Georgia has the chance to win the SEC for the third time in a row this season. They would be only the third team since the SEC Championship began to accomplish that, but this goal seems unimportant to fans entering the 2026 season.
After winning back-to-back National Championships Georgia has now gone three years without winning a single playoff game. This includes missing the College Football Playoff altogether in 2023. So the goal for Georgia this year is simple, show progress by at least making a run in the CFP this season.
In order to do that though they need to get to the playoff first, thankfull USA Today's Blake Toppmeyer believes Georgia is the "safest bet" in the SEC to get to the playoff this year.
“Georgia is the safest bet from the SEC,” Blake Toppmeyer said via ugawire.usatoday.com. “This is Georgia’s best squad since 2023, and the schedule breaks nicely.”
Why is Georgia the safest bet to make the CFP in 2026?
There are a few reasons why Georgia is the obvious choice to be the safest best in the SEC to make the playoff. For starters, they have the fifth-most production returning form last year's team in the country.
Combining that with the fact that this group won the SEC a year ago and earned a top seed in the playoff shows that they have all the experience they need to do it again.
On top of that, ESPN believes that Georgia has the easiest schedule in the SEC this season as well. Sure their schedule still has some difficult games, but when compared to the rest of the conference they actually got a bit lucky.
So combining one of the most experienced and proven rosters in the country with the easiest schedule in the SEC makes it very clear that they are one of the safest bets to make the playoff this year. But just making the playoff alone won't be good enough.
A deep CFP run matters more to Georgia than anything else
For many programs in the country just making the playoff is a good enough reason to celebrate. At Georgia though that is just the bare minimum.
With the playoff now at 12 teams it would be a complete disaster if Georgia ever missed the playoff. That will be even more true if (or when) the playoff expands to even more teams. Making the playoff was a big accomplishment for Georgia when it was just four teams, but that is no longer the case, so now they have to make a deep run just to feel like they accomplished something.
Georgia was on top of the world when they won back-to-back championships four years ago, but fans across the country now wonder if they will ever win a playoff game again. That may be a big of an overreaction, but until they win another playoff game those questions will continue to be asked.
Three years is long enough. Georgia is too good of a program to go that long without coming close to winning another championship. They don't have to actually win a National Championship for this season to be considered a good year, but they do need to win a playoff game or two for fans to be satisfied with the season as a whole.
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