After a three-year run with two NCAA championships and only two losses, it may have been inevitable that Georgia would slide back in 2024. Kirby Smart’s team still reached the CFP, even in an 11-3 season that is the most losses Georgia has posted since 2016.
The Bulldogs open 2025 ranked No. 4 in the nation. But how do things shape up for Smart and Georgia in the season to come?
Georgia 2025 season preview
Roster Outlook
On offense, Georgia took a substantial drop in 2024, falling from 40.1 points per game to 31.5 points per game. Carson Beck had an underwhelming season and is gone. Gunner Stockton will be the starting QB. He threw 64 passes in relief in 2024 and looked solid. Sophomore running back Nate Frazier seems primed to explode into stardom. USC transfer Zachariah Branch should be a playmaker anywhere on the field (most usually, receiver).
The offensive line isn’t exactly a concern, but it doesn’t look elite. Georgia has seen the number of sacks allowed jump from nine to 13 to 25. That trend is disturbing, as if the yards per carry dropping from 5.5 yards per carry to 5.3 down just 4.1 last year. Earnest Greene is back on the offensive line, but Georgia is likely to be doing some shuffling.
Defensively, Georgia also slid, going from 15.6 points per game allowed to 20.6. But there’s plenty back. Linebacker CJ Allen is an All-SEC level player, as are cornerback Daylen Everette and safety KJ Bolden. Up front, tackle Christen Miller could be ready to make a massive jump in productivity. There’s enough returning talent here to feel good about this unit showing slight improvement in 2025.
Georgia annual has one of the top special teams units in the SEC, if not in all of college football. Branch is one of the nation’s elite return men and punter Brett Thorson and kicker Peyton Woodring are both back for this season.
This is a competent and well-constructed roster, with the strengths probably being on defense. But there’s no superstar unit, much like there’s a relative lack of mega-star players for the Bulldogs. This seems like a group that will be angling for the team to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Schedule Outlook
Georgia, frankly, got lucky here. The Bulldogs have just three true road games in 2025– at Tennessee, at Auburn, and at Mississippi State. None of those teams are projected to be top echelon SEC squads. Of the three, Tennessee looks like the biggest challenge, in part because it’s Georgia’s first power conference opponent of the season, coming in Week 3 on Sept. 13.
Alabama comes in for Georgia’s first SEC home challenge after a bye week on September 27th. Texas will come to Georgia on Nov. 15 for another game that could well have CFP implications. The annual game with Florida will be in Jacksonville on Nov. 1 and the annual matchup with Georgia Tech has been moved to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Nov. 28.
There’s certainly some challenge here, but Georgia got a break with just three true road games. The other facet is that a pair of neutral-site games could be good previews for postseason play.
Record Prediction
Betting lines have Georgia sitting at 9.5 regular season wins. Given the schedule situation, that might be a bit low. Alabama and Texas will both be challenging, but it’s hard to see Georgia losing both of those games at home. The early prediction is that the Bulldogs lose one or the other of those games, and then either against Tennessee (first SEC game, road trip) or Florida (DJ Lagway could help the Gators pull a shocker).
10-2 is the early guess, but even 9-3 would probably get Georgia into the CFP.
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