ATHENS — Georgia recently learned of its SEC home and road schedule for the 2025 season. But the entire state may not yet be set in stone.
In a radio interview on 92.9 The Game, Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks spoke about Georgia’s home-and-home series with UCLA. The Bulldogs are tentatively set to visit UCLA in 2025, with Georgia hosting the Bruins in 2026.
Emphasis though on the word tentatively.
“With the evolution of the Big Ten schedule and our schedule, we’ve got to make decisions that are best for us and they’ve got to make decisions that are best for them,” Brooks said. “Everything is in play. We’ll see. It’s a fluid situation.”
The series between UGA and UCLA was first scheduled back in 2015, when Mark Richt was still Georgia’s head coach.
UCLA will be joining the Big Ten this season, along with former Pac 12 schools USC, Oregon and Washington.
Georgia is set to open the 2024 season against Clemson on Aug. 31, though the game will be played in Atlanta. The Bulldogs also have games against Georgia Tech, Charlotte and Austin Peay.
Georgia learned recently that the 2025 SEC slate will be the same as the 2024 SEC slate, only the home and road games have been flipped.
That means the Bulldogs will host Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss and Kentucky. The Bulldogs will travel to Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State. Georgia will play Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., in both seasons.
While some may have a desire to see new teams, Smart is excited about Georgia’s home slate in 2025.
“We’ve got one of the toughest road schedules in the country, I’d like to see it flipped where we would have the opportunity to have our fan base probably the best home schedule in Georgia history,” Smart said. “You start changing the model, I don’t give a flip of the model. They presented us a multitude of opportunities - the most continuity is in doing this for two, let’s see what it’s like.”
The 2024 season will be the first year of a 12-team playoff as well. Smart wants to see how the expanded College Football Playoff potentially impacts scheduling.
“Let’s see how things play out,” Smart said. “Let’s see what the CFP becomes, with how many teams are going to be in the playoff. Does that designate us to go to nine? Does television have something to do with that? There’s a lot of unanswered questions and to have a little bit of continuity in knowing what you’re going to get, I’m fine with that.”
Georgia is making its way through spring practice, with the Bulldogs having their first scrimmage on Saturday. Georgia wraps up spring practice on April 13 with G-Day.