Georgia's 2026 schedule was officially set by the SEC Thursday night as the Bulldogs learned what their path to winning their third straight conference title looks like. Included in their schedule is a very difficult stretch that sees them play two College Football Playoff teams and a third team who just missed the playoff all in a row.
Georgia's schedule however does not include a road game with Louisville. That game had been on Georgia's schedule for many years, but the Bulldogs had to cancel that game due to the SEC moving to a nine game conference schedule.
Cancelling on Louisville gave Georgia 12 games, but the Cardinals were left with a hole in their schedule that needed to be filled. And they quickly found an SEC team in Ole Miss to take their place and schedule a marquee matchup next season.
NEWS: Louisville and Ole Miss will open the 2026 season in Nashville at Nissan Stadium, @Brett_McMurphy reports👀https://t.co/9z9au1iomo pic.twitter.com/UxlQAuIYPy
— On3 (@On3sports) December 10, 2025
Ole Miss replaces Georgia on Louisville's schedule
Ole Miss and Louisville are scheduled to play during week one next season which falls on Labor Day weekend. This game will be played in Nashville and is a one game series as opposed to Georgia's two game series they had scheduled with Louisville.
It's a shame that Georgia doesn't get to play the Cardinals anymore. Georgia and Louisvlle are programs that never get to play each other, so the opportunity to play a brand new team was very exciting. On top of that, thir matchups were a home-and-home series that was scheduled to be played at Louisville in 2026 and in Athens in 2027. So Georgia is missing out on the chance to play in a new stadium and host a new team between the hedges.
Louisville does deserve credit for going out and scheduling a good program. Georgia didn't have the luxury of replacing the Cardinals with a good team since they already had 12 teams on their schedule, but instead of taking the easy way out Louisville went and scheduled a playoff team.
It's too bad that Georgia won't get to play in this matchup, but this will be a fun game that UGA fans should watch closely to see how the Rebels look without Lane Kiffin.