Georgia’s next step in SEC play will come in the middle of the day, with the league setting the Bulldogs’ home matchup against Vanderbilt for a 12:45 p.m. ET kickoff next Saturday on SEC Network.
The announcement came Sunday morning after the SEC left the start time and television assignment undecided last Monday. Now it’s official: No. 2 Georgia will host the Commodores in an early window.
It will also be a rare meeting. Georgia and Vanderbilt have not played in three years, even though the programs faced off every season from 1968 through 2023.
The Bulldogs own the edge in the series, 61-20-2, and have won six straight against Vanderbilt. The Commodores’ last victory in the matchup came in 2016, when they pulled off a 17-16 upset in Athens during Kirby Smart’s first season as head coach.
Georgia enters at 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC after a convincing 41-13 win over Oklahoma. The Bulldogs’ defense and special teams helped blow that game open by forcing four turnovers, which Georgia turned into 17 points. The turning point came early in the second quarter when Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer lost a fumble that Chris Cole scooped up and returned 85 yards for a touchdown.
What might have been a 14-7 game with the Sooners on the doorstep instead turned into a 21-0 surge for Georgia.
“Once you get in the flow of the game and you get a 14-point play, that doesn't happen in football much. They're going in, and we score," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said.
"It's really hard to overcome that, and it's hard for them, too. I don't know how much adversity we had to face after that, but I do know that our team is getting better.”
Vanderbilt arrives at 3-1 and 0-1 in conference play after a 21-15 loss at Auburn. The Commodores actually outgained the Tigers 311-279, but they couldn’t turn that yardage into enough production on third down, finishing just 4-of-17 in those situations. They also had to settle for three field goals, including makes with 12:17 and 6:26 remaining.
In Other News...
Georgia Has One Dangerous Problem Heading Into Vanderbilt
Georgia has spent this season looking every bit like a team that expects to keep winning, and the matchup with Vanderbilt fits the same script on paper. The Bulldogs are undefeated, favored again, and coming off a run of steady, no-drama performances that have kept them in the thick of the national conversation while the rest of the league keeps trying to catch up.
Still, there is a little extra edge to this one because Vanderbilts quarterback is freshman Jared Curtis, who was once committed to Georgia before ending up with the Commodores. The bigger concern for the Bulldogs, though, is less about the opponent than about themselves and whether they can stay locked in for four quarters, since the season has shown they can control games when they stay sharp and leave openings only when their focus slips. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Hinted At A Bigger Georgia Role Fans Will Notice
With Vanderbilt next on the schedule, Kirby Smart used his weekly availability to touch on the usual game-week checkpoints and a few broader themes around Georgias roster. He praised Clark Leas work with the Commodores, pointed to players such as Jared Curtis and Thomas Blackshear as part of the discussion, and walked through the kind of injury and practice updates that tend to shape how the Bulldogs prepare from one Saturday to the next.
Smart also spent time on the kind of player development questions Georgia fans tend to notice over the course of a season, offering thoughts on London Humphreys, JJ Hane, Dwight Phillips and Jordan Hall. Taken together, the remarks suggested a coach looking beyond the immediate matchup, with more attention on how individual roles are taking shape and where the Bulldogs may be leaning as SEC play keeps moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Bowers Is Already Giving Georgia Fans A Reason To Watch
Brock Bowers wasted no time reminding everyone why Georgia fans still track his every move on Sundays. Back from a knee injury, the former Bulldogs star was the focal point of the Las Vegas Raiders offense in a 35-27 win over the New Orleans Saints, piling up 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in a performance that looked awfully familiar to anyone who watched him in Athens.
There was more Georgia flavor in the result, too, with Nakobe Dean leading the Raiders defense with a team-high 12 tackles and helping close the door with a game-sealing fumble recovery. At 3-0, Las Vegas is leaning on multiple former Bulldogs in all three phases, and for Georgia fans, that makes the Raiders an especially relevant watch even before the full story of this season takes shape. [Read more 🡒]