Josh Brooks on SEC scheduling, 2025 slate: 'It's what I fought for'

ATHENS, Ga. — Scheduling has been a hot topic of discussion in Athens the last few weeks between the SEC’s announcement of the 2025 opponents and Georgia’s non-conference series agreement with UCLA potentially being on the ropes. As a result, UGA athletics director Josh Brooks has spoken on both.

Brooks’ comments on the UCLA series have made the rounds already. He said things between the Bulldogs and Bruins are up in the air, and must wait and see. As for the league slate for not this coming season but the next one, he’s excited about the game it’ll give his season ticket holders at Sanford Stadium.

It’s what I wanted and what I fought for,” Brooks said during a recent radio interview on 92.9 The Game. “I stood up in the room and said, ‘Guys, if you’re going to make me go to Austin and Tuscaloosa and Oxford, those jokers are coming here. I owe it to my fans! You’re not going to make us go to those three places and not get a trip back.’ There may have been an AD in the room that stood up and said, ‘We don’t want that.’ Tough. If we’ve got to go there, they’ve got to come here.”

In the first year of a new-look SEC with Texas and Oklahoma as a part of the conference – one that has done away with divisions – Georgia will play Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss and Tennessee, all four of whom are likely to be in the preseason top 25. Of those contests, three come away from home, as does UGA’s rivalry game against Florida (Jacksonville) and a matchup with the always-pesky Kentucky Wildcats. Auburn and Mississippi State, both of whom come to Athens in 2024, round out the SEC schedule.

Come 2025, it’s the same opponents but a flip of the locations. That means Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss all will make their way to Athens. Kentucky does too, and the matchup with Florida remains at a neutral site – although not counting against Georgia’s home schedule this go-around. The Bulldogs will hit the road to take on Tennessee, Auburn and Mississippi State.

“It balances out, and there’s no way to truly ever balance a fairness of schedule, but I think flipping it gives you your best shot,” Brooks said in response to fans that would’ve preferred to see Georgia play a different set of SEC opponents than the season before or those that are upset about the tough road slate the Bulldogs face in 2024. “It’s your best shot, because if you were to do that two or three years from now, it’s less balanced. Quarterbacks graduate and move on, so I think back to back is the best. But here’s the good news: if you look at 2026 and 2027, now that we’re not playing strictly SEC East, you’re going to have LSU, Oklahoma, A&M, Arkansas. You’re going to get some good variety we’ve been asking for. I think it’s good for the fans.”

Of course it’ll take time to adjust to all the changes going on the College Football. It’s not just the teams in the conference or the scheduling model that’s going to be different in years to come. Conference realignment has affected each of the power conferences with the Big Ten taking on USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, the ACC bringing in Cal, Stanford and SMU and the Big 12 adding Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado. Furthermore, the College Football Playoff is being expanded from four teams the last decade to 12 this coming fall. All this means that expectations must change.

“I think it’s good, good for the sport, and look, we’re going to get to a point where we’ve got to understand as a fanbase, there’s going to be a lot more 10-2 teams across the country. We’re talking about a 12, 14 team playoff. Nobody’s complaining if the Falcons go 12-4, right? It’s about changing that mindset a little bit of aspirations that you’ve got to be 12-0 or 11-1 because with these tougher schedules – which we all want, we all want better games,” Brooks said. “I have to commend Coach Smart, he’s never shied away from this. We went out and scheduled big games. We had them on the schedule.”

Aside from the SEC scheduling that’ll feature some sort of arrangement of the conference’s teams, Georgia is expected to play several marquee matchups in the non-conference as well. UGA has games in 2025 and beyond scheduled against the likes of UCLA (2025 – Pasadena, 2025 – Athens), Louisville (2026 – Louisville, 2027 – Athens), Florida State (2027 – Tallahassee, 2028 – Athens), Clemson (2029 – Clemson, 2030 – Athens, 2032 – Athens, 2033 – Clemson), Ohio State (2030 – Athens, 2031 – Columbus) and N.C. State (2033 – Athens, 2034 – Raleigh). Of course, the Bulldogs are also expected to play Georgia Tech on an annual basis with UGA hosting Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate in even-numbered years.

Georgia Football Opponents/Locations by Year

2024: Alabama (Away), Auburn (Home), Clemson (Neutral), Florida (Neutral), Georgia Tech (Home), Kentucky (Away), Mississippi State (Home), Ole Miss (Away), Tennessee (Home), Tennessee Tech (Home), Texas (Away), UMass (Home)
2025: Alabama (Home), Auburn (Away), Austin Peay (Home), Charlotte (Home), Florida (Neutral), Georgia Tech (Away), Kentucky (Home), Mississippi State (Away), Ole Miss (Home), Tennessee (Away), Texas (Home), UCLA (Away)
2026: Georgia Tech (Home), Louisville (Away), UCLA (Home), Western Kentucky (Home)
2027: Florida State (Away), Georgia Tech (Away), Louisville (Home)
2028: Florida A&M (Home), Florida State (Home), Georgia Tech (Home)
2029: Clemson (Away), Georgia Tech (Away)
2030: Clemson (Home), Georgia Tech (Home), North Carolina A&T (Home), Ohio State (Home)
2031: Georgia Tech (Away), Ohio State (Away), Western Carolina (Home)
2032: Clemson (Home), Georgia Tech (Home)
2033: Clemson (Away), Georgia Tech (Away), NC State (Home)
2034: Georgia Tech (Home), NC State (Away)