On paper, this upcoming Georgia football schedule doesn\u2019t seem as daunting as past iterations. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a talking point for months. That ESPN ranked Georgia\u2019s strength of schedule as the weakest<\/a> in the SEC for the upcoming season has only provided more fuel to the idea. <\/p>\n The Bulldogs still have games against 2025 College Football Playoff participants in Oklahoma, Alabama and Ole Miss. But Ole Miss is a major question mark with Pete Golding stepping in for Lane Kiffin, while Oklahoma and Alabama didn\u2019t exactly have strong finishes to the season. <\/p>\n Georgia will likely be favored in every game this fall. That\u2019s one of the benefits of not facing LSU, Texas or Texas A&M on the schedule. Georgia plays only four games this coming season outside the state of Georgia, as the Bulldogs benefit from this year\u2019s Georgia-Florida game being played in Atlanta. <\/a><\/p>\n Yet that easy schedule doesn\u2019t mean what it used to in the SEC. With the SEC adding a ninth conference game, the Bulldogs have swapped out a lesser program for another SEC foe that is at least somewhat closer to being on even footing. <\/p>\n Missouri, South Carolina and Auburn may not be College Football Playoff contenders this coming season, but they all have real talent on their rosters with Dylan Stewart, Ahmad Hardy and Byrum Brown. <\/p>\n Last year, Florida went 4-8. By record, they were a bad football team and thus one of the worst teams in the SEC. <\/p>\n Yet that team still had seven players taken in the 2026 NFL Draft. That\u2019s one fewer than Georgia had and tied with College Football Playoff teams in Oklahoma and Oregon. That helps explain why Florida was able to play Georgia so tight. <\/p>\n Kirby Smart has long talked about the difficulty of winning week in and week out in the SEC. It\u2019s why \u201chumility is just a week away\u201d is one of his favorite phrases. <\/p>\n Smart understands better than anyone in the league the cost and difficulty that comes with playing a ninth conference game. When you factor in the SEC championship game, the Bulldogs have played nine SEC games in each of the previous five seasons. <\/p>\n