In the last 5 years, the Georgia Bulldogs have made the College Football Playoff 4 times.
In the year Kirby Smart and company didn’t qualify for the Playoff (2023), the Dawgs went 13-1 and only lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game, yet still missed out on the 4-team field.
Basically, the Bulldogs are CFP mainstays. They’ll be favored to get back to the tournament again this year, especially now that it’s a 12-team event.
Can they do it? We’ll discuss that later in this article. But first…
Here’s a quick refresher about the College Football Playoff format this year:
- Auto bids will be given to the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC champions
- Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if it finishes in the top 12 of the final CFP rankings
- The top Group of 6 champion gets an auto-bid
- The 4 highest-ranked teams in the last CFP rankings get first-round byes, regardless of if they win their conference championships
And here’s a look back at the teams we’ve predicted will make the Playoff thus far during our series:
- No. 12 — Boise State
- No. 11 — Michigan
- No. 10 — Alabama
- No. 9 — LSU
- No. 8 — Indiana
- No. 7 — Texas Tech
Now let’s look at the third SEC team we project to make this year’s CFP… the Georgia Bulldogs.
The Playoff Path
Georgia has plenty of stability, even in this very unstable time in college football. Kirby Smart returns, as do his coordinators — OC Mike Bobo and DC Glenn Schumann. QB Gunner Stockton is back. RBs Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens are back.
The defense is loaded yet again, highlighted by Ellis Robinson IV and KJ Bolden in the secondary.
Overall, Georgia returns the 8th-most production in the nation, according to ESPN’s metrics. The offense returns 62% of its 2025 production, good for 32nd in the country. The defense fares even better, bringing back 72% of its production, which ranks 5th.
This is a program that runs like a well-oiled machine. And there’s no reason to think that won’t continue in 2026.
The schedule is also fairly manageable. The nonconference slate features Tennessee State, Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech, all in Athens. The 2 toughest games on the Bulldogs’ schedule are at Alabama on Oct. 10 and at Ole Miss on Nov. 7.
Even if Georgia were to lose both of those games, which I don’t anticipate, 10-2 would still be enough to get into the 12-team Playoff.
The Possible Roadblock
Gunner Stockton was solid last year, throwing for 2,894 yards, 24 touchdowns and 5 interceptions while completing 69.7% of his passes. He added 462 yards and 10 scores as a runner.
Those are all good numbers, but good isn’t going to bring another national title to Georgia. He needs to be better through the air, particularly, in 2026, and he’s going to have to do it with a lackluster receiving corps.
Zach Branch and Colbie Young were the only 2 Georgia receivers to post more than 300 yards last year and they’re both off to the NFL. That means Stockton will be throwing to Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion, who had 480 receiving yards last year for the Yellow Jackets, London Humphreys and TE Lawson Luckie as his primary targets.
Unless a guy like Sacovie White-Helton, CJ Wiley, Talyn Taylor or a freshman step up, I don’t think that receiving corps is going to take the country by storm.
Odds to Make the Playoff
The Bulldogs are frequent Playoff participants, and the folks at Kalshi certainly expect that to be the case once again in 2026. The Bulldogs have the third-best odds to make the 12-team field.
Check out the current market below, where Georgia has a 74% chance of making the Playoff:
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Next up in our projections is another Playoff mainstay… our third Big Ten team.
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Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
