Georgia’s fall in the AP Top 25 was the headline of Sunday’s updated poll, with the Bulldogs slipping to No. 5 after their first loss of the season.
Miami moved into the No. 1 spot, collecting 40 first-place votes. BYU came in at No. 2 with 20 first-place votes, while Ohio State checked in at No. 3 with nine. Notre Dame landed at No. 4, leaving Georgia just outside the top four in the 2026 Week 7 AP Top 25.
The Bulldogs are 6-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play after a 27-24 loss to Auburn at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. Georgia opened fast and built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but Auburn answered with 24 straight points and used three Georgia turnovers to snap a nine-game losing streak in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
Georgia still had a chance to escape after rallying from a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit. Gunner Stockton hit London Humphreys on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 2:58 left to tie the game, and the Bulldogs got the stop they needed to set up one final shot.
But Stockton fumbled with 58 seconds left, giving Auburn the ball near midfield. Then a roughing-the-passer penalty on Gabe Harris Jr. helped set up Alex McPherson’s 34-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.
Stockton finished with 272 passing yards and two touchdowns, but his three turnovers - including two interceptions - were too much to overcome. Georgia also played without All-American safety KJ Bolden and struggled to slow Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown, who ran for 115 yards and scored two touchdowns. The Bulldogs had a field goal blocked and piled up costly penalties in their first loss to an unranked opponent since 2019.
Kirby Smart didn’t hide from what happened afterward.
"Yeah, tough one," Kirby Smart said after the loss. "We like to say the Dawgs don't beat the Dawgs, but they found a way to beat themselves today.
I'll open by giving a lot of credit to Auburn. Their physicality showed.
I thought they were physical at the line of scrimmage. Their quarterback is really hard to tackle.
We knew that coming in. He did a tremendous job of yards after contact, getting out of sacks, keeping them in good, normal down and distances.
We helped them. We gave them three turnovers and some really critical, undisciplined penalties.
Like I say, humility is a week away. Auburn played better than us today, executed better than us today, didn't turn the ball over, and hit the red area plays.
We had some really, really untimely, undisciplined, uncharacteristic penalties. I give them credit, but at the end of the day, we pick it up.
Everything we want to do is in front of us. I know it's a big deal to everybody else, but to me, it's another game, and we have to turn around and get ready to go play again because it is a war in this league, week in and week out.
Everybody can beat everybody."
Georgia now heads into an open week before facing Florida on October 31.
The rest of the SEC was spread through the rankings, with Ole Miss at No. 7, Tennessee at No.
11, Kentucky at No. 12, Alabama at No.
13, LSU at No. 18, Texas at No.
19, Florida at No. 20, and Missouri at No. 22.
That leaves the conference with two teams in the top 10 and nine in the top 25.
The full top five after Week 7: Miami, BYU, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Georgia.
In Other News...
Georgias Auburn Loss Didnt Kill What Bulldogs Fans Still Want Most
Georgias loss to Auburn was a stumble, but it did not slam the door on the season the way it might have in another year. The Bulldogs are still very much in the SEC title conversation and remain in the mix for a College Football Playoff berth, helped in part by the fact that other heavyweights across the league have also taken losses. For a team built around higher ambitions, that matters.
The path is tighter now, but it is still there. Georgia is one of four SEC teams with one conference loss, which means every remaining league game carries real weight in the race to Atlanta and the playoff picture beyond it. The margin for error is gone, though, and the Bulldogs will need to take care of business the rest of the way if they want to keep those championship goals alive. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Turned Georgias Auburn Loss Into A Bigger SEC Debate
Georgias loss to Auburn did more than sting in the standings, it reopened a familiar conversation about just how punishing the SEC can be from week to week. Kirby Smart framed the defeat in that larger context, pointing to the leagues competitiveness and the way upsets seem to surface almost every Saturday. It is the kind of loss that does not just change one teams mood, but sends everyone back into the same old debate about conference depth, rankings and how much a schedule can shape what a team looks like by November.
The comparison with the Big Ten has only added fuel, especially with the two leagues often measured against each other in terms of strength of schedule and overall quality. Georgia now has to move on quickly with Florida coming up, and the timing matters because the Bulldogs are still dealing with the fallout from a conference result that fit the SECs chaotic profile. Smarts comments did not solve anything, but they did underscore the reality his team lives in every week: in this league, one upset can ripple far beyond a single scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Just Got Pulled Into A Playoff Race That Keeps Getting Wilder
Week 7 turned the College Football Playoff picture into a scramble, and Georgia was right in the middle of it. Five of the top seven teams lost, including No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Notre Dame, a jarring Saturday that reminded everyone how quickly the sport can reset its hierarchy. It was the first time since Nov. 17, 2012, that the top two teams in the country both went down on the same day, and for Georgia it instantly changed the tone around a season that had looked far more settled just a week earlier.
The Bulldogs still have a path, but the margin for error is suddenly thinner and the road ahead is loaded with pressure points. Notre Dames upcoming schedule and Georgias next key matchups now matter even more, because the playoff race no longer feels like a race between a few familiar names. It feels open, volatile and difficult to predict, which is exactly the kind of chaos that can make one loss feel like a setback or the start of something much bigger. [Read more 🡒]