Georgia-UCLA series called off, UGA announces 2025 replacement

Georgia fans that were wanting to make a trip to Los Angeles to see UGA and UCLA open the 2025 season are going to be disappointed. The Bulldogs and Bruins announced plans to call off the agreed upon home and home, also cancelling a matchup in Athens in 2026. Word comes after it seemed the series was on the ropes this spring and following a report on Wednesday that UCLA and Utah agreed to conflicting a home-and-home.

Instead for Georgia, it’ll be a matchup with Marshall to kick things off on August 30th of next season. The Bulldogs and Thundering Herd have played just once in program history, a 13-3 UGA win in 2004.

While the news of a cancellation certainly comes as a disappointment for fans that would’ve enjoyed a trip out to California and a return game in Athens, those same folks shouldn’t fear that the Bulldogs won’t be in big games. Under Kirby Smart’s watch, Georgia has already played a home-and-home with Notre Dame (2017 – South Bend, 2019 – Athens), and the Bulldogs have several more on the schedule for years to come. Neutral site openers have also seen an uptick with Georgia doing so in 2016 (North Carolina – Atlanta), 2021 (Clemson – Charlotte), 2022 (Oregon – Atlanta) and this upcoming 2024 season (Clemson – Atlanta). UGA was forced to cancel a 2020 neutral site opener in Atlanta against Virginia due to COVID-19.

The Georgia-UCLA cancellation isn’t a first either for UGA. In 2012, Ohio State called off an agreed-upon series that would’ve seen the Buckeyes and Bulldogs square off in 2020 and 2021. No contract was ever in place there with a Big Ten-Pac-12 scheduling partnership eventually getting in the way. Most recently, it was Georgia-Oklahoma that got put on the chopping block by the SEC with the series not being scheduled for completion before the arrival of the Sooners in the league. That would’ve seen a matchup in Norman in 2023 and Athens in 2031. Oklahoma joins the league this coming fall, and the Sooners were replaced on the schedule for this past season with a home date against Ball State.

Future non-conference opponents and locations for Georgia beyond 2025 include the following: Louisville (2026 – Louisville, 2027 – Athens), Florida State (2027 – Tallahassee, 2028 – Athens), Clemson (2029 – Clemson, 2030 – Athens, 2032 – Athens, 2033 – Clemson), Ohio State (2030 – Athens, 2031 – Columbus) and N.C. State (2033 – Athens, 2034 – Raleigh). Austin Peay (2025), Charlotte (2025), Western Kentucky (2026), Florida A&M (2028), North Carolina A&T (2030) and Western Carolina (2031) will also make trips to the Classic City for currently agreed upon non-conference matchups.

Georgia also knows its SEC opponents for 2025, and it creates quite the home slate. Flipping the schedule to give return matchups from 2024 games, UGA will host Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas, as well as Kentucky, in 2025. Other games at Sanford Stadium will be Austin Peay (September 6th) and Charlotte (November 22nd).

Georgia Football Opponents/Locations by Year

2024: Alabama (Away), Auburn (Home), Clemson (Neutral), Florida (Neutral), Georgia Tech (Home), Kentucky (Away), Mississippi State (Home), Ole Miss (Away), Tennessee (Home), Tennessee Tech (Home), Texas (Away), UMass (Home)
2025: Alabama (Home), Auburn (Away), Austin Peay (Home), Charlotte (Home), Florida (Neutral), Georgia Tech (Away), Kentucky (Home), Marshall (Home), Mississippi State (Away), Ole Miss (Home), Tennessee (Away), Texas (Home)
2026: Georgia Tech (Home), Louisville (Away), Western Kentucky (Home)
2027: Florida State (Away), Georgia Tech (Away), Louisville (Home)
2028: Florida A&M (Home), Florida State (Home), Georgia Tech (Home)
2029: Clemson (Away), Georgia Tech (Away)
2030: Clemson (Home), Georgia Tech (Home), North Carolina A&T (Home), Ohio State (Home)
2031: Georgia Tech (Away), Ohio State (Away), Western Carolina (Home)
2032: Clemson (Home), Georgia Tech (Home)
2033: Clemson (Away), Georgia Tech (Away), NC State (Home)
2034: Georgia Tech (Home), NC State (Away)