ATHENS — The Georgia Bulldogs will open their 2021 SEC slate at home against South Carolina on Sept. 18 and play eight consecutive SEC games over a nine-week period, ending on the road at Tennessee on Nov. 13.
That was revealed Wednesday afternoon as the SEC released the 2021 football schedules for all 14 of its teams during a television special on the SEC Network.
“We are proud to have completed the 2020 football season under unique circumstances and will now focus on playing the 2021 football season as scheduled,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a news release. “Circumstances around the COVID-19 virus will continue to guide our decision-making should any adjustments need to be made.”
Georgia will enter Kirby Smart’s sixth season as coach. The Bulldogs are 52-14, 33-9 in SEC games, in Smart’s five seasons.
For the Bulldogs, the schedule really didn’t include any great surprises. However, getting South Carolina back into September is a return to an older form, as the two teams traditionally have met early in the season. Last year they were scheduled to play Nov. 28 before and after the pandemic altered the schedule.
Georgia’s first conference road game will be at Vanderbilt on Sept. 25.
As usual, Georgia will play Florida on Halloween weekend in Jacksonville, with a bye week the Saturday before. Meanwhile, the Gators have to play Alabama and LSU from the Western Division.
It had been established before last year that the Bulldogs and Auburn would no longer be meeting in November, as has been the long-standing tradition in the series known as the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.” Georgia will return to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Oct. 9 this fall.
Another interesting aspect of Georgia’s SEC slate is the Bulldogs will be facing four new head coaches in 2021. Vanderbilt, Auburn, South Carolina and Tennessee are all under new leadership.
This is, of course, assuming that college football teams will be allowed to play a full season in 2021. The SEC played a conference-only, 10-game schedule in 2020 to better manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it stands, Georgia’s schedule actually appears quite manageable for a team that is expected to open the season ranked among the nation’s top five teams. Georgia ended the pandemic-shortened 2020 season at 8-2 and ranked No. 7 after defeating No. 8 Cincinnati in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
The Bulldogs will, of course, open the season against another top-5 team in Clemson. The two teams have long been scheduled to play on Sept. 4 at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
Georgia also will resume its rivalry with Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets are scheduled to play Nov. 27 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The teams did not play each other in 2020, ending a streak that begin in 1925.
Georgia’s other non-conference opponents are Alabama-Birmingham (Sept. 11, Athens) and Charleston Southern (Nov. 20, Athens).
It will be coach Kirby Smart’s sixth season as Georgia’s head coach.
2021 UGA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 4 – vs. Clemson (Charlotte)
Sept. 11 – vs. Alabama-Birmingham
Sept. 18 – vs. South Carolina
Sept. 25 – at Vanderbilt
Oct. 2 – vs. Arkansas
Oct. 9 – at Auburn
Oct. 16 – vs. Kentucky
Oct. 23 – BYE
Oct. 30 – vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
Nov. 6 – vs. Missouri
Nov. 13 – at Tennessee
Nov. 20 – vs. Charleston Southern
Nov. 27 – at Georgia Tech
