In about two months Georgia will kickoff their 2026 campaign as they look to win the SEC for the third year in a row. Standing in their way is a gauntlet of a schedule that features multiple games they could realistically lose like Alabama, Ole Miss and Oklahoma.
The nice thing about Georgia's schedule though is that there are a few games that should be a walk in the park. CBS Sports however believes that Georgia will have to deal with a shocking upset to South Carolina during their eleventh game of the season en route to their 11-1 record.
"Sparkling wins over Oklahoma, Alabama and Ole Miss would give the Bulldogs every ingredient the selection committee values in a top-five CFP seed,” Brad Crawford wrote via cbssports.com. “You know that Georgia has that matchup with the Rebels circled after what happened in last year’s quarterfinal down in New Orleans. With an 11-win finish, the Bulldogs would own one of the nation’s strongest resumes — likely with multiple wins over ranked opponents — a convincing strength of schedule and enough road-tested credibility to outweigh a single surprising blemish.”
What would a loss to South Carolina mean for Georgia?
Georgia would enter this matchup with South Carolina with a perfect 10-0 record based on CBS Sports' prediction. This would more than likely be good enough to make them the No. 1 team in the country based on their resume, so a loss to South Carolina, who would be 5-5 at this point according to CBS Sports, would be shocking.
Georgia would still have everything in front of them to play for, but losing to a bad South Carolina team would seriously question just how good this team is. This loss would show that Georgia is limping to the finish line instead of playing their best football at the end of the season, and no one wants that.
South Carolina is also one of the three annual rivalries Georgia will play every year in the SEC, so starting off with a loss would be a bad way to kick off their new annual matchup with the Gamecocks.
CBS Sports still predicts a great season even after outrageous loss to South Carolina
CBS Sports overall still believes that Georgia will have a great season this fall. An 11-1 record is nothing to be ashamed about in the SEC even if the blemish came against a below average team.
If this is how Georgia's season played out there would be a good chance they would still make it to the SEC Championship game. That isn't a guarantee, but Georgia more than likely would have a shot to win a third SEC Championship in a row.
On top of that, an 11-1 record is good enough to secure their place in the College Football Playoff no matter what happens if they played in the SEC Championship game.
Losing to South Carolina wouldn't be any fun, but most Georgia fans would probably sign up for this record if they could. The laundry list of impressive wins would outweigh this one loss, and the fact that Georgia would still be in position to win championships is good enough even after accounting for this heartbreaking defeat.
Add us as a preferred source on Google