Georgia draws tough SEC schedule in 2024 with multiple marquee matchups

For all the complaining around the country about Georgia’s 2023 schedule, the next year’s slate is no joke. The SEC announced on Wednesday night opponents for the 2024 season, its first with Texas and Oklahoma in the league, and the Bulldogs are going to be hitting the road to take on a couple of the conference’s top teams.

As reported earlier in the day, Kirby Smart and company will welcome Texas to the SEC in Austin in 2024. Furthermore, Georgia makes the trip to Tuscaloosa for the always-anticipated matchup between Smart and his former boss Nick Saban.

Georgia has played both Texas and Alabama in the last five seasons. The Bulldogs and Longhorns met in New Orleans to end the 2018 season in the Sugar Bowl as Sam Ehlinger handed Georgia a 28-21 loss. As it pertains to Georgia and Alabama, the Dawgs and Tide have met four times in those five seasons and five times since 2017. While Alabama holds a 4-1 advantage in the Smart-Saban matchups, the most recent of them went the way of the Bulldogs, giving Georgia its first National Championship since 1980 in 2021 with a 33-18 victory in Indianapolis.

DawgsHQ also learned of a matchup between Georgia and Ole Miss for 2024 in Oxford. The two teams have met just one time in the Kirby Smart era coming in his first season. The Rebels handed the Bulldogs a 45-14 loss, one that Georgia will have an opportunity to get revenge on this fall with Ole Miss making the trip to Athens November 11th.

Georgia will get some intriguing home games too. The Bulldogs host rivals Auburn and Tennessee at Sanford Stadium while their neutral site matchup against Florida, set to stay in Jacksonville through the 2025 season, technically counts as one of the four home games too.

With the SEC going to an eight game schedule, a model that only assure one permanent rival in an effort to create as much scheduling variability as possible, many wondered whether The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry matchup between the Bulldogs and Tigers would survive. Georgia and Auburn first played in 1892 and have met every season since 1944 for a total of 127 games. At least for 2024, that tradition continues.

Meanwhile, Georgia-Tennessee has given its fair share of entertaining matchups over the years. From Herschel Walker running over Bill Bates in 1980 to the Hobnail Boot in 2001, and of course the most recent Bulldog victory over the then-No. 1-ranked Volunteers this past season, these two SEC East foes and border rivals will get to keep going at each other for another year.

Regardless of scheduling model, Georgia and Florida have always been expected to play as permanent opponents. The teams have met 101 times as of 2022 with the majority coming at a neutral site in Jacksonville. It’s a unique rivalry in that aspect and one that continues on in the new-look SEC.

Finally, to round out the schedule is a roadtrip to Kentucky and a home date against Mississippi State. Should the SEC adopt a nine-game schedule with three permanent opponents in 2025 – a decision that has yet to be made – it’s been reported that the Wildcats would be among the trio on the slate every season. This announcement makes sure that the series would remain continuous. Meanwhile, with Mississippi State, it’s a battle of the league’s two Bulldogs. Georgia and Mississippi State met in 2022 in Starkville to follow 2017 and 2020 games in Athens. Georgia won all three of those matchups and holds a sizable advantage in the all-time series.

Georgia also has its non-conference matchups scheduled for 2024, opening the season in Atlanta against Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game (August 31) before hosting Tennessee Tech in Athens (September 7th). The Bulldogs are slated to close the season out with a pair of home games against UMass (November 23rd) and Georgia Tech (November 30th). Dates for the SEC matchups will be determined and announced at a later time.

2024 SEC Opponents

Alabama – Away (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Auburn – Home (Athens, Ga.)

Florida – Neutral (Jacksonville, Fla.)

Kentucky – Away (Lexington, Kent.)

Mississippi State – Home (Athens, Ga.)

Ole Miss – Away (Oxford, Miss.)

Tennessee – Home (Athens, Ga.)

Texas – Away (Austin, Texas)