Kirby Smart excited about Georgia's 2025 home slate, SEC scheduling format
ATHENS, Ga. — The SEC announced its scheduling model for 2025 last week, and Kirby Smart shared his thoughts on Tuesday. With Georgia set to play the inverse of their 2024 conference slate, one that features several tough road tests, consider Smart a fan of getting those same teams at Sanford Stadium in 2025.
“I’m not surprised because, I mean, if they start doing that, then somebody’s not going to get their ball out of the deal, you know?,” Smart said about the notion that the league should’ve changed formats and/or opponents from the first to the second season with Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC. “I mean, me personally, I just got one of the toughest road schedules in the country. I’d like to see it flipped where I got the opportunity for our fan base to have probably the best home schedule ever in Georgia history. So you start changing the model, I don’t get the flip of the model.”
As a result of the decision, Georgia will play the likes of Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss at home. Kentucky will also make the trip to Athens while the Bulldogs will hit the road to Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State. Georgia will of course also play its annual neutral site contest against Florida as well as a non-conference slate that features UCLA (Pasadena – August 30th), Austin Peay (Athens – September 6th), Charlotte (Athens – November 22nd) and Georgia Tech (Atlanta – November 29th).
Outside of the desire to get return trips from some of their toughest opponents, Smart also knows college football is undergoing massive amounts of change in 2024. Not only are Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC, conferences like the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC are welcoming new members. If not done already, divisions are a thing of the past across the country and the College Football Playoff will be expanded too. All things considered, Smart believes that the ‘wait and see’ approach of the SEC not changing too much is the best way to go about scheduling.
“They presented a multitude of opportunities. The most continuity is in doing this for two [years],” Smart added. “Let’s see what it’s like. Let’s see how things play out. Let’s see what the CFP becomes — how many teams are going to be in the playoff? Does that designate us to go to nine [games]? Does television have something to do with that? There’s a lot of unanswered questions, and to have a little bit of just continuity and know what you’re going to get, I’m completely fine with that.”
Georgia Future Opponents
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)
