Kirby Smart doesn’t share the same strong opinion as the Georgia fanbase when it comes to nonconference scheduling.
He wants the big-time matchups to be played, as the Bulldogs have previously scheduled games against Clemson, Oregon and Notre Dame. The Bulldogs have future games against the Tigers and Ohio State.
But Georgia also just canceled a home-and-home with Florida State, with both sides hoping to play a neutral-site game in 2028. Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said last week that the Clemson series in 2029 and 2030 could possibly go the same route.
As for Smart, he’s not passionate about going to Columbus, Ohio, or Clemson, South Carolina.
“I’m more interested in the matchup than I am where it is,” Smart told reporters at the SEC’s spring meetings Tuesday. “I don’t really care if it’s neutral site or home-and-home, I just hate that I feel like we’re all gravitating away from these because of appearance to the committee.”
The “committee” in reference is the College Football Playoff committee. One of the chief criticisms of the group has been that they look more at win-loss record, rather than evaluating strength of schedule.
A year ago, Texas lost a nonconference game against Ohio State. The Longhorns finished with a 9-3 record but just missed out on making the College Football Playoff. (Texas also lost to a 4-8 Florida team last season.)
One big change from the marquee nonconference games that were played in Smart’s first 10 years in Athens is that the Bulldogs did not have to contend with a nine-game conference schedule.
That changes this year, as the Bulldogs will play nine SEC games and its annual rivalry game against Georgia Tech. They also have an annual neutral-site game against rival Florida every season with this year’s matchup moving to Atlanta because of renovations in Jacksonville, Florida.
“You know, you ask the fanbase, you could get an interesting dynamic,” Smart said. “Everybody wants to go to another campus, everybody wants to have an extra home game for a nonconference, great game. But everybody likes neutral-site games too, so there’s opportunities to go to a different place. Jacksonville, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, just to say the least.”
Orlando, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee, have been circled as possible locations for the Florida State game in 2028.
Some of the Bulldogs’ marquee nonconference games have created iconic moments for Smart’s teams, with wins against Notre Dame, Clemson and Oregon all starting seasons that ended with an appearance in the national championship game.
None of those games were played in Sanford Stadium, as Georgia visited Notre Dame in 2017, played Clemson in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2021 and then beat Oregon in Atlanta to start the 2022 season.
One pushback that came from Brooks was in regard to the number of home games Georgia fans would have in the event that they play nonconference home-and-homes. For example, the 2027 season would’ve had the Bulldogs play just five home games if the schedule had been untouched.
“From a very logical, practical standpoint, it’s better off that we have a game like that neutral (one) versus playing a situation where we only have five home games a year,” Brooks said.
Brooks made it clear he wants to finalize things with Florida State before addressing the games against Clemson and Ohio State. In the last two seasons, Georgia has mutually agreed to cancel home-and-homes against UCLA, Louisville, NC State and Florida State.
But Smart wants such big games to be played, even if the 2026 season lacks one for the Bulldogs. Georgia opens the season against Tennessee State before hosting Western Kentucky in Week 2.
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