ATHENS — Kirby Smart says it’s easy to determine who is going to be successful in the SEC and who is going to have to fight tooth and nail for wins.
“The schedule is such a big part,” Smart said in an appearance with “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX-FM 94.5. “Who do you play at home, and who do you play away? That’s the only thing you need to look at in our league. How many hard road games they got?”
Smart, heading into his 11th season running the Georgia football program, is the longest-tenured coach in the SEC. As the only one to have won the conference title, he has faced enough tough schedules to know that some are more difficult than others.
“The one we had the year before last was just unmerciful,” Smart said.
That 2024 season had Georgia play road games against Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama and Kentucky. The easiest of those came against Texas, the lone one of the four to reach the College Football Playoff.
Georgia lost at Ole Miss and Alabama that season, two teams the Bulldogs will again visit in 2026. Those teams made the College Football Playoff last season, and both earned victories against the Bulldogs. The Crimson Tide won in Athens in September, while Ole Miss ended Georgia’s season in January.
The Bulldogs will also make trips to Arkansas and South Carolina. The former is Georgia’s first road game, while the latter finishes the SEC schedule.
As much of a problem as Ole Miss and Alabama have been for the Bulldogs, the schedule doesn’t seem as daunting as previous years.
“Light lifts don’t exist for Kirby Smart, but some years have been more favorable than others. This could be one of them, but it still features a couple of trouble spots,” Brad Crawford of CBS Sports wrote of Georgia’s schedule. “The Bulldogs get a tuneup at Arkansas early, then host Oklahoma and Vanderbilt before traveling to Alabama. Florida and Ole Miss are the two toughest games during the second half, along with a battle at a South Carolina on Nov. 21.”
Georgia had road games last season against Tennessee, Auburn and Mississippi State, with matchups against Florida and Georgia Tech played at neutral venues. The Bulldogs won all five of those.
Georgia won the SEC each of the last two seasons. If it is to win a third straight championship, it will need to find success when it travels to Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina while holding serve at home against Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Missouri.
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