ESPN College GameDay announces Week 12 site in Athens ahead of Tennessee-Georgia matchup

ESPN’s College GameDay will head to Athens next weekend for Georgia–Tennessee in Week 12, a pivotal matchup in the SEC.

Both teams are coming off different Week 11 games though. Georgia was upset on the road at Ole Miss, 28-10, and Tennessee beat Mississippi State 33-14 to stay near the top of the SEC.

You can see the announcement below.

A top-10 showdown with Playoff and SEC title stakes 😤

Athens, we'll see you soon for Tennessee-Georgia‼️ pic.twitter.com/a5SQFaRqRM

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 10, 2024

Kirby Smart and Georgia are going to have regroup, especially with GameDay coming to town.

“Yeah, first off, a lot of credit to Ole Miss, great atmosphere,” Smart said postgame. “They played a really good game, I thought Lane had his team ready to play. We obviously struggled in a lot of areas. We had miscues, mistakes, penalties, things that are really hard to overcome, especially when you play a really good football team, and they are.

“I told our team coming into this week, I felt like they’re probably the most talented team that we have played. Counting both sides of the ball and special teams. They have elite specialists, and they have really good players on defense and the skill position on offense. So give their quarterback credit, he made a lot of really good throws and their defense affected us with the pass rush.  So a lot of credit goes to Lane and his staff. Look, they really should be undefeated. I know people think that’s not true, but they really controlled the game against LSU the whole game, and lost it, and they’re playing good football. And they outplayed us tonight, out-coached us, and did a great job.”

Georgia to host College GameDay vs. Tennessee

Georgia has a lot of things to worry about, like Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava as long he’s healthy. Their own QB Carson Beck struggled against the Rebels and he might have to keep up with a dangerous Vols offense.

“Well, we didn’t have a great run game going,” Smart said of Georgia’s offensive struggles. “Sometimes we ran the ball well. I thought that their front defensively stunts and moves a lot so they’re very disruptive, so you have to be willing to go outside. We had some outside run game. I thought Nate did a really good job. Unfortunately, he had a turnover, but he ran the ball really hard. We talked all week about how they go after the ball.

“So give them credit, but when you have the penalties we have, and you have the sacks, you’re not gonna be very successful, right? Penalties, stop drives, and sacks, stop drives, and we had both of those.”