Report: Louisville and Georgia cancel home-and-home football series
The University of Louisville and University of Georgia football programs have mutually agreed to cancel the 2026 and 2027 home-and-home football games.
The news was originally reported by the Courier Journal’s Peyton Titus as the expected shakedown of the 2026 schedule continues.
Louisville athletics director Josh Heird, as well as Georgia AD Josh Brooks, originally signed to play a two-game football series back in 2021. It is not expected that either school will owe the other after backing out less than a year before playing.
The two are still hoping to set up a neutral site matchup at some point in the near future. This past offseason, both the ACC and SEC announced a scheduling requirement where the member schools must play 10 power-conference games a season. For obvious reasons, schools like UGA and the U of L are less inclined to schedule games against top-tier power conference competition because they have already been playing a non-conference rival (Kentucky, Georgia Tech) annually.
Previously, the two leagues had been demonstrating an eight-game conference schedule, but as announced in July, it has changed to nine.
As of December, Louisville’s 2026 non-conference football schedule includes the Wildcats (Nov. 28), Charlotte (Sep. 16), and Villanova (Sep 8). The Cards were supposed to host the Bulldogs on Sep. 19 at L&N Stadium; now the athletic department will need to fill that week on the schedule.
Georgia now has a complete 12-game schedule with the cancellation and will host GT, Western Kentucky, and Tennessee State.
Other notable non-conference series that could be in jeopardy include a home-and-home with Texas A&M in 2028 and 2029.
With the rapidly changing playoffs, there’s less importance on scheduling the best of the best early on in the season. Look at Notre Dame. The Irish played their two hardest games in the first two weeks of the fall and were never able to recover with a weak schedule. Teams like Louisville, Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia Tech already automatically have an SEC team on the schedule each season. Why chase more?
The Cardinals finished the regular season 8-4 under and are seeking their third consecutive nine-win season for the first time since 2012-14. On the other hand, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs won the SEC and will compete for a national title in the College Football Playoff.
This article has been updated (as of 12:37 PM) with the following statement from the Louisville Athletic Director, Josh Heird
“Recent changes to our home-and-home series with Georgia are another example of the scheduling adjustments that come with today’s evolving college football landscape. When Georgia informed us of their need to opt out of the 2026 matchup, several contractual considerations came into play, including cancellation penalties and the structure of the 2027 return game.
Such as:
- Georgia would have owed Louisville a $1 million penalty for canceling.
- Additionally, we could have required them to host Louisville to Athens for the 2027 return game unless they paid an additional buyout.
- Another important consideration: keeping Georgia on the schedule in both 2026 and 2027 would have forced us to buy out already-scheduled non-conference opponents in those years to accommodate the new nine-game ACC slate. That would have added unnecessary cost without improving our overall competitive position.
Rather than navigating those complexities, both schools worked together to find a solution that provides long-term scheduling flexibility for each program. We will look to pursue a future single-game neutral-site matchup in the early 2030s. This approach preserves a high-profile game for our fans, avoids unnecessary financial impact for both universities, and positions us well as the postseason landscape continues to evolve.
Our goal will always be to deliver the best possible schedules for Louisville Football — ones that excite our fans and give our program every opportunity to compete for championships. We look forward to sharing our updated future schedules soon.”
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