The 3 most important games on Georgia’s schedule in 2024

The SEC has long been the toughest conference to navigate, but the path to the SEC championship game got even more treacherous this offseason. The addition of Oklahoma and Texas adds two more College Football Playoff contenders to the bloodbath and with a trip to Austin on the schedule this season, Georgia, the preseason favorites to win it all, will be sufficiently tested by the time the postseason rolls around. 

Kirby Smart always has an elite defense but with Carson Beck returning to Athens as a Heisman Trophy favorite, the Dawgs were overwhelmingly voted as the top team in the country in the preseason coaches poll. Expectations are sky-high for Georgia and with this type of talent, they should be. 

So, for a team that’s lost just twice in the past three seasons, what games are most important to win in 2024? 

Even with a brutal SEC slate, the road to a third national championship in just four years begins in Week 1 against Clemson, one of the toughest non-conference opponents any team in the conference has scheduled this year. 

Sure, it’s a non-conference contest at a neutral site in Week 1, but Clemson has a real shot to win the ACC and if Georgia has that win on its resume from the very first week of the season, then it’ll be able to survive a potential road to loss to Ole Miss, Alabama, or Texas, just not all three. 

With Carson Beck back, Georgia has a lot of continuity on offense, but the defense, and especially the defensive secondary will look quite a bit different from last season with a lot of young talent involved. That group will get tested against Garrett Riley’s fast-paced offensive system and former five-star quarterback Cade Klubnik. Georgia will likely be favored every week this season and should beat the Tigers, but even just taking care of business will be vitally important to the Bulldogs’ standing in the CFP rankings. 

After a run to the CFP last season, Steve Sarkisian brought back Quinn Ewers to ease the transition to the SEC. Texas looks like one of the top contenders for the conference crown and Austin will be an incredibly tough place to play, but the Longhorns defense is a serious weakness that Beck and Mike Bobo can certainly exploit. 

Georgia should be favored over Texas, even on the road, and while this matchup will be critically important to the CFP rankings, both teams can still make it in with a loss. Maybe Georgia and Texas will develop into rivals with the Longhorns now in the SEC, but they’ve played just five times ever and only once this century, in the 2019 Sugar Bowl. Without any history, the intensity won’t come close to matching the Dawg’s trip to Tuscaloosa. 

Georgia starts its schedule with Clemson, Tennessee Tech, Kentucky, and then Alabama. If the Dawgs can start 4-0, with a road win at Alabama, they’ll be a near lock to make the 12-team CFP despite being just a third of the way through the season. 

Not only is this a crucial game for the SEC title race, but it’s also crucial for Georgia, coming off an SEC championship game loss to Alabama that kept the Dawgs out of the CFP, to beat Alabama in the first year without Nick Saban. Kirby Smart is the new king of the SEC and Week 5 will be his chance to prove it.