Georgia fans will get their first look at the 2026 season on Saturday when the Bulldogs open against Tennessee State, but the action won’t stop there. With a full slate of college football and plenty of commercial breaks to fill, there are a few other games worth keeping on the screen - especially the ones that could ripple back toward Georgia later in the year.
The best place to start is the Aflac Kickoff game in Atlanta, where Baylor meets Auburn on Saturday at 3:30 PM EST on ABC and Disney+. That one brings together a new-look Auburn under head coach Alex Golesh and former Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway, now at Baylor.
The biggest storyline, though, is how Auburn handles a team with roughly comparable talent. The Tigers also added USF transfer quarterback Byrum Brown, a dual-threat weapon who followed Golesh to Auburn.
Brown had a huge 2023 at USF, becoming one of only two FBS players - along with Jayden Daniels - to post 3,000-plus passing yards and 800-plus rushing yards in the same season. Now the question is how that production holds up against an SEC schedule that won’t be nearly as forgiving.
Another game that should have plenty of juice is Louisville vs. Ole Miss, set for Sunday in Nashville at 7:30 PM EST on ABC.
It has the feel of a potential upset watch, and the current FanDuel line has Ole Miss favored by 6.5. The matchup pits Pete Golding’s Ole Miss defense against Jeff Brohm’s offense, which gives it a classic strength-on-strength feel.
There’s also been plenty of movement in Oxford since December, and this will be a chance to see how it all comes together right away. Georgia fans may not have a direct rooting interest, but after Jeff Brohm’s comments earlier this week, a Louisville loss would probably go over just fine.
Then there’s the marquee one: Clemson vs. LSU on Saturday night at 7:30 PM EST on ABC.
Georgia isn’t set to face either team in the regular season, but this is the kind of game every college football fan should watch. Lane Kiffin’s run in Baton Rouge gets its first real spotlight against Dabo Swinney’s Clemson team, which is looking to bounce back in 2026 after a disappointing 2025.
If LSU rolls and wins comfortably, it’s hard not to start thinking about what that might mean down the line, including a possible December matchup with Georgia in Atlanta. But if Kiffin’s Tigers stumble at home against an unranked Clemson team, the conversation around college football changes fast.
In Other News...
Georgia Defense Gets A Boost Just In Time For Week 1
Georgias season opener comes with a cleaner injury picture than many teams get this time of year, and that matters for a defense trying to settle in quickly. The biggest concern on the report is the loss of transfer linebacker Amaris Williams to a torn ACL, along with transfer running back Dante Dowdell still working back from an ATV accident, but the overall list is short and the group around them appears to be in good shape.
The most encouraging update for Georgia is in the secondary, where starting safety Kyron Jones is back to full health and expected to start against Tennessee State. With starting center Drew Bobo also healthy and few other issues surfacing, the Bulldogs head into Week 1 with a chance to open the year closer to full strength than most programs can manage this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Is Back In A Conversation Georgia Fans Know Well
Kirby Smart is already back in a familiar kind of conversation as the season approaches, this time with ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit putting him among four early names to watch for the 2026 Coach of the Year race. Herbstreits group also includes Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame, Clark Lea at Vanderbilt and Curt Cignetti at Indiana, a mix that reflects how much attention can shift quickly when programs start stacking results and raising expectations.
For Georgia, the interest is as much about the standard as the competition. Smart has spent years operating in the highest-pressure tier of the sport, where anything less than another strong run draws scrutiny, and the Bulldogs again enter a season opener that will help set the tone for how that coaching conversation develops. With Herbstreit already identifying the field, Smart is once more where Georgia fans are used to seeing him: right in the middle of a national debate about who is setting the pace. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Williams Finally Has A Real Chance To Break Through At Georgia
Justin Williams has spent enough time around Georgias defense to know how crowded the room can be, but this is the kind of opening he has been waiting for. With C.J. Allen gone, the Bulldogs are preparing for Williams to take on a much larger role in 2026, and the buzz around him has only grown after coaches and teammates kept pointing to his growth, athleticism and leadership.
Kirby Smart has already said Williams will get more opportunities this season, and that alone changes the conversation for a player who has been praised for his work against the run. The next step is proving that his practice reputation can carry over when the games start to matter, which is where Georgia will find out whether Williams is simply a trusted piece or something more important for the defenses future. [Read more 🡒]