ESPN makes \

USA Today

24-05-2025

ESPN makes "wild prediction", has Georgia missing the College Football Playoff
With the 2025 college football season less than 100 days away, the Georgia Bulldogs are expected to be near the top of the college football world again after winning the SEC championship in 2024. However, some predict that Georgia won't get anywhere close. In fact, according to a recent ESPN article with a few hot takes and crazy predictions, ESPN doesn't believe that Georgia will make the College Football Playoff.
"For the better part of three seasons, the Bulldogs seemed invincible," said David Hale. "Only an injury-plagued one-score loss to Alabama in the 2023 SEC title game might have prevented Georgia from winning three straight national championships."
Georgia enters the 2025 season with more modest expectations after losing a combined 36 players to the transfer portal and NFL draft this offseason.
"And yet, by the end of 2024, it was clear some of the shine was off the once-dominant program. Carson Beck struggled without much help from his skill positions. The Dawgs lost to Alabama, were whooped by Ole Miss, and nearly fell to Georgia Tech before escaping in eight overtimes," continued Hale.
Georgia's season ended with a rough loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs will look to regroup in 2025, but will have to do so with Gunner Stockton at quarterback and have to replace a ton of departing talent in the trenches.
Georgia had a daunting schedule in 2024, with almost all of the marquee matchups taking place on the road, which something Kirby Smart called out after the SEC championship game. Now, almost all of those top-ranked rematches take place in Athens, but it's still a tough schedule nonetheless.
Georgia plays five teams in Joel Klatt's top 25 (No. 2 Texas, No. 9 Alabama, No. 13 Florida, No. 20 Ole Miss and No. 22 Auburn), showing how tough their schedule is expected to be. With the transition at quarterback and the amount of defensive talent Georgia lost from last year, Georgia could be heading towards a rebuilding year.
Then again, there's a reason why it's a hot take. Georgia won against three teams (Clemson, Texas (twice), Tennessee) that made the CFP last year, and their two regular season losses came against teams that barely missed (Alabama, Ole Miss).
They also won the SEC despite playing down to competition against Kentucky, Mississippi State, Florida, and Georgia Tech. ESPN's Heather Dinich also puts Georgia as No. 5 in the section of the "10 projected first-round bye teams" in the same article, so it is clear that they're playing both sides of the argument. However, there's definitely mixed preseason expectations for Georgia this fall.