ATHENS - Kirby Smart’s UGA Football team is headed to the Big Easy to play in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans after the Bulldogs’ 28-7 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday in Atlanta.
Georgia will play the winner of the Ole Miss-Tulane game on Saturday, December 20th at 3:30 PM on TNT. The Bulldogs were ranked as the No. 3 overall seed behind No. 2 Ohio State.
“No one knows who they are more than Georgia,” ESPN college football analyst Booger McFarland said Sunday. “I don't think anyone wants to see this version the Bulldogs.”
The Bulldogs’ back-to-back SEC championships is the first time the program has accomplished that since the days of Herschel Walker in 1981-82.
Should the Bulldogs win the Sugar Bowl they would advance to play in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, January 8th in Glendale, AZ. That game will kick off at 7:30 PM on ESPN. That quadrant includes Miami, Texas A&M and Ohio State.
ATHENS, Ga. -- The third-seeded Georgia Bulldogs will play either sixth-seeded Ole Miss or 11th-seeded Tulane in the 92nd annual Allstate Sugar Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff (CFP) Quarterfinal on Jan. 1, 2026, in the Caesars Superdome. ESPN will televise the matchup at 8 p.m. ET.
Ole Miss (11-1) will play Tulane (11-2) in the CFP’s first round in Oxford, Miss., on Dec. 20 at 3:30 p.m. on TNT. The Bulldogs (12-1) won their 16th Southeastern Conference title with a 28-7 rout over ninth-seeded Alabama on Dec. 6 in Atlanta to earn a first-round bye. Georgia will be making its 13th Sugar Bowl appearance.
The winner of this year’s Sugar Bowl will advance to the CFP Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.). This year’s CFP National Championship will be Monday, Jan. 19, in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Georgia leads the all-time series with the Rebels 35-13-1, including a 43-35 win in Athens in October. The Bulldogs lead the series over Ole Miss in neutral sites 4-3. Georgia topped Ole Miss 49-21 in Jackson, Miss., in 1985 to mark the last neutral site matchup. The Bulldogs have faced Tulane 25 times and lead the series 14-10-1. The Green Wave, who was in the SEC until the 1960s, have played the Bulldogs 13 times in New Orleans, including the last showdown there in 1972.
Georgia has appeared in the Sugar Bowl 12 times and are 5-7:
Jan. 1, 1947, Georgia 20, North Carolina 10
Jan. 1, 1969, Arkansas 16, Georgia 2
Jan. 1, 1977, Pittsburgh 27, Georgia 3
Jan. 1, 1981, Georgia 17, Notre Dame 10
Jan. 1, 1982, Pittsburgh 24, Georgia 20
Jan. 1, 1983, Penn State 27, Georgia 23
Jan. 1, 2003, Georgia 26, Florida State 13
Jan. 3, 2006, West Virginia 38, Georgia 35
Jan. 1, 2008, Georgia 41, Hawai’i 10
Jan. 1, 2019, Texas 28, Georgia 21
Jan. 1, 2020, Georgia 26, Baylor 14
Jan. 2, 2025, Notre Dame 23, Georgia 10
This will be Georgia's 64th bowl game appearance - second most of any team in the country. The Bulldogs' all-time bowl record is 38-22-3. Georgia is making its 29th consecutive bowl appearance, which ranks as the longest active streak in the country.
Currently, Georgia's senior class has a record of 51-5, making it the third straight UGA senior class to win at least 50 games. The Bulldog seniors are also seeking their ninth postseason victory, a mark that already includes the CFP Semifinal Orange Bowl and CFP National Championship during the 2021 season, the SEC Championship Game, the CFP Semifinal Peach Bowl and the CFP National Championship in 2022, the 2023 Capital One Orange Bowl, the 2024 SEC Championship Game and the 2025 SEC Championship Game.
2026 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Friday, December 19
8 PM, ABC - Alabama (+1.5) at Oklahoma
Saturday, December 20
12 PM, ABC - Miami (+3.5) at Texas A&M
3:30 PM, TNT - Tulane (+16.5) at Ole Miss
7:30 PM, TNT - James Madison (+21.5) at Oregon
Wednesday, December 31
Cotton Bowl
7:30 PM, ESPN - Miami-A&M vs. Ohio State
Thursday, January 1
Orange Bowl
12 PM, ESPN - Oregon-JMU vs. Texas Tech
Rose Bowl
4 PM, ESPN - Alabama-Oklahoma vs. Indiana
Sugar Bowl
8 PM, ESPN - Tulane-Ole Miss vs. Georgia
Thursday, January 8
Fiesta Bowl
7:30 PM, ESPN
Peach Bowl
7:30 PM, ESPN
CFP National Championship Game
Monday, January 19
7:30 PM, ESPN
