Georgia’s first major home test of the season now has a kickoff window, and it comes with a national-TV spotlight.
The SEC announced Monday that Georgia’s Sept. 26 matchup with No. 24 Oklahoma will start at 3:30 p.m. ESPN or ABC will carry the game, with the final network call coming after Saturday’s games are complete.
Georgia has already rolled through its first two opponents, Tennessee State and Western Kentucky, by a combined 110 points. But Kirby Smart made it clear after the Western Kentucky win that the real measuring stick arrives once SEC play kicks in.
“The opponents haven’t been SEC opponents, so it’s all rosy and dandy until you go on the road and you gotta play somebody of SEC caliber and it’s hard,” Smart said after Georgia’s win over Western Kentucky. “And also we have some adversity. This team has not really had adversity, so we’re gonna find out.”
Before that September date with Oklahoma, Georgia hits the road this week to face Arkansas. The Razorbacks are coming off a 43-10 loss to Utah on Saturday.
Oklahoma, meanwhile, is also trying to bounce back after falling at Michigan. The Sooners struggled on offense in a 17-10 defeat.
The Sept. 26 meeting will be the first time Georgia and Oklahoma square off as conference opponents, with Oklahoma having joined the league ahead of the 2024 season.
Their only previous matchup came in the 2018 Rose Bowl, Smart’s second season in Athens. Georgia edged Oklahoma 54-48 in double overtime to reach the national championship game.
Both programs reached the College Football Playoff last season, and both did it with defenses doing plenty of the heavy lifting. That sets up what figures to be a tight, low-scoring game in Athens.
Georgia’s game at Arkansas this week is set for noon ET on ABC, while Oklahoma will face New Mexico.
In Other News...
Georgia Suddenly Has A Tyriq Green Concern At The Worst Time
Tyriq Greens night ended early after the freshman left the game with an injury on a kickoff return, giving Georgia another health issue to monitor as the season moves into a critical stretch. Kirby Smart said the Bulldogs are still waiting on the full results on Greens status, and the staff will sort out his availability as the week goes on.
Greens situation adds to an injury picture that already has Georgia juggling some missing pieces. Wide receiver Thomas Blackshear and outside linebackers Chase Linton and Amaris Williams are already out, so any setback involving a young contributor on special teams only deepens the uncertainty as the Bulldogs try to stay steady from one week to the next. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Turned Georgias Big Night Into A Warning
Georgias all-white look turned Saturday night into a milestone long before the game got out of hand, as the Bulldogs wore the uniforms for the first time in school history and buried Western Kentucky in a 70-20 win. Gunner Stockton helped make the evening feel even more like a showcase, tying a school record with five passing touchdowns in the first half and giving the home crowd plenty to talk about well before halftime.
Kirby Smart, though, spent the postgame sounding more concerned than celebratory. Even with the score in Georgias favor by a wide margin, he made clear the second half did not meet his standard, turning what should have been a feel-good blowout into a reminder that the Bulldogs still have details to clean up. For a team with bigger goals ahead, that kind of message matters almost as much as the lopsided result. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Blowout May Have Just Settled A Key Quarterback Debate
Georgias 70-20 rout of Western Kentucky did more than pad the record to 2-0. It also gave the Bulldogs a much clearer picture of where the quarterback room stands behind Gunner Stockton, with a handful of young players using a lopsided game to make their case in a meaningful way.
Ryan Puglisi was among the biggest beneficiaries, with his performance strongly suggesting he has moved to the front in the race for the backup job. Tyriq Green also flashed enough to look like a return option worth watching, while Georgia got mixed results from Ryan Montgomery and Lawson Luckie. For a team still sorting out depth in spots, that kind of clarity is part of what made Saturday matter beyond the final score. [Read more 🡒]