

Georgia isn’t alone in removing Power Four opponents from its schedule. Alabama did the same this week, opting to cancel a series against Oklahoma State. Alabama will keep its series against Ohio State, ensuring that it plays nine conference games and a Power Four nonconference foe.

If you remove the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry, Georgia’s home-and-home against Notre Dame in 2017 and 2019 is the only marquee nonconference home-and-home the Bulldogs have played under Kirby Smart.

Georgia has played neutral-site games against Clemson, Oregon and North Carolina. It now seems the game against Florida State will fall into that category, should it get scheduled.

It is worth noting that there is no marquee season-opening game scheduled for Mercedes-Benz Stadium following this year’s game between Auburn and Baylor. Georgia’s past games against Clemson, Oregon and North Carolina have been played there. The Bulldogs also faced Clemson in Charlotte to open the 2021 season.

Despite calling off the games against Florida State, Georgia does still have home-and-homes against Ohio State and Clemson on future schedules. Georgia is set to host Ohio State in 2030 before visiting the Buckeyes in 2031. The Bulldogs are scheduled to host Clemson in 2030 and 2032 and visit the Tigers in 2029 and 2033.

Given the way scheduling in college football has changed, it would be understandable to be skeptical that those games get played.

With the SEC moving to nine conference games, it seems likely Georgia will trade the trips to Doak Campbell Stadium and Ohio State for more frequent road games against Arkansas and Mississippi State.

Smart has already hinted at his frustration with the SEC adding an extra conference game and why it might not have worked out the way some had hoped.

“I think everybody was excited, and then they thought that there would be a heavier weight put on strength of schedule in the selection of the playoff teams,” Smart said in a recent interview with Paul Finebaum, “and we still have not gone through a nine-game schedule with the selection process to be seen, but the valuation that we’re seeing is the more losses you have, it’s just a measure of OK, these teams are equal because they both have three or four losses.”

With the Florida State cancellations, Georgia has two openings on its schedules. The Bulldogs will have nine conference games in 2027, including trips to Texas and Texas A&M, and a game at Georgia Tech.