The parameters for what would define a successful season for Georgia have changed.
Winning the SEC East is no longer a possibility, as divisions are gone. Winning the SEC will be even more difficult, thanks to a beefed-up schedule that features road trips to Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss.
While making the College Football Playoff is easier, in some ways it’s also less of an accomplishment. Winning two games in the College Football Playoff used to win you a national championship. In 2024, that might just get you to the semifinals.
Now that Georgia has won two national championships under Kirby Smart, Georgia no longer has to live under the championship-or-bust expectations. They are not Ohio State.
Yet Georgia still enters the season as the No. 1 team in the country. And the goal is to end the season that way.
“Winning a National Championship. That’s my goal,” defensive end Mykel Williams said. “That’s really it. I want to win another one bad. That’s what I’m focused on this year.”
Williams isn’t alone in publicly stating that goal. Quarterback Carson Beck, arguably the biggest reason Georgia enters the season as the No. 1 team, also spoke to winning a national championship this season.
“That’s probably the main reason of me coming back was coming back and finishing a job and winning that national championship,” Beck said. “I think the team’s really excited, especially as we head into a true game week.”
Georgia did not win the national championship last season, as the Bulldogs’ title hopes were ended in the same building where Georgia will open the 2024 season. But it’s had to call last season a failure. The Bulldogs won every regular season game, running the school’s win streak to 29 games.
That defeat to Alabama also helped lay the groundwork for this team. While Smart and the Georgia team have tried their best to downplay using last season as motivation, multiple players have pointed to the Alabama loss as something that has pushed them this offseason.
With Georgia having five games against top 15 teams in the preseason AP Poll, the Bulldogs are going to need every little advantage they can get. Four of those games come away from Sanford Stadium.
The Bulldogs and Ohio State are seen as the top title contenders. Oregon, Texas and Alabama are lurking just behind them. And with a 12-team playoff, there could be a surprise team that gets hot at the right time, like we see in the NFL.
With another national title this year, Georgia has a chance to further stake its claim as the team of the modern era. Nick Saban is no longer on Alabama’s sideline, with the Crimson Tide so often ending Georgia’s season. A third title in four years would undoubtedly establish Georgia as a dynasty.
Georgia’s season won’t be made by a win over Clemson on Saturday. And now a single loss will no longer ruin it.
We won’t be able to successfully define the season for Georgia until January. And if the Bulldogs are still playing by that point, they might as well just win the whole thing.
Below are the game-by-game predictions for the 2024 regular season. Georgia last lost a regular season game in November of 2020. Despite the undeniably tougher schedule, I don’t see that changing this season.
Georgia football 2024 game, score predictions
- Week 1: Georgia 34, Clemson 13: Beck comes out and makes a statement for the Bulldogs, while the defense makes life miserable for Dabo Swinney.
- Week 2: Georgia 52, Tennessee Tech 6: Don’t need to justify a beat-down of an FCS team.
- Week 3: Georgia 37, Kentucky 17: Lot of eyes will be on how Brock Vandagriff and Jamon Dumas-Johnson play against their former team. But Smart is 8-0 against Mark Stoops and the Bulldogs just have too much talent.
- Week 4: Off
- Week 5: Georgia 27, Alabama 21: It’s never easy against Alabama. And even with Saban no longer on the sidelines, Georgia fans will still have to sweat this one out.
- Week 6: Georgia 24, Auburn 16: Major letdown spot for Georgia here. The Bulldogs are fortunate that this game comes at home. Auburn was a rather poor road team last season and the Tigers still have Payton Thorne as their quarterback.
- Week 7: Georgia 49, Mississippi State 10: After two slogs, Georgia gets things going in a major way against the other SEC Bulldogs.
- Week 8: Georgia 42, Texas 31: Lot of people think this is the game Georgia loses. But Texas’ defense does not match up well with Georgia’s potent offense at all and I think this game will be a little more uncompetitive.
- Week 9: Off
- Week 10: Georgia 48, Florida 17: Florida has a brutal schedule and while the overall talent has improved, the defense in Gainesville still isn’t where it needs to be. If Billy Naiper’s team gets off to a slow start this season, this game could get really ugly.
- Week 11: Georgia 38, Ole Miss 27: If this game were earlier in the season, I think Ole Miss might have a better shot of springing the upset. But Georgia still has better depth and that will be the difference in this November road game.
- Week 12: Georgia 34, Tennessee 13: This game comes at a tricky time on the schedule. But the next time Tennessee plays Georgia tough under Josh Heupel will be the first.
- Week 13: Georgia 69, UMass 6: A major get-right game for the Bulldogs at the end of the season.
- Week 14: Georgia 27, Georgia Tech 17: Georgia Tech is going to do all it can to make this game miserable. Georgia meanwhile will be interested in only doing just enough to win, making for a less comfortable finale than some would want.
- Final record: 12-0, 8-0 in SEC games
