Georgia is heading into the season with the kind of buzz that usually comes with a heavyweight, and ESPN is buying all the way in. The Bulldogs are expected to open the year ranked near the top again and are also the favorite to win the SEC, but the big headline is this: ESPN’s Football Power Index is projecting a perfect 12-0 regular season.
That’s a bold call, especially when you line it up against the betting market. Vegas has Georgia’s win total at 9.5, a much more cautious number than ESPN’s full-season sweep. The Bulldogs have done this before, of course - they ran the regular season table from 2021 through 2023 - but they haven’t finished 12-0 since then.
The schedule is the real reason that perfect season feels like a long shot. Georgia is expected to be favored in every game, but that doesn’t make the path easy. There are a handful of games where the Bulldogs will need to be sharp from the jump.
The toughest test is the road trip to Alabama. That game stands out immediately, and the trip to Ole Miss is right there with it.
Georgia has gone 1-2 against Alabama and Ole Miss over the last two years, making those the only programs with any real success against the Bulldogs during that stretch. Georgia would still be favored in both, but splitting those two would not be a surprise.
There’s also a dangerous home date in week four against Oklahoma. The Sooners are bringing one of the best defenses in the country this season, and quarterback John Mateer is healthy again and ready to make a statement in Athens.
And then there are the rivalry landmines. Florida and Auburn always carry upset potential, and CBS Sports thinks South Carolina could be the team that catches Georgia late in the season.
ESPN’s numbers are clear, even if the road is anything but. Georgia is getting a level of faith from the FPI that it hasn’t always received, and for the first time in what feels like forever, ESPN is treating the Bulldogs like a team capable of running the table.
In Other News...
Carson Becks NFL Start Is Stirring Up A Familiar Georgia Debate
Carson Becks first steps into the NFL have already revived an old conversation for Georgia fans, the kind that never fully disappears once a quarterback leaves Athens. After a mixed college run that included a strong 2023 season at Georgia, Beck signed his rookie contract with the Arizona Cardinals and is now trying to establish himself in camp, where early reports have centered on the same issue that followed him at times in college: accuracy.
For Bulldogs supporters, the reaction is complicated because Becks Georgia tenure ended with plenty of promise, but also enough uneven play to keep the debate alive after he moved on to Miami. His path through two programs left a trail of interceptions and frustration, so his start in Arizona is being watched through a familiar lens. The Cardinals are only at the beginning of that process, but the questions around Beck feel a lot like the ones Georgia fans have been asking for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Have A New Reason To Be Glad Glenn Schumann Stayed
Glenn Schumanns stay in Athens has already become one of those decisions Georgia fans can appreciate in hindsight. The Bulldogs defensive coordinator has been on the radar for head coaching jobs before, and his contract was extended through 2028, a sign that Kirby Smart wanted to keep one of the programs most important staffers in place even as outside interest kept building.
That interest has not gone away, either, with Schumann still viewed as a future head coach and Florida among the programs that took a hard look this offseason. For Georgia, the appeal is obvious: as long as Schumann is running the defense, the Bulldogs can keep leaning on a staff continuity that has helped define the program, even if the next opportunity for him feels like it is only a matter of time. [Read more 🡒]
SEC Finally Made A Targeting Change Georgia Fans Can Respect
The SEC is finally loosening one of college footballs most frustrating targeting rules, and Georgia fans have reason to take notice. Beginning in 2026, a player who draws a first targeting ejection in a season will still be done for the rest of that game, but he will not automatically miss the next one, a change that brings the league in line with the NCAAs one-year trial rule.
The new system still keeps real teeth for repeat offenders. A second targeting ejection will cost a player the first half of the following game, while a third will bring a full-game suspension, with an appeals process available after the second offense. SEC officials say they will watch how the rule affects both player behavior and safety, but for a conference that has long lived with the fallout from controversial targeting calls, this is the kind of adjustment plenty of fans have been waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]