ESPN never seems to give Georgia much credit. Even when the Bulldogs were winning their two National Championships not long ago, many ESPN personalities and analysts did not have much confidence in Georgia.
ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), which is a computer based ranking system, routinely devalues Georgia compared to the rest of the country as well. So Georgia fans never get their hopes up whenever a new ranking from ESPN comes out.
Maybe Georgia fans need to change though, because a collection of college football experts at ESPN just put Georgia at No. 4 in the country in their preseason rankings.
ESPN places Georgia in their top 5 of their preseason rankings
ESPN followed along with the rest of the country by naming Texas their No. 1 team in the country. Penn State checked in at No. 2, Clemson at No. 3 and Ohio State at No. 5 to round out the top five.
When discussing Georgia’s ranking, ESPN analyst Mark Schlabach shared the following about UGA’s upcoming season.
“While much of the focus will be on new starting quarterback Gunner Stockton in Georgia's first two games against Marshall and FCS program Austin Peay, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart might be more interested in whether his offense can produce an effective running game,” analyst Mark Schlabach shared via espn.com. “Returning tailback Nate Frazier figures to be No. 1 on the depth chart, and he'll get help from Illinois transfer Josh McCray, Chauncey Bowens and possibly freshman Bo Walker.“
While it is nice for ESPN to finally give Georgia some credit for once, it really doesn’t matter all that much. The Bulldogs are still going to have to go out and prove themselves on the field just like they did in seasons when ESPN doubted them. So this solid ranking for Georgia really doesn’t change anything at all.
Schlabach is correct however when he said Georgia’s running game has to be much better than in 2024 if UGA’s going to have a good season this year. Thankfully all signs throughout fall camp so far have pointed to Georgia’s running game being much improved and a bright spot for their offense.