The Georgia-Florida State home-and-home series was originally announced in May of 2022. Georgia had won just one national championship at that point. The College Football Playoff still had four teams and the SEC still had divisions. <\/p>\n
Four years later, the series was called off.<\/a> It\u2019s the fourth marquee home-and-home series Georgia has called off in the previous two years. Florida State joins UCLA, Louisville and NC State among the teams that Georgia has called off a home-and-home with since July of 2024. <\/p>\n \u201cGeorgia 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,\u201d Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhile we are still early in the process regarding neutral site plans, we remain optimistic and look forward to further conversations with Florida State.\u201d<\/p>\n The Florida State cancellation comes after both the SEC and ACC moved to nine conference games. With Georgia and Florida State having annual rivalry games against Power Four foes, there is much less of an appetite to play an 11th game against a Power Four opponent. <\/p>\n Had the Georgia and Florida State game been played in 2027, the Bulldogs would\u2019ve potentially had five home games, six road games and a neutral site game against Florida in Tampa, Florida. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we actually know what the effect of the nine-game [conference schedule] will be,\u201d Georgia coach Kirby Smart said earlier this month. \u201cI think it will be very interesting to look back and say OK this is when we did it and what has the fallout been.\u201d <\/p>\n Georgia isn\u2019t alone in pulling games against Power Four opponents off its schedule. Alabama did the same this week, opting to cancel a series against Oklahoma State. The Crimson Tide will keep its series against Ohio State, ensuring that Alabama plays nine conference games and a Power Four nonconference foe. <\/p>\n If you remove the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry, Georgia\u2019s home and home against Notre Dame in 2017 and 2019 is the only marquee nonconference home-and-home the Bulldogs have played under Smart. <\/p>\n Georgia has had 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. <\/p>\n It is worth noting that there is no marquee season-opening game scheduled for Mercedes-Benz Stadium following this year\u2019s game between Auburn and Baylor. Georgia\u2019s past games against Clemson, Oregon and North Carolina have all been played there. The Bulldogs also faced Clemson in Charlotte to open the 2021 season. <\/p>\n