Georgia and Kirby Smart are not afraid of playing anyone. Not only does Georgia regularly play one of the hardest SEC schedules every year, but they also have a guaranteed non-conference Power Four opponent on their schedule every season in Georgia Tech. They also tend to schedule at least one other big name non-conference opponent every season as well.
That however is coming to an end next season after the SEC added a ninth game to every team's conference schedule.
Georgia still plans on playing Tech every season, but the SEC forced UGA to cancel their game against Louisville in 2026 and 2027. That was a tough decision to make, but it was the right one so they didn't have to play 11 Power Four opponents next season.
But looking ahead to future schedules shows that Smart and UGA have some more very difficult decisions to make just like this one.
Kirby Smart faces one of the biggest dilemmas of his career
Georgia has a lot of huge non-conference matchups in the future. They will continue to play Georgia Tech every season for the foreseeable future, but they also have upcoming series against Florida State, Clemson (twice) and Ohio State. All of those games were scheduled before the SEC expanded to nine games, so Georgia has to decide if they want to keep playing two big non-conference matchups each season or not.
2030 is the biggest dilemma Georgia faces because they have four non-conference games already scheduled. This includes matchups against Clemson, Ohio State, North Carolina A&T and Georgia Tech all at home. That is a dream for every Georgia fan, but one of those games obviously needs to be cancelled and it more than likely will be either Ohio State or Clemson.
Georgia however has another big decision to make when it comes to almost every other future schedule. No other season has four non-conference games already scheduled, but beginning in 2027 there are seven straight seasons with at least two big non-conference opponents on their schedule. This means that Georgia would face 11 Power Four teams in all of these seasons, and that may not be the best thing to do.
So Smart and Georgia have some big decisions to make. They could decide to do nothing (outside of the 2030 season) and still play all of these teams, or they could cancel on all of these big name schools outside of Georgia Tech so they only have to play 10 Power Four opponents each season. Most fans want to see Georgia continue playing new teams outside of the SEC, but unfortunately the smart decision (and most likely to occur) is to cancel on all those teams and only keep Georgia Tech on their schedule going forward.