Georgia football and its fans are still celebrating Monday’s euphoric victory over Alabama in the CFP National Championship. This victory ended decades of heartbreak and disappointment that Dawg nation has dealt with throughout history.
Plays and moments of this game will be watched and re-watched until the rest of time. Generations of fans will remember the names of the players and coaches who helped Georgia become kings of college football in 2021, and deservedly so.
Once all the confetti gets cleaned up, Georgia coaches will get back to work recruiting across the country and preparing for the 2022 regular season.
Georgia football is still celebrating its national championship win, but the 2022 regular season will be here before you know it.
For Georgia to achieve its championship goals, they have to perform in the regular season which is something the Dawgs excelled at in 2021.
Thanks to their dominant efforts in the regular season, the Dawgs got to Miami and then to Indianapolis. They went 12-0, averaging 40.6 points per game on offense and allowing just 6.3 points on defense during the regular season. Georgia finished averaging 38.6 points and giving up 10.2 points on defense after going 14-1 on the year.
That dominance alone secured Georgia a spot in the College Football Playoff despite what happened in the SEC Championship.
The 2022 regular season will feature some great matchups for Georgia. Of course, there are the traditional big games against Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee, but here are three opponents who will give Georgia a good game next year.
Week 1 vs Oregon in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game
Like Week 1 of the 2021 season, Georgia will kick off their upcoming year against a perennial college football power. This time, they will take on Oregon, who won a pair of Pac-12 Championships and a Rose Bowl in the past three seasons.
The Ducks are coming off a 10-4 season in which they won the Pac-12 North division but were curb-stomped by Utah in the conference title game.
Their head coach Mario Cristobal left before their bowl game against Oklahoma to become the head coach at Miami, his alma mater. Cristobal’s replacement was none other than Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning.
While at Georgia, Lanning established himself as one of the best coordinators in the nation, overseeing a dominant defense in 2021 that ranked near or at the top of every defensive category. Oregon noticed this, and he accepted the Ducks’ head coaching job in December but stayed with the Dawgs throughout the playoffs.
Another familiar face Georgia will likely see in this game is former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, who transferred to Oregon at the end of the season. Nix had 2,294 passing yards, 158 rushing yards, and 15 total touchdowns in 2021 before an ankle injury ended his season.
He will reunite with his former offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, who helped Nix win the 2019 SEC Freshman of the Year award.
Though the Ducks will be losing impact players like Kayvon Thibodeaux to the NFL, they still have plenty of talent on the team. Running backs CJ Verdell and Travis Dye still have eligibility if they decide to come back. Noah Sewell, the team’s leading tackler, will also be back — Lanning will love this guy.
This matchup will be a fun game to start the 2022 season.
Week 3 at South Carolina
South Carolina football was one of the biggest surprises of the 2021 season. Coming off a 2-8 season in 2020, many in the media did not believe the team would do much this season.
However, former Georgia assistant and new Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer put the team’s rebuild ahead of schedule. They managed to finish the season with a 7-6 record and earn a victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, where Beamer earned his mayonnaise bath at the end of the game.
Thanks to the transfer portal, they also upgraded massively, landing former Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler and tight end Austin Stogner. Rattler was on several preseason Heisman Trophy lists before he lost his starting job to Caleb Williams, who still has Georgia on his list of potential transfer schools.
Aside from success in the transfer portal, Coach Beamer has also done an excellent job recruiting. The Gamecocks’ 2022 class is ranked No. 22 in the country, an improvement from 2021, in which they had the No. 79 class. It seems as if the Georgia-South Carolina rivalry is getting back to how it was in the early to mid-2010s when Steve Spurrier was coaching in Columbia.
Even though they will be losing a fair amount of seniors, especially on defense, Beamer will still have a solid team coming into next season. Expect Rattler and company to give Georgia a challenging game on September 17.
Week 11 at Kentucky
Here is the not-so-bold prediction for 2022 — the Kentucky Wildcats will be Georgia’s biggest threat in the SEC East, much like it was this year. With the talent returning to Lexington in 2022, Kentucky could see one of its best seasons in program history.
Last year, Kentucky finished the year with a 10-3 record and a Citrus Bowl win over Iowa. This victory marked the fourth time in program history that the Wildcats finished with 10 or more wins, with head coach Mark Stoops overseeing two of those seasons. Stoops has done a tremendous job with this program, leading them to six straight bowl games.
Quarterback Will Levis and running back Chris Rodriguez will once again lead a Wildcat offense that put up solid numbers in 2021.
Rodriguez was one of the SEC’s premier running backs last season, accounting for 1,378 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Kentucky’s offense was similar to what we saw against Michigan in the Orange Bowl in that they are a run-first offense and will try to dominate the line of scrimmage.
On defense, leading tackler Jacquez Jones has announced his return for one more season. Sack leader JJ Weaver is also expected to return. Their defense did a pretty good job keeping Georgia’s offense quiet during the first half in last year’s matchup, so having two of those key guys back will only make the 2022 showdown better.
This game will likely be a Top 15 showdown in November, and with the game being in Lexington, Wildcat fans will be rooting for their team to pull the upset against the defending national champs.
Continue to soak in the Championship victory, Dawg fans. Before you know it, it will be time to tee it up again and defend the title against some worthy opponents.