Georgia's 70-20 win over Western Kentucky last week marked the Bulldogs 50th consecutive win over unranked opponents. This streak stretches all the way back to 2019 when Georgia lost to South Carolina in double overtime 20-17 on Oct. 12, 2019.
50 wins in a row against unranked teams speaks for itself as it is the longest active streak in the country, but it still doesn't even come close to the record set by Alabama and Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide from 2007-21 beat a record 100 unranked opponents in a row, so even though Georgia has the longest active streak in the country right now they have many years to go before catching Alabama.
Georgia wins its 50th consecutive game vs. an unranked opponent, downing Western Kentucky. That's the nation's longest current streak, but only halfway to Alabama's all-time record - 100 straight wins vs. unranked teams from 2007-21
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 12, 2026
Beating unranked opponents seems easy, but it's a testament to how great Georgia is
A program like Georgia is expected to win nearly every time they step foot on a football field. This year alone they are favored in all 12 regular season games and were the preseason favorites to win the SEC. For Georgia it is easy for them to overlook the lesser quality teams on their schedule and focus on the big fish they play each year, but they can't win championships if they don't beat the bad teams on their schedule.
Before the playoff expanded to 12 teams one bad loss to an unranked team could be enough to keep them out of the playoff. Georgia never suffered those losses though since the start of this decade and that helped propel them to three SEC Championships and two national titles this decade alone. Their historic run could've looked much different though if they lost to just one unranked team and snapped this streak, but that never happened.
Sure Georgia has lost a couple games here and there, but it has never been to a team significantly worse than them since that 2019 loss to South Carolina. That speaks to how high Georgia's ceiling is and how great the coaching in Athens is to make sure UGA never overlooks an opponent no matter how much better they are on paper.
Other records Kirby Smart must set to surpass Nick Saban
Nick Saban is the gold standard in college football. He is the greatest college football coach of all time, and Kirby Smart has a lot of work to do if he is ever going to pass his former boss.
Kirby Smart is the best active coach in college football right now. Georgia however would love to see him eventually surpass Saban as the greatest of all time, and beating this record set by Saban would help him accomplish that. There are plenty more achievements though that are far more important that he needs to accomplish to pass him.
Saban won seven national championships between his six at Alabama and his one at LSU. He also won 11 SEC titles during his career as well. Smart at minimum needs to match those marks to surpass Saban, and considering he only has two national titles and four SEC Championships he still has a lot of work to do.
Saban also has 297 career wins to his resume compared to 119 for Smart. Smart's winning percentage is higher (.850 vs .806), so with time this is a mark he could realistically pass.
It will likely all come down to championships though. Having more career wins and over 100 straight victories against unranked opponents would be nice, but that isn't enough for Smart to surpass Saban. He needs to catch him in championships and there unfortunately is still a substantial gap between the two.
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