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Georgia AD Josh Brooks 'hates' to see hard non-conference scheduling go away

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•about 19 hours•

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Changes to the postseason are going to have effects on the regular season, including some potentially adverse ones on how teams schedule in the regular season.

Georgia AD Josh Brooks appeared on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show‘ on Thursday and spoke about programs not scheduling as difficult of opponents because of the potential changes to conference slates within the context of the College Football Playoff. He said it’s a difficult balance because fans want those primetime matchups but they may not be what’s best for the team in them getting into the CFP.

“Everything else that goes into it of getting our team prepped and ready for the postseason, getting our team prepped and ready for the first game of the year and making sure we put a good product on the field for our fans,” Brooks said. “Like I said before, our fans love those big matchups, they love those kickoff games that we’ve had with Oregon and Clemson through the years. I think it’s been good for the game.”

“You hate to see that have to go away because there’s not as much value placed on strength of schedule.”

Georgia has been good about putting a big-time matchup on their schedule early on. The Bulldogs have played Clemson twice, once in a 10-3 win in Charlotte in 2021 and once in a 34-3 win in Atlanta in 2024, and played Oregon in a 49-3 in 2022 as some of their season openers so far this decade. They’ve also scheduled games against North Carolina (33-24 W – 2016) and Notre Dame (20-19 W – 2017, 23-17 W – 2019) earlier in the tenure for Kirby Smart. All of those were victories in the Top-25 to start those seasons off for the ‘Dawgs.

However, again, strength of schedule, especially in the non-conference, may not matter as much soon. The league schedules may be difficult enough, if not too difficult and especially so if the Southeastern Conference goes from eight games to nine.

No changes have come as of yet as far as the future of schedules or the playoff. Still, once they do, they could begin to affect what teams plan to do in the non-conference, regardless of what fans may want, in hopes of having the best path to the playoff.