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Georgia Is the SEC Favorite Again. That’s No Longer the Standard That Matters
By Greg Poole
Georgia could win the SEC championship in 2026 and still finish the season with a sense of disappointment.
This is not a slight to the league. It reflects the expectations that Kirby Smart’s program has established.
The Bulldogs enter the season as the preseason media choice to win the SEC after taking the conference championship in both 2024 and 2025. Those are significant accomplishments in the toughest league in college football. They also ended the same way: Georgia’s season stopped in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. Notre Dame ended 2024. Ole Miss did it last January with a 39-34 victory in the Sugar Bowl.
The standard has shifted.
Georgia no longer has to prove it can win the SEC. It has done that repeatedly under Smart. The question now is whether another team capable of winning the league can also survive the postseason and finish the job nationally.
This is a natural consequence of prolonged success. Achievements remain significant, but they become the baseline. Georgia’s national championships in 2021 and 2022 altered the way its seasons are evaluated. What was once the primary goal—an SEC championship—now serves as a stride toward a wider goal.
Georgia has created those expectations. The 2026 roster gives the Bulldogs every reason to embrace it. Gunner Stockton returns after throwing 24 touchdown passes against five interceptions, rushing for 10 more scores and leading Georgia to the SEC championship. Earnest Greene III and Drew Bobo give the offensive line experienced anchors. KJ Bolden and Ellis Robinson IV are already proven playmakers in the secondary. Georgia placed 12 players on the preseason Media Days All-SEC teams, tied for the most in the conference.
There is ample evidence that Georgia should be strong. The more relevant question is what could prevent Georgia from being good enough.
Smart practically handed out the list when camp opened. Georgia needs to run the football better. It needs to stop the run more consistently. It needs more turnovers, more defensive disruption and more explosive plays on offense. These are not superficial preseason concerns. They are the areas that often separate a conference champion from a national champion.
The running game is the easiest place to start.
Smart described Georgia as subpar in the run game last season, even though the team averaged over 180 rushing yards per game. The statistic is respectable, but the coach’s assessment provides greater context.
Georgia’s objective is not to have a rushing attack that appears effective only when weaker opponents are included in the averages. The goal is to run the ball effectively when the defense anticipates it.
That means third-and-2 against Alabama. It means four minutes remaining against Ole Miss with Georgia protecting a lead. It means taking possession in the fourth quarter and forcing the other sideline to start spending timeouts because the defense cannot get the football back.
Championship teams typically impose a particular strength on opponents.
For Georgia, that should be the running game.
Stockton’s mobility is an asset, but Georgia cannot depend on the quarterback to address every short-yardage situation. If Stockton is required to scramble or run designed plays each time the offensive line does not generate movement, the offense becomes less efficient.
A reliable run game also changes everything around it. Safeties have to get involved. Linebackers step forward faster. Play-action becomes more dangerous. Passing windows grow.
Without a credible run threat, defenses can focus on Stockton and the passing game without considerable risk.
Georgia has a similar issue on defense.
Smart’s best defenses did not simply make opponents work for yards. They made offenses uncomfortable. They created bad down-and-distance situations, hurried quarterbacks, forced mistakes and turned possessions over.
Bolden and Robinson give the secondary legitimate playmakers. Elijah Griffin has shown the ability to disrupt the front. But Georgia cannot depend on a few players to manufacture havoc on their own.
The defense requires consistent pressure each week.
Good quarterbacks eventually complete passes if they are allowed to stand in the pocket, work through progressions and wait for somebody to come open. Even an elite secondary has a limit. At some point, the pass rush has to win.
The best Georgia defenses under Smart made quarterbacks speed up before they wanted to. The throw came out early. The pocket collapsed. A routine third-and-6 turned into a hurried ball, giving a defensive back a chance to make a play. That level of disruption tends to be effective in the postseason.
So does offensive explosiveness, which remains another area Georgia has to improve.
The Bulldogs showed last season that they could score at a high level. They put 43 points on Ole Miss during the regular season and 35 on Texas. They also scored 21 against Alabama, 24 against Florida and 16 against Georgia. The inconsistency is the concern.
Georgia cannot expect to win three or four postseason games by putting together 12-play touchdown drives every time it needs points. Eventually there will be a missed block, a penalty, a dropped pass or a tackle for loss.
At times, a single playmaker must offset mistakes with an explosive play.
Stockton can do that with his legs. Dwight Phillips Jr. has the speed to create problems in space. London Humphreys gives Georgia an experienced receiver, and younger players have an opportunity to establish larger roles.
Georgia needs to present a consistent threat to rival defenses.
If an opponent can crowd the line of scrimmage without worrying about giving up a 50-yard play, then the field becomes smaller. Safeties can play closer. Linebackers can attack downhill. Cornerbacks can sit more aggressively on shorter routes.
This approach makes each possession more difficult.
Explosive plays create margin for error. Georgia would benefit from more of them.
The schedule will test whether those improvements are real.
Tennessee State and Western Kentucky give Georgia two games to establish itself before the SEC schedule becomes the priority. Then comes a trip to Arkansas, Oklahoma in Athens and later a road game at Alabama. November brings a trip to Ole Miss, which will carry obvious meaning after the way last season ended.
Those games will provide Georgia with useful information.
They will not provide a complete answer.
That is the difference between this Georgia team and one from earlier in Smart’s tenure. The Bulldogs are no longer trying to establish whether they belong among the best programs in the country. That argument ended years ago.
The relevant question is what occurs after reaching that point.
An 11-1 regular season would be excellent. Another trip to Atlanta would be excellent. A third consecutive SEC championship would be a major achievement.
None of these achievements guarantee that Georgia has addressed the issues that limited the previous two teams.
That is why this camp should be viewed less as a search for starters and more as a search for postseason answers.
Can the offensive line move people when everybody knows Georgia wants to run?
Can the defensive front create pressure without Glenn Schumann having to manufacture it constantly with blitzes?
Can the receivers punish single coverage?
Can the secondary turn mistakes into interceptions instead of merely incompletions?
Can Georgia build enough real depth to survive the attrition that comes with playing meaningful football into January?
These questions are more significant than any preseason ranking. And none of this means an SEC championship should be treated casually. That would be foolish. Georgia’s 2025 title included a 28-7 victory over Alabama after the Bulldogs had already lost to the Crimson Tide during the regular season. Winning the conference required Georgia to overcome a loss to an elite opponent.
That matters, but it is no longer the final measure of a season.
Most SEC programs enter August hoping they can reach Atlanta. Georgia enters August expecting to contend there and wondering whether the team that leaves Atlanta will be equipped to handle what comes next.
The SEC media picked the Bulldogs to finish first. That’s nice. Now Georgia must show that finishing first in the SEC is only the starting point.
Vince Johnson Joins Georgia Baseball Staff
By: Georgia Sports Communications
University of Georgia’s Ike Cousins head baseball coach Wes Johnson announced Thursday the addition of Vince Johnson to the Bulldogs staff.
A native of McDonough, Ga., Johnson will serve as the Director of Baseball Systems, assisting with analytics management, player development and advanced scouting. He spent the 2026 season with the Bulldogs as an analytics manager, during which Georgia advanced to the College World Series and finished ranked No. 3 nationally. The Bulldogs posted a school-record 53 wins last season after winning the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles.
“We’re excited to have Vince join the Georgia Bulldog baseball program in a full-time role,” said Johnson. “He did a tremendous job last season in helping us utilize our various technology to prepare our team for success.”
Before coming to Georgia, Johnson spent four years working with the Shorter University baseball program. As a baseball assistant, he focused on developing pitching-focused training programs, analytics to evaluate player performance and strategies for pitching, hitting and defense. Also, he assisted the coaching staff in evaluating prospective student-athletes.
Additionally, Johnson’s prior baseball experience includes working at Maven Baseball Lab in Atlanta, serving as a 14U and 17U Travel coach for WOW Factor Baseball and volunteering for the Georgia Sunshine League.
Fall semester classes at the University of Georgia begin Monday, August 17. The 2027 college baseball season opens February 19.
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