Kirby Smart makes it clear, Georgia is going to play big non-conference games as long as he's here
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart isn’t gun shy about his scheduling philosophy. Since Smart took over the program in 2016, the Bulldogs have played non-conference games against the likes of North Carolina, Notre Dame (twice) and Clemson.
This year, the Bulldogs take on Oregon with Oklahoma, UCLA, Louisville, Florida State, Texas, Ohio State, NC State and more Clemson coming in the next 12 seasons. That’s some serious competition, especially when you’ve already got a non-conference Power Five opponent lined up every year with in-state rival Georgia Tech. But for Smart, it’s not about the possibility that his team could lose a game. It’s about getting his team better and giving the fans what they want.
“As far as scheduling philosophy, it’s never changed for us. You look at it as if you make decisions right now, for right now. Decisions made for this year or next year were made a long time ago,” Kirby Smart said, sharing some of the credit for Georgia’s current schedule with previous coaches and athletic directors. “It’s always been my philosophy to go play quality opponents, Power-5 opponents, a good matchup. I don’t care if it’s home and home. I don’t care if it’s neutral site. Go play a good team that helps your team get better.”
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“When you play in the SEC, you’re going to run the gauntlet anyways. What’s playing one more good, physical team,” he continued. “We don’t run from that at Georgia. We try to embrace that. Our fans want that—I want that. It generates a lot more excitement, and you recruit off that. You go and get to sell the opening game, playing in big-time games. I think that’s important. As far as the philosophy, us playing more SEC games if that happens, so be it. It’s not going to change our philosophy as far as what we do non-conference. We had already moved to that before the realignment. We were already trying to schedule big games every year, and that’s just the way that we think is best.”
Of course, the likelihood that we see the Bulldogs take the field against all of those non-conference opponents that are on the schedule is low. College Football is changing with the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas in 2025 – one reason for the possibility of those games getting nixed – Big Ten adding UCLA and USC in 2024 and conferences seemingly constantly changing their scheduling standards for intra-league competition. Still, Smart’s point stands. Instead of shying away from playing games against quality opponents that aren’t mandated by a conference schedule or created in a College Football Playoff/bowl setting, Georgia is going to take those challenges head on as long as Smart is the head man.
