Georgia, Florida State cancel home-and-home football series

ATHENS, Ga. (WSAV) — A previously arranged home-and-home series in 2027 and 2028 between Georgia and Florida State was mutually agreed upon to be canceled, the schools announced Thursday.

However, the schools said they are working on an alternative neutral-site contest between the teams.

The cancellation comes on the heels of both the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) moving to nine conference games played each season. Florida State will only play eight conference games in 2026, opting to complete its previous arrangement with Alabama.

In addition to the nine conference games, both teams also play an out-of-conference in-state rival yearly as part of their schedule. Georgia plays Georgia Tech and Florida State plays Florida.

Much of the conversation surrounding the cancellation of premiere out-of-conference matchups in college football centers around the College Football Playoff selection criteria.

Last week, on the Paul Finebaum show, Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart addressed the extra conference game.

“We still have not gone through a nine-game schedule with the selection process to be seen, but the evaluation 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,” Smart said.

As for the addition of an extra game, Smart said he hopes the strength of schedule and the difficulty of opponents carry weight in the CFP selection.

“Do we get merit for that? Do we get strength of schedule? When you look at these other sports, they get strength of schedule, and they make the tournament, but their tournaments are larger,’ Smart said.

Georgia has already canceled its future non-conference series with Louisville, scheduled to start in 2026, as well as a 2033-2034 series with North Carolina State.

Future Power Four out-of-conference opponents for Georgia that remain on the schedule are Clemson, 2029-2030 and 2032-2033, and Ohio State, 2030-2031.

Georgia’s 2026 out-of-conference opponents are Tennessee State on Sept. 5, Western Kentucky on Sept. 12 and Georgia Tech on Nov. 28.

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