The Georgia Bulldogs are a team that has flirted with greatness, capturing back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. But as any sports fan knows, maintaining that level of dominance is no easy feat. After an undefeated regular season in 2023, the Bulldogs stumbled in the SEC Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, which dashed their hopes for a three-peat.
Fast forward to the next two seasons, and Georgia claimed the SEC title in both 2024 and 2025. Yet, the playoff victories eluded them, leaving a three-year gap since their last postseason win.
Now, heading into the 2026 season, the Bulldogs are looking to break this playoff drought. They enter the season with the sixth-best odds to clinch the national championship, trailing only the Texas Longhorns in the SEC.
J.D. PicKell from On3 weighed in on Georgia's prospects for the upcoming season, expressing his confidence in the Bulldogs' ability to turn things around.
"I believe that Kirby Smart is a fixer," PicKell remarked. "I would be jaw-on-the-floor shocked if they once again find themselves in a spot in the College Football Playoff and they don't win a game in that thing.
That's just me."
There's plenty for Bulldogs fans to be optimistic about. Quarterback Gunner Stockton returns after a solid debut season, where he racked up 2,894 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and only five interceptions. If Stockton can elevate his game, he might just be one of the standout quarterbacks in college football this year.
However, the Bulldogs face challenges on the offensive side of the ball. Last season, their offensive line and receiving corps raised some eyebrows, particularly during the College Football Playoff loss to Ole Miss, where the line allowed two sacks and nine tackles for loss. The departure of key receiver Zachariah Branch to the NFL leaves a significant gap to fill.
Georgia addressed some of these concerns by bringing in nine new players through the transfer portal, though only one is a wide receiver: Isiah Canion from Georgia Tech. While Canion's stats-39 catches for 563 yards and four touchdowns over two seasons-suggest potential, the Bulldogs will need more consistent production from their receiving unit to support Stockton.
If the offensive line doesn't shore up its protection and the receiving corps fails to step up, Georgia risks another season of looking great on paper but faltering when it counts the most in December and January. The Bulldogs have the pieces to be contenders, but execution will be key as they aim to reclaim their spot atop college football's elite.
In Other News...
This Georgia Tech Stretch Will Define Brent Key's ACC Ceiling
Brent Key enters his fourth season with Georgia Tech facing the kind of reset that can make a program look fresh or fragile. The Yellow Jackets have new coordinators, a new quarterback and a schedule that does not leave much room for easing in, with the ACC race likely to be shaped by a stretch that includes Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Clemson.
Virginia Tech offers an early chance to measure how quickly the changes are taking hold, while the trip to Pittsburgh has the feel of the sort of road game Georgia Tech may need to survive if it wants to stay in the league chase. Louisville and Clemson only add to the pressure, turning this run into the part of the calendar that will say most about where Key has the program headed and how high its ACC ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Could Be One Season Away From New Big 12 Grudges
Colorados return to the Big 12 has already started to create the kind of grudges that can stick around for years, and Georgia Tech has a place in that mix. The Buffaloes have found themselves in a handful of tight games against familiar-feeling opponents since rejoining the league in 2024, including close losses to Georgia Tech and Kansas State, while also drawing Houston into the conversation as another program that could end up mattering more than expected.
Georgia Tech and Colorado are lined up to meet again in 2026, this time with the Buffs getting home-field advantage, and that is where these early-season tensions can either fade or harden into something more durable. For now, it is still the kind of crossover matchup that feels fresh, but the way the first one went and the fact that another is already on the calendar give it the outline of a series that could end up meaning a lot more than a single nonconference date. [Read more 🡒]
Three Things Brent Key Must Prove About Georgia Tech In 2026
Georgia Techs 2026 outlook still starts with the same identity Brent Key has been selling since taking over: a physical team that wants to move people and control games at the line of scrimmage. With key departures and new faces around the program, there will be plenty of change, but the expectation is that the Yellow Jackets will keep leaning on the run and could be even more dangerous there with Justice Haynes and Malachi Hosley in the backfield.
There is also a sense that George Godseys offense will ask more of the tight ends in the passing game, giving someone like Gavin Harris a chance to become a bigger factor. On the other side of the ball, Georgia Tech has been busy adding transfers and young linemen to beef up the defensive front, a unit that could end up defining how far the Jackets go if it develops the way the staff thinks it can. [Read more 🡒]