BREAKING: Media Makes Call on UGA Football, Texas | Who Will Win the 2026 SEC Title?
TAMPA - Kirby Smart and UGA Football won the SEC Championship a season ago. The league’s media predicted for the second year in a row that the Dawgs will play for the SEC Championship in 2026 - and that the Dawgs will win it.
Last year the Bulldogs took out No. 10 Alabama 28-7 - giving Georgia back-to-back SEC Championships.
Texas and Georgia are not scheduled to play one another this season, but the Texas was the media’s pick to face off against the Dawgs in Atlanta this December.
The programs have squared off three times in the last two years with the Dawgs collecting a 30-15 win at No. 1 Texas, a 22-19 overtime win for the SEC in Altlanta over No. 2 Texas and a lopsided 35-10 win over the No. 10 Horns in Athens.
This is the third year of the College Football Playoff's expanded 12-team field. Georgia is the only SEC team to make both 12-team CFPs held so far.
The Bulldogs have only been picked to win the SEC four times in history by the media (2004, 2023, 2024 and 2026). Georgia has won the SEC six times since voting began in 1992. The lone time the Dawgs were picked to win the league with Kirby Smart not as head coach came in 2004 when the Dawgs finished second in the SEC East - going 10-2 in David Greene and David Pollack’s final seasons at UGA.
Alabama has been picked to win the SEC by the media 11 times since 2010. The Tide has won it seven times in that span. Texas joins Georgia as the only two schools that has been picked more than once by the media to win the SEC since 2010.
Only once, in 2025, has an expansion SEC team been picked to win the league. In fact prior to 2025, only the traditional six SEC powers - Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia and LSU - were ever been picked to win the league.
Georgia enters the 2026 season with high expectations again. Kirby’s 11th season in Athens features seven home games - and a neutral-site showdown change.
UGA football will face the Gators in Atlanta for the first time ever. That game is on Halloween at 3:30 PM. Although Tech and UGA played on Black Friday a year ago, this year Clean Old Fashioned Hate will take place Between the Hedges on Saturday, November 28th.
Georgia will host Oklahoma in Athens on September 26th. The two programs met in one of the greatest college football games ever - the 2018 Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena. Georgia will start its SEC season in Fayettville against Arkansas. The Dawgs last traveled to play the Hogs in 2020 in the first game for the program during COVID. That game saw Stetson Bennett explode on the scene - begining a long journey towards back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022.
Kirby’s Dawgs look get back to the College Football Playoff in 2026. The Bulldogs fell to Ole Miss in January at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The loss concluded the Dawgs’ 12-2 season in 2025. As of late July 2026, UGA is considered one of the favorites to win the national title (Ohio State, +550 | Notre Dame +650 | Oregon +800 | Texas +850 | Georgia +900 | Indiana +900).
2026 SEC Media Pre-Season Poll:
1. Georgia - 2,519
2. Texas - 2,449
3. Ole Miss - 2,004
4. Texas A&M - 1,967
5. LSU - 1,961
6. Alabama - 1,930
7. Oklahoma - 1,914
8. Tennessee - 1,320
9. Florida - 1,217
10. Missouri - 1,105
11. South Carolina - 956
12. Auburn - 936
13. Vanderbilt - 751
14. Kentucky - 546
15. State - 467
16. Arkansas - 262
SEC Champion:
1. Georgia - 88
2. Texas - 57
3. Ole Miss - 6
4. Texas A&M - 5
5. Alabama - 3
6. Oklahoma - 2
6. LSU - 2
8. Kentucky - 1
2026 PRESEASON MEDIA DAYS ALL-SEC TEAM
OFFENSE
First-Team
QB – Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
RB - Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss
RB – Ahmad Hardy, Missouri
WR - Ryan Williams, Alabama
WR - Cam Coleman, Texas
TE - Trey'Dez Green, LSU
OL - Trevor Goosby, Texas
OL - Cayden Green, Missouri
OL - Jordan Seaton, LSU
OL - Earnest Greene III, Georgia
C - Drew Bobo, Georgia
AP - Mario Craver, Texas A&M
Second-Team
QB – Arch Manning, Texas
RB - Jadan Baugh, Florida
RB - Nate Frazier, Georgia
WR - Mario Craver, Texas A&M
WR - Isaiah Sategna III, Oklahoma
TE - Lawson Luckie, Georgia
OL - Dontrell Glover, Georgia
OL - Michael Fasusi, Oklahoma
OL - Michael Carroll, Alabama
OL - Lance Heard, Kentucky
C - Mark Nabou Jr., Texas A&M
AP - Ryan Niblett, Texas
Third-Team
QB – Gunner Stockton, Georgia
RB - DeSean Bishop, Tennessee
RB - Hollywood Smothers, Texas
WR - Ryan Wingo, Texas
WR - Nyck Harbor, South Carolina
TE - Willie Rodriguez, Kentucky
OL - David Sanders Jr., Tennessee
OL - Patrick Kutas, Ole Miss
OL - Brandon Baker, Texas
OL - Wendell Moe Jr., Tennessee
C - Braelin Moore, LSU
AP - Jadan Baugh, Florida
DEFENSE
First-Team
DL - Colin Simmons, Texas
DL - Dylan Stewart, South Carolina
DL - Will Echoles, Ole Miss
DL - Princewill Umanmielen, LSU
LB - Xavier Atkins, Auburn
LB - Whit Weeks, LSU
LB - Rasheem Biles, Texas
DB - KJ Bolden, Georgia
DB - Zabien Brown, Alabama
DB - Ellis Robinson IV, Georgia
DB - Bray Hubbard, Alabama
Second-Team
DL - David Stone, Oklahoma
DL - Elijah Griffin, Georgia
DL - Taylor Wein, Oklahoma
DL - Quincy Rhodes Jr., Arkansas
LB - Raylen Wilson, Georgia
LB - Suntarine Perkins, Ole Miss
LB - Kip Lewis, Oklahoma
DB - Kelley Jones, Mississippi State
DB - DJ Pickett, LSU
DB - Ty Benefield, LSU
DB - Eli Bowen, Oklahoma / Peyton Bowen, Oklahoma
Third-Team
DL - Kam Franklin, Ole Miss
DL - DJ Hicks, Texas A&M
DL - Gabe Harris, Georgia
DL - Jayden Woods, Florida
LB - Arion Carter, Tennessee
LB - TJ Dottery, LSU
LB - Yhonzae Pierre, Alabama
DB - Keon Sabb, Alabama
DB - Champ Anthony, Auburn
DB - Khalil Barnes, Georgia
DB - Jelani McDonald, Texas
SPECIALISTS
First-Team
P - Grant Chadwick, LSU
PK - Tate Sandell, Oklahoma
LS - Ben Anderson, Oklahoma
KS – Tate Sandell, Oklahoma
RS - Ryan Niblett, Texas
Second-Team
P - Grayson Miller, Oklahoma
PK - Lucas Carneiro, Ole Miss
LS – Trey Dubuc, Texas
KS - Lucas Carneiro, Ole Miss
RS - Isaiah Sategna III, Oklahoma
Third-Team
P - Ethan Pulliam, Mississippi State
PK - Alex McPherson, Auburn
LS - Brett Le Blanc, Missouri
KS – Terry Bussey, Texas A&M
RS - Vernell Brown III, Florida
