Status of Georgia-UCLA home-and-home up in the air

Georgia and UCLA are currently scheduled to play in 2025 and 2026, but the agreed upon series certainly is up in the air. On Friday, Georgia athletics director Josh Brooks joined Atlanta sports radio’s 92.9 The Game and told listeners, “We’ll see.”

“With the evolution of the Big Ten schedule and our schedule, we’ve got to make decisions that are best for us and they’ve got to make decisions that are best for them,” Brooks said. “Everything is in play. We’ll see. It’s a fluid situation.”

A contract originally agreed upon in 2015, changes across the college athletics landscape since then – and those that are on the horizon – have the contest on the ropes. While news of a cancellation certainly would come 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 wouldn’t be 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.

Scheduling in the news…

Scheduling has been in the news lately with the league recently announcing a format for 2025. Approved by SEC Presidents and Chancellors in a vote, teams will play their same eight conference opponents from 2024, only doing so at the opposite location the second time around. Schools are also required to play at least one game against a power conference opponent – something Georgia has covered already with its annual matchup against in-state rival Georgia Tech.

That decision sets the Bulldogs up with an amazing home slate that features Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss along with Kentucky. Road trips in 2025 will be to Auburn, Mississippi State and Tennessee, while the annual matchup against Florida remains at the neutral site of EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.

“I’m not surprised because, I mean, if they start doing that, then somebody’s not going to get their ball out of the deal, you know?,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said about the notion that the league should’ve changed formats and/or opponents from the first to the second season with Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC. “I mean, me personally, I just got one of the toughest road schedules in the country. I’d like to see it flipped where I got the opportunity for our fan base to have probably the best home schedule ever in Georgia history. So you start changing the model, I don’t get the flip of the model.”

“They presented a multitude of opportunities. The most continuity is in doing this for two [years],” he added. “Let’s see what it’s like. Let’s see how things play out. Let’s see what the CFP becomes — how many teams are going to be in the playoff? Does that designate us to go to nine [games]? Does television have something to do with that? There’s a lot of unanswered questions, and to have a little bit of just continuity and know what you’re going to get, I’m completely fine with that.”

Aside from UCLA, future 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 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), Mississippi State (Away), Ole Miss (Home), Tennessee (Away), Texas (Home), UCLA (Away)
2026: Georgia Tech (Home), Louisville (Away), UCLA (Home), 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)