Part of what I like about college football is the routine. From Labor Day until Thanksgiving, I have my Saturdays planned.
I spend my fall Saturdays one of two ways: seated on my couch watching football until my eyes bleed, or in the parking lot of the Dairy Science Building tailgating and watching football until my eyes bleed, then walking to Sanford Stadium to watch the Dawgs play in person—the occasional wedding or family function notwithstanding.
This sport that I love in part because it is so routine has undergone tremendous change in recent years. Players getting paid and being allowed virtually unrestricted movement through the transfer portal has fundamentally transformed how the sport operates. But those changes weren’t on-field and didn’t affect how we view the game Saturday to Saturday.
This year, though, that Saturday experience will be different. For starters, this is the first year of the most recent realignment boom. Now you have schools from California, famously with a non-Atlantic coast, in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In our neck of the woods, that means the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC and a jettisoning of divisions in favor of a “two best records” conference championship format.
Which leads to our other major change: the 12-team playoff. For years, I’ve harped on the necessity for Georgia to go undefeated or at least make the SEC Championship Game to guarantee a spot in the playoff. In a 12-team playoff world, we have wiggle room. A loss—hell, even two—will not be the death knell to a team’s title hopes as it was in the past. Whether that’s good or bad, I leave for you to judge.
The extra wiggle room this new format gives us couldn’t have come at a better time, either, as Kirby Smart and the Dawgs are facing down the toughest schedule of his tenure. The season opens on a neutral site in Atlanta against Clemson. The Tigers have slipped from the heights of the Watson/Lawrence years, but they’re still dangerous, especially in Week 1 when it’s difficult to know what to expect.
The removal of divisions has created a refreshing but dangerous SEC schedule for the Dawgs. We travel to Tuscaloosa at the end of September to see if we can exact some revenge for the SEC Championship Game last year and come out on top against the Tide in our first meeting of the post-Saban era. In October, we head to Austin for a first SEC contest against the Texas Longhorns, who look like potential title contenders in their first season in a new league. Then, in November, we hit the road once more, this time for Oxford, where Lane Kiffin has Ole Miss potentially poised for its best shot at an SEC title since the Archie Manning days. That’s about as dangerous a road schedule as you could ask for. (On the bright side, we get Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss in Athens next year.)
So, yeah, it’s gonna be a tough row to hoe. But as we’ve all come to expect, we got some certified DUDES on this roster.
Offensively, Carson Beck will lead the way. Oddsmakers have him favored to win the Heisman, which has more to do with him being the starting quarterback for the team favored to win the title than being really, really good, but he is also really, really good. He’ll be working behind an offensive line that, on paper, looks like it could be Smart’s best since coming back to Athens.
At the skill positions, Beck will be aided by a deep receiving corps led by Dominic Lovett, Dillon Bell, Anthony Evans III and Oscar Delp, and bolstered by the additions of Vanderbilt transfer London Humphreys and USC transfer Michael Jackson III. Florida transfer Trevor Etienne could be the workhorse tailback we’ve sorely missed the last few years, if he lives up to expectations.
The defense… well, it’s a Kirby Smart defense. You can expect it to be outstanding and full of future NFL talent. Malaki Starks is the best safety in college football, and he’ll be a perfect role model for Ellis Robinson IV and KJ Bolden, two of the most promising freshmen defensive backs in the country. Mykel Williams has been training more at outside linebacker to give the defense more punch off the edge. As always, our group of inside linebackers, this year led by Smael Mondon and CJ Allen, is the envy of college football.
Editor’s note: Cy Brown is stepping away from Flag Football this year due to family obligations, but Flagpole is considering continuing the column. Anyone who is interested in taking it over is invited to send writing samples and a cover letter explaining the direction you would take it to City Editor Blake Aued at [email protected].
Georgia’s 2024 football schedule
Aug. 31: versus Clemson in Atlanta; noon on ABC
Sept. 7: versus Tennessee Tech; 2 p.m. on SEC Network+
Sept. 14: at Kentucky; 7:30 p.m. on ABC
Sept. 28: at Alabama; 7:30 p.m. on ABC
Oct. 5: versus Auburn; time TBD (Homecoming)
Oct. 12: versus Mississippi State; time TBD
Oct. 19: at Texas; time TBD
Oct. 26: versus Florida in Jacksonville; 3:30 p.m. on ABC
Nov. 9: at Ole Miss; time TBD
Nov. 16: versus Tennessee; time TBD
Nov. 23: versus UMass; 12:45 p.m. on SEC Network
Nov. 29: versus Georgia Tech; 7:30 p.m. on ABC
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