BULLDOGS 2018 OPPONENTS
SEPT. 1
AUSTIN PEAY 3:30 p.m., Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: ESPN/102.3 FM
Series history: This is the first meeting between Georgia and Austin Peay, which arguably were the best stories last season in the Bowl and Championship subdivisions, respectively. Will Healy’s Governors dropped their first two games to extend the nation’s longest losing streak to 29 before abruptly halting it with a 69-13 win over Morehead State. Austin Peay wound up 8-4 and 7-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference, with its four losses coming against OVC stalwart Jacksonville State and FBS teams Cincinnati, Miami of Ohio and Central.
SEPT. 8
SOUTH CAROLINA
3:30 p.m., Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina TV/Radio: CBS/102.3 FM
Series history: The Bulldogs hold a dominant 50-18-2 series advantage and have won the past three meetings by double digits, but the border schools have split the past eight encounters. Georgia has won the past two by two touchdowns, including a 28-14 triumph two years ago at Williams-Brice on a Sunday due to Hurricane Matthew remnants the day before. Georgia and South Carolina finished 1-2 in the SEC East last season, so this is being hailed as the biggest game in the division this time around.
SEPT. 15
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 7:15 p.m., Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: ESPN2/102.3 FM
Series history: These programs have met just once before, with the Bulldogs prevailing 29-10 over the Blue Raiders in 2003. Michael Cooper had two rushing touchdowns and Billy Bennett three short field goals in Georgia’s win. Middle Tennessee is coming off a 7-6 season that included an early win at Syracuse and was capped by a bowl victory over Arkansas State.
SEPT. 22
MISSOURI TBA, Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: The Bulldogs hold a 6-1 series lead over Missouri, including a 5-1 mark since the Tigers joined the SEC in 2012. Georgia was the first league foe that Mizzou faced in its new league, with outside linebacker Jarvis Jones and the Bulldogs spoiling the big night at Faurot Field by pulling away for a 41-20 win. Missouri’s lone series victory came the next year, 41-26 in Athens, but Georgia has won the past four, including the close calls of 2015 (9-6) and 2016 (28-27).
SEPT. 29
TENNESSEE TBA, Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: Georgia has a chance to square a series that Tennessee leads 23-22-2. The Bulldogs are coming off last year’s 41-0 thrashing of the Volunteers in Neyland Stadium, which marked the worst loss Tennessee ever suffered at home. It was a far cry from the back-and-forth matchup of 2016 that Tennessee won 34-31 on a Hail Mary from Josh Dobbs to Jauan Jennings as time expired. The Vols were 11-6 in the rivalry under Phillip Fulmer, and the Bulldogs were 10-5 under Mark Richt.
OCT. 6
VANDERBILT TBA, Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: The Bulldogs hold a commanding 56-20-2 series advantage but just a 3-2 lead in the past five meetings. Vanderbilt upset the Bulldogs 17-16 the last time they met in Sanford Stadium, but there was no such drama last season in Nashville as Georgia rolled 45-14. The Commodores have just four wins over Georgia in the past quarter-century, but three of them occurred in Sanford Stadium: in 1994, 2006 and 2016.
OCT. 13
LSU TBA, Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: LSU holds a 16-13-1 lead in this quirky series in which the past three matchups were in Georgia — two in Athens and one in Atlanta for the 2011 SEC championship, when the Tigers rebounded from a 10-0 deficit and rolled to a 42-10 win. The last meeting between these two in Baton Rouge took place in 2008, and it resulted in a 52-38 Georgia triumph.
OCT. 27
FLORIDA 3:30 p.m., TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville, Florida TV/Radio: CBS/102.3 FM
Series history: The Bulldogs ended a three-game losing streak to the Gators in emphatic fashion last season, cruising to a 42-7 rout. Georgia leads the series 51-43-2 despite a 3-18 stretch from 1990 to 2010. Georgia’s 2017 win over Florida was its largest since the 44-0 drubbing of 1982, which was
the third and final time Bulldogs tailback Herschel Walker humbled the Gators.
NOV. 3 KENTUCKY
TBA, Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington, Kentucky TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: Georgia’s most dominant showing against any SEC foe has come at the expense of Kentucky, as the Bulldogs have won eight straight in this series to increase their lead to 57-122. The last time the Wildcats topped Georgia at Commonwealth Stadium was 2006, when Matthew Stafford was a freshman quarterback for the Bulldogs. Four of Georgia’s past five wins in the series have been by at least 24 points.
NOV. 10 AUBURN
TBA, Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry had two meetings in the same season for the first time last year, with the Tigers rolling to a 40-17 win during the regular-season meeting in Auburn and the Bulldogs exacting revenge with a 28-7 victory in the SEC championship game. The unique split allowed the Bulldogs to maintain their two-game series edge at 58-56-8. Georgia trailed the series by five after a 31-30 loss in 2005 but has gone 10-3 in the rivalry since.
NOV. 17
MASSACHUSETTS TBA, Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: This will be the first meeting between the Bulldogs and the Minutemen, who posted a 4-8 record last season that included tough losses to the SEC duo of Tennessee, 1713, and Mississippi State, 34-23. UMass had plenty of success in the Football Championship Subdivision, winning the 1998 national title at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium, before becoming a Football Bowl Subdivision member in 2013.
NOV. 24 GEORGIA TECH
TBA, Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia TV/Radio: TBA/102.3 FM
Series history: The Bulldogs hold a 66-39-5 series lead against the Yellow Jackets, adding to it with last season’s 38-7 win in Atlanta. Georgia Tech has tasted success in its past two trips to Sanford Stadium, winning 30-24 in overtime in 2014 and 28-27 in 2016. Richt compiled a 13-2 record against Georgia’s state rival, highlighted by a 51-7 win in 2002.