Texas may own the top spot in the AP Poll, but Georgia is making its own case - and plenty of people around college football are buying it.
The Longhorns sit at No. 1 after collecting 56 first-place votes off last week’s 24-23 win over No. 4 Ohio State. Georgia is right behind at No. 2, and the Bulldogs actually picked up more first-place support this week than they had coming out of last week, landing three votes.
That climb comes with Georgia having barely been challenged so far. The Bulldogs opened with a 60-point win over Tennessee State and then rolled past Western Kentucky by 50. With that kind of start, plus the résumé Kirby Smart has built in Athens, some national voices are starting to argue Georgia, not Texas, looks like the nation’s best team.
“I don’t care that they haven’t beaten Ohio State or a team like that,” Alyssa Lang said on a recent appearance on the Paul Finebaum show. “The road through the SEC still runs through Athens. For me, until proven otherwise that will not change.”
Georgia’s case is also helped by what has happened against Texas lately. The Bulldogs have beaten the Longhorns three times over the last two seasons, including in the 2024 SEC championship game. The earliest chance for a rematch would come Dec. 5 in Atlanta, and both teams were picked by the voting media at SEC media days in July to meet there again.
That early confidence now looks a lot more reasonable after two weeks of the season.
“I watch Georgia play right now and I go, I don’t know, ‘they kind of look like the best team in the country,’” Matt Stinchcomb said in an appearance on SEC Now. “I’m looking for some deficiencies. They haven’t played anybody that could expose that.”
Georgia’s SEC opener arrives this week against Arkansas, which should give the Bulldogs their first real conference test - at least on paper. Even so, the rest of the league schedule does not appear especially daunting. Oklahoma, one of Georgia’s bigger remaining games, struggled offensively in a Week 2 loss to Michigan.
Arkansas, meanwhile, is being projected as another game Georgia should control.
“I think if you thought that Georgia was better than Texas before, I don’t know why you wouldn’t think that now,” Stinchcomb said.
A big reason Georgia has looked so sharp is Gunner Stockton. Through 11 drives this season, every one has ended in a touchdown. Lang said Stockton has “clearly” taken the next step as a quarterback, and his numbers have backed up the buzz.
CBS Sports’ David Cobb also pointed to Stockton’s rise after the quarterback tied a school record with five touchdown passes against Western Kentucky. Cobb moved Stockton from 12th to seventh in his quarterback rankings.
“The competition has been lackluster, but Stockton has been almost perfect,” Cobb wrote. “He is second in passer efficiency, third in EPA per dropback and fourth in yards per attempt. Look for another strong performance against a struggling Arkansas team this week in Georgia’s SEC opener.”
Still, Smart isn’t interested in handing out praise too early. Georgia has looked dominant, but he knows the real questions start to sharpen once the Bulldogs leave home.
“We don’t want to anoint anybody right now because they recover fumbles or catch touchdowns when you score 70, you’re gonna have a lot of fluffy stats. I don’t care about stats,” Smart said.
“I really do not care. The one that you guys are chasing, you guys will reward them.
You will say we scored 70 and 60. And the only thing I’m worried about is how the hell we’re gonna play on the road next week.”
In Other News...
SEC Injury Reports Are Fueling A Debate Georgia Fans Will Notice
The SECs new injury reports have already become a talking point around the league, and Georgia fans are watching the ripple effects closely. LSUs report listed quarterback Sam Leavitt as doubtful for the upcoming game against Ole Miss, while Georgias own report for Arkansas included three players ruled out, among them linebacker Chase Linton. For a conference trying to standardize availability information, the early returns have given fans a lot to parse and plenty of reason to treat every update as part of the weeks strategy as much as the medical file.
Around the Georgia fan base, the bigger discussion is how much these reports should be trusted when game week can still bring surprises. Some fans are already skeptical of the doubtfulness tag attached to Leavitt, especially with Lane Kiffins history of moving pieces around in injury reports before kickoff. Even without a definitive answer yet, the reports have turned availability into another layer of SEC gamesmanship, and that is exactly the kind of detail Bulldogs followers will keep an eye on as the week unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Suddenly Has A Depth Concern Heading Into Arkansas
Georgias first SEC test arrives with a little more uncertainty than the Bulldogs probably wanted. Marcus Harrison has been ruled out for the opener, and that comes on top of the existing injury absences for safety Tyriq Green, cornerback Justice Fitzpatrick and outside linebacker Chase Linton, thinning out the kinds of depth spots teams usually need to trust in conference play.
Arkansas has its own personnel issues to sort through, with tight ends Maddox Lassiter and Hutson Hendrix sidelined and defensive back Brandon Ford listed as questionable. Even so, Georgia is the side absorbing the sharper hit to its rotation, and the question now is how the Bulldogs patch together enough reliable bodies before a matchup that can expose any weakness in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Buford Faces Early Test As Its Defense Tries To Carry The Standard
The early-season heavyweight matchup between Buford and Grayson carries the kind of weight that always makes Georgia high school football feel bigger than the calendar suggests. Buford brings an undefeated record and an 18-game winning streak into a game that has become a measuring stick for where both programs really stand, while Grayson arrives looking sharper after shaking off a 0-2 start under a new head coach. With college recruiters sure to be watching closely, the field should be crowded with talent and the stakes should feel just as high on the sidelines.
What makes this one especially compelling is how much of Bufords identity still leans on its defense. The Wolves have been built to set the tone on that side of the ball, and this game looks like another chance to prove that standard travels well against one of the states most talented rosters. Grayson, meanwhile, has the kind of personnel that can quickly change the feel of a season, which is why a meeting like this can say so much about both teams long before the playoff race fully comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]