Paul Finebaum predicts Georgia's chances to make the College Football Playoff in 2025

The SEC’s annual Football Kickoff Media Days festivities officially begin Monday at the Atlanta Omni Hotel. But before talking season gets into full gear next week, SEC Network host Paul Finebaum got a jump start on the hot takes Friday during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take.

When asked about Georgia‘s chances to make the 2025 College Football Playoff next season, Finebaum raised the shadow of doubt. Citing the widespread turnover since winning back-to-back CFP national championships in 2021-22, Finebaum questioned whether Kirby Smart‘s squad could even make the 12-team field in 2025, let alone securing a coveted automatic bid as the SEC champion, which it achieved last season before a one-and-done ouster at the hands of eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.

“I believe they’ll be fighting to be in the Playoffs. And we all respect Kirby Smart, I think he’s the best coach in college football. But that doesn’t mean anything if you lose players like they have lost over the last couple of years,” Finebaum said Friday morning on First Take. “Three years ago, that draft in Vegas everyone remembers, it was one Georgia player after another. I’ve never seen anything quite like that. But they haven’t been quite able to fill those needs.

“And I know the point was made earlier about Stetson Bennett winning two national championships. But he had one of the all-time defenses and I don’t think Georgia has that (this season),” Finebaum continued, before digging into the Bulldogs’ challenge 2025 schedule. “That Alabama game is problematic in September, and so are a number of other games that Georgia is going to have to deal with, including a visit from (Texas and quarterback) Arch Manning late in the season.”

The Bulldogs have made the CFP field in three of the last four seasons, only missing out in 2023 after losing to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game that season. Under Smart, Georgia also has the best winning percentage (.714) among the 10 FBS teams with at least two Playoff appearances.

Of course, those Bulldogs squads are long gone. So is Bennett and two-year starting QB Carson Beck, who transferred to Miami after a difficult 2024 season that ended abruptly with a season-ending elbow injury in last year’s SEC Championship game in Atlanta.

That injury, of course, opened the door for Gunner Stockton to get thrown into the fire as Georgia’s starting quarterback late last season. And while there were flashes of potential, the Bulldogs left a lot to be desired in a 23-10 loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl national quarterfinal.

Smart worked to rebuild through the transfer portal with the nation’s 30th-ranked portal class that included Illinois RB transfer Josh McCray and USC WR transfer Zachariah Branch, as well as landing 2025’s No. 2-overall recruiting class that went heavy on defense with Five-Star Plus+ defensive linemen Elijah Griffin and Isaiah Gibson.

If those newcomers can mesh well with the wealth of returning talent, and if Stockton can establish himself as a quality SEC starting QB, the sky is the limit. If they don’t, and the Bulldogs stumble against fellow SEC contenders Alabama and Texas, Finebaum’s skepticism might just prove prophetic.