GREENSBORO — Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks provided an update on where things stand with the football team’s future scheduling against nonconference opponent Florida State.
The two sides mutually agreed earlier this month to cancel a home-and-home series set for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. However, both have expressed a desire to play a neutral-site nonconference game.
Brooks noted that continued conversations with Florida State have been productive in terms of coming to a solution.
“The reality is when you go to nine conference games and (Georgia) Tech, the adding of that many games put us in a precarious situation with the number of home-and-homes we had scheduled,” Brooks said at Georgia’s spring athletic board meeting Thursday. “So instead of just eliminating those games altogether, we’re trying to find a way to keep as many of those on the schedule. And the simplest way to do that would be to move to a neutral site because otherwise we could have ended up in a situation where we may have only had five home games in certain years. That’s not acceptable.
“So, we’re getting creative, working very well together.”
If the Florida State series had remained on the schedule for the 2027 season, the Bulldogs would’ve had only five home games.
Florida State athletic director Mike Alford previously expressed the hope that a game would be played during the 2028 season and that seven sites were being considered.
The Florida State series is not the first marquee nonconference series Georgia has called off of late. The Bulldogs previously called off games against UCLA, NC State and Louisville.
The SEC is moving to a nine-game conference schedule, which impacted the future series against NC State, Louisville and Florida State. The ACC is also in the process of moving to a nine-game conference schedule.
Georgia does still have future nonconference games against Ohio State and Clemson down the line, but it is unknown whether those games will be played as scheduled. The Bulldogs have their annual rivalry game against Georgia Tech, which satisfies the requirement by the SEC that Georgia plays a nonconference game against a Power Four opponent.
“We have and we still continue to play more P4 opponents than the majority of schools in college athletics,” Brooks said.
Brooks recently made a plea to the NCAA to reconsider moving the NCAA tennis championships to Orlando, Florida, and away from campus sites.
That response led to some frustration from fans as to why Georgia would do the opposite when it comes to football.
Brooks pointed to the addition of a ninth conference game as to why so many home-and-home series have been called off. Alabama has canceled series, as well.
Georgia does have an annual neutral-site game on its schedule against the rival Florida Gators. This year’s game will move to Atlanta because of renovations in Jacksonville, Florida. The 2027 game will be in Tampa, Florida, before returning to Jacksonville in 2028.
“Now, we have a tradition in Jacksonville that’s always going to be a hot topic, but it’s been very successful and there’s always been a great showing,” Brooks said. “And we’ve had a great showing there, especially the last five, six, seven years. But with the nine SEC (games) — that’s a big step — and Tech, you’ve got 10 Power Four (games) baked in every year.”
Georgia and Florida State last faced off in the 2023 Orange Bowl, a game the Bulldogs won 63-3.
The Bulldogs open the 2026 season Sept. 5 when they host Tennessee State. Georgia was originally set to open with a home game against UCLA, but that series was scrapped in the summer of 2024.
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