SEC schedule show panelists react to Georgia 2024 opponents

Georgia’s list of SEC opponents for the 2024 season is set. The conference announced on Wednesday night the who and where of each of the league’s now 16 members for next season’s slate of games. The addition of Oklahoma and Texas certainly creates for new and intriguing matchups, but the decision to do away with divisions with the goal of more scheduling variability achieves that too.

The slate for Kirby Smart and company includes marquee matchups with Alabama and Texas on the road, plus trips to Ole Miss and Kentucky. The annual Georgia-Florida game will once again be in Jacksonville, but counts against the Bulldogs’ home schedule. That means that only three SEC teams will come between the hedges: Auburn, Mississippi State and Tennessee.

SEC Network analysts Takeo Spikes, Chris Doering and Greg McElory all shared their thoughts on Georgia’s schedule with the Bulldogs’ being among the toughest that they saw.

“Man I’ll tell you what, I think Georgia’s schedule is absolutely brutal,” McElroy said. “You get five games away from home, similar to Oklahoma, but when you look at what they have – granted, this is two years from now so take it with a slight grain of salt, their games played outside of Athens in 2022, they went a combined 40-25. That includes an 11-2 Alabama, 8-5 Texas, 8-5 Ole Miss, 7-6 Kentucky and then Florida is the one team that they play away from Athens who went under .500 and we all know what that rivalry is like and what it might be two years from now as Billy Napier continues to hopefully get the Florida Gators back on track. I think this schedule is brutal, especially given what should be a relatively manageable 2023 campaign for the Dawgs.”

The former Alabama quarterback calls games for the SEC Network and said he’s excited to see where he’s headed to that season. One of the game he – a native of Dallas suburb Southlake – wants to be at the most: Georgia-Texas as the Bulldogs welcome the Longhorns to the league in Austin.

Spikes also spoke on the 2019 Sugar Bowl rematch – a game Georgia fans would probably rather forget. To him, it’s because of the talent that comes out of both states that it’s among the most intriguing.

“Georgia-Texas, and the reason why is, this goes all the way back to being inside of a locker room. The guys from the state of Texas and the guys from the state of Georgia, they would argue with each other about who has the better athletes,” Spikes, who played at Auburn and spent 15 years in the NFL, said. “There was some home cooking going on. Now they will be able to see exactly where they end up depending on who wins this game.”

Doering went right after Spikes, and as his most intriguing game, he took the obvious one. Georgia and Alabama have played five times since Kirby Smart arrived in Athens from his previous position of nearly a decade as Alabama’s defensive coordinator. Of those five matchups, four have come with either an SEC Championship or National Championship on the line.

“You overlook maybe the easiest one of the night, and that’s Georgia-Alabama,” Doering said. “It is the game. It’s the headliner. It’s one that came out earlier today, and everybody’s been talking about it. This is a game that you’re used to watching at the end of the year whether it be in Atlanta or in the College Football Playoffs. We’ll get this in Tuscaloosa, Ala. which will be awesome.”

For more analysis of Georgia’s 2024 schedule, be sure to check out Jake Rowe’s takeaways!

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