UGA football news: Bulldogs add Alabama-Birmingham to 2023 schedule
UGA football will meet the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers in 2023. UAB won the Conference USA Western division last season and won the Conf. USA title the year before.
UGA football has added a third non-conference opponent to its 2023 schedule. The Bulldogs will host the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers on September 23. UAB joins Oklahoma and Georgia Tech as Georgia’s non-conference opponents in 2023. Georgia also has UAB on its 2021 schedule.
The two schools have met twice before, most recently in 2006. The Bulldogs won that meeting 34-0 with Thomas Brown, Kregg Lumpkin and Danny Ware combining for 128 rushing yards. Georgia also played UAB in 2003. The Blazers nearly upset the Bulldogs, but Georgia held on to win 16-13 on route to its second-straight SEC East Championship.
The meeting in 2021 is also the first since UAB suspended its football program in 2015. Georgia benefitted from UAB’s decision when Jake Ganus decided to spend his senior season playing for UGA football. Ganus became a fan-favorite with an awesome season, racking up 101 total tackles and intercepting two passes.
UAB’s football program didn’t lay dormant long as the school elected to revive the program just one year later. The Blazers shocked everyone by actually playing really well in their first year. UAB finished the 2017 season 8-5 and narrowly lost the Conference USA western division title.
The Blazers continued shocking doubters in 2018 when they won the Conference USA Championship Game and ended the season with an 11-3 record. UAB dipped below 10 wins in 2019, but it still won the Conf. USA West title.
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Georgia still has one more non-conference spot open on its 2023 schedule. Based on Georgia’s recent scheduling trends, that fourth team could be anyone. The Bulldogs aren’t against scheduling three power-five teams. Besides the annual games against Georgia Tech, Georgia will play Texas and Florida State in 2028; Texas and Clemson in 2029; Clemson and Ohio State in 2030; and Ohio State and Oklahoma in 2031. However, with such little time remaining, odds are against Georgia scheduling another power-five program in 2023.