It is all about making the 12-team College Football Playoff field. While Georgia is one of only four teams to do this in back-to-back seasons under the newer postseason format, positive results have evaded UGA in the tournament up to this point. Back-to-back national quarterfinals losses to Notre Dame and Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl have Dawg Nation feeling a certain way heading into 2026...
That being said, this should be one of the better years in recent memory for Georgia. In Cody Nagel's latest for CBS Sports, he took his colleague Brandon Marcello's way-too-early top 25 and made a bold prediction for each team. Marcello had Georgia ranked third behind Ohio State and Texas. Nagel went a step further by saying Georgia will three-peat as SEC Champions to make the CFP yet again.
This may not seem like a huge deal, but in the 34-year history of the SEC Championship Game, only twice has a program three-peated. Florida was the first one to do it from 1993 to 1996 under Steve Spurrier in their four-peat. Alabama did it a decade later from 2014 to 2016. With Georgia beating Texas in 2024 and Alabama in 2025, Kirby Smart could make it three in a row for UGA next season.
Although Nagel has Georgia winning the SEC, he has Oregon winning the College Football Playoff...
Georgia Bulldogs projected to three-peat as SEC Champions in 2026-27
While College Football Playoff expansion has largely diluted the importance of winning one's league, it does now officially guarantee a spot into the tournament. As long as you win a Power Four league, you will be guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field. Although that extra game has been more harmful than not to prospective playoff teams, you still need to try to win every game that you play in football.
What a third-straight SEC Championship for Georgia would mean for Smart is that he is officially in the same breath as Saban and Spurrier in relatively-recent SEC coaching lore, if he is not already... There have been other coaches who have won SEC Championships and national championships before, but to dominate one's league quite like these three guys have is nothing to sneeze at here.
Right now, Georgia should be seen as one of eight or so locks to make the 12-team field next year. Georgia, Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon should be on the shortlist to make it back three years in a row. Miami and Texas Tech look to be powerful in their respective leagues. Teams who barely missed out on it a year ago like Notre Dame and Texas should be among the teams to make it back in 2026.
While Dawg Nation will want another national championship more, winning the SEC is still important.