SEC experts analyze Georgia schedule, Bulldogs' biggest games

ATHENS, Ga. — Once again, Georgia Football will be playing in some big games next fall. The Bulldogs’ 2025 schedule was announced on Wednesday night, and UGA plays host to Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas. They go on the road to Tennessee and Auburn, but it’s far from the gauntlet of games away from home that was the 2024 schedule. According to SEC experts, that could be a blessing and a curse.

“I see it being a lot easier than last year. We knew before the season that Georgia had the most difficult road schedule. I mean, it was virtually impossible, and it turned out to really get them,” Paul Finebaum said in assessing Georgia’s 2025 slate. “That win at Texas probably was the savior because they lost to Alabama and Ole Miss, but having those games at home really make it a much more palatable season. Now, I realize going to Auburn, going to Tennessee, going to Georgia Tech, those are challenges, but by no means, are they as difficult. So I think Georgia starts off – they haven’t even finished this season yet, but they’re already in better shape for next year.”

“It’s kind of this give and take. It’s kind of a gift and a curse when you think about it,” Benjamin Watson countered Finebaum’s point with. “On the one hand, when you make it through a gauntlet of a season the way Georgia did, playing Clemson and then playing on the road in those places, there’s a certain character that’s formed. If you can make it through. I think that’s what we saw from Georgia. The other side of it is, man, we need some rest, which is what Kirby Smart said. I think looking at the schedule, it’s definitely more favorable. The question is, is it going to produce the same diamond that this season, past season, produced for Georgia because they went through the road?”

Watson wasn’t the only one with that opinion. Roman Harper, another former SEC player now sharing analysis on the league, agreed that Georgia proved to be the team it is – the nation’s No. 2-ranked squad headed into the College Football Playoffs and champions of the conference in 2024 – because of the challenges it had to overcome.

“You always say pressure of busts pipes or it creates diamonds, and that’s what it is. Georgia benefited from this year’s tough road schedule,” Harper said. “You look at them, they were able to beat Texas in the SEC Championship because they were on the road so much, because they were so highly tested, because they were down six times or five times throughout the season at halftime and be able to battle back and find different ways to win, leaning on each and every individual on that team and in that roster.”

“So if you do get a little bit more of a relaxed feeling and all of a sudden you come up for air just a little too much, that’s when you get caught,” he continued. That’s when you go on the road and lose at Auburn for the first time in whenever because we start to think, ‘Oh, we’re good. We got this one. We got that one.’ So I think it’s like Ben said, it’s a more manageable schedule because a lot more of your tougher games are at home instead of on the road, but, man, does that really make you a better team? And we also got to see who’s actually going to be dressed out and playing for this team.”

FULL SCHEDULE

AUG 30 – Marshall (Home)
SEPT 6 – Austin Peay (Home)
SEPT 13 – Tennessee (Away)
SEPT 20 – Off Date
SEPT 27 – Alabama (Home)
OCT 4 – Kentucky (Home)
OCT 11 – Auburn (Away)
OCT 18 – Ole Miss (Home)
OCT 25 – Off Date
NOV 1 – Florida (Jacksonville, EverBank Stadium)
NOV 8 – Mississippi State (Away)
NOV 15 – Texas (Home)
NOV 22 – Charlotte (Home)
NOV 29 – Georgia Tech (Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium)

Of course those games against Alabama and Texas are being circled once again among the biggest in the SEC slate. Georgia enters 2025 with an ongoing 31-game home winning streak, chasing the all-time mark set by Clemson (40, 2016-22). The Bulldogs have won 26 straight night games between the hedges including a perfect 17-0 mark under Smart. Keeping those alive would require winning over the Crimson Tide and Longhorns, as well as five other home opponents (Marshall, Austin Peay, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Charlotte).

When the Crimson Tide come to Athens, it’ll be the first time its done so since Kirby Smart took over in 2016. UGA will be seeking just its second win over Alabama in eight meetings then. And then there’s the first-ever trip to the Classic City for Texas after the two teams met twice – so far! – during the 2024 campaign. Could another be upcoming in the National Championship Game?! Whether that happens or not, the Longhorns will be looking for their own revenge.

“It’s because of what happened in the matchup in 2024,” Harper said after picking Georgia-Alabama as his biggest game. “Alabama burst onto the scene with Kalen DeBoer, his first game against a big time SEC opponent, they go up 21-0, Georgia’s rattled on the sidelines, nobody had seen anybody do that to a Georgia team and then all the sudden Georgia rallies back and takes the lead in the second half. And then all the sudden Ryan Williams, again, becomes who he is. So all these things happen and to be able to go into Athens and now Kalen DeBoer has to defend himself in Athens where you know the Dawgs want that game. Can Georgia beat Alabama? It’s something they’ve not been able to do.”

“It’s the Rocky trilogy, or however many Rockys there are when it comes to Georgia and Texas,” Watson followed Harper’s answer up with his selection of a different game featuring the Dawgs. “Texas going on the road to the University of Georgia, and the crazy thing is, by the time they play this game, they may have played three times. This may be the fourth time of them playing in two seasons. This is kind of a new rivalry. The most viewed game of 2024 was that Texas-Georgia game. This is the game I’m circling. You can call me a homer if you want to, but everybody’s going to be looking at this game. Even outside our conference, this game is going to have huge Playoff implications.”

Of course the 2024 season isn’t over the Dawgs, and revenge against Alabama or another matchup with Texas is the furthest thing from on their mind. Seeded second in the College Football Playoffs, Georgia earned a first-round bye and will play the winner of Notre Dame-Indiana in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and CFP quarterfinals New Year’s Day in New Orleans (8:45 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN).

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