Kirby Smart brings three Georgia Bulldogs to Tampa on Tuesday, July 21, for the Southeastern Conference’s media days, the first time Florida has ever hosted the four-day event. Quarterback Gunner Stockton, center Drew Bobo and linebacker Raylen Wilson join their coach at the podium as back-to-back SEC champions who still haven’t solved the College Football Playoff (CFP).
Georgia has lost in the playoff quarterfinals two years running. Two of the coaches most responsible for that pattern, Ole Miss’s Pete Golding and LSU’s Lane Kiffin, will be working the same Tampa ballrooms this week as first-time head coaches themselves.
Four Bulldogs, One Trip to Tampa
The conference’s four-day gathering runs July 20 through July 23, split between the Tampa Marriott Water Street and the JW Marriott downtown. Every head coach in the league brings three players, and Georgia’s group takes questions on day two, Tuesday.
Stockton already knows the drill. This is his second consecutive trip to media days, a head start over teammates making their first appearance in front of the assembled press corps.
| Georgia Attendee | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Kirby Smart | Head coach | Entering his 11th season in Athens |
| Gunner Stockton | Quarterback | Second straight media days trip |
| Drew Bobo | Center | First media days appearance |
| Raylen Wilson | Linebacker | First media days appearance |
Florida hosting for the first time carries its own footnote. The Gators enter the week with a new coach of their own, Jon Sumrall, one of six first-year head coaches taking the stage across the conference this year.
Georgia’s Playoff Script Keeps Repeating
The pattern is close to identical two years straight, and it explains why Smart’s group faces a different kind of question this week than a typical champion would.
- December 7, 2024: Georgia beats Texas 22-19 in overtime for the SEC title, clinching a No. 2 seed and a playoff bye.
- January 1, 2025: Notre Dame beats Georgia 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal, ending the season.
- December 7, 2025: Georgia beats Alabama 28-7 for a second straight SEC title, earning the No. 3 seed and another bye.
- January 1, 2026: Ole Miss beats Georgia 39-34 in a Sugar Bowl rematch, again in the quarterfinal.
Sandwiched between Georgia’s back-to-back national titles and this two-year skid was a near miss in 2023, when the Bulldogs went 13-1 and still didn’t make the old four-team field. Indiana’s win over Miami in January extended the Big Ten’s run of national titles to three seasons running, the exact stretch the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has gone without one since Georgia’s last championship.
Golding and Kiffin Get Their Own Podiums
The coach who actually eliminated Georgia from the playoff wasn’t the coach who built that Ole Miss roster. Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU on November 30, 2025, two days after the Rebels beat Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl to lock up their first-ever playoff berth.
Kiffin said he prayed and talked with family before reaching what he called signing a seven-year contract in Baton Rouge. Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter denied Kiffin’s request to keep coaching through the playoff, so defensive coordinator Pete Golding was elevated to head coach the same night, before Kiffin even addressed the team.
Golding then did what Kiffin never got to try. He led Ole Miss past Tulane in the first round, then past Georgia 39-34 in the Sugar Bowl, before the Rebels finally lost to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal. Kiffin’s exit followed a two hour sitdown at the chancellor’s house in Oxford, where he weighed the move against finishing out the season he’d built.
Golding and Kiffin are two of six new head coaches taking podiums at this year’s media days:
- Will Stein, Kentucky
- Pete Golding, Ole Miss, promoted from defensive coordinator mid-playoff run
- Alex Golesh, Auburn
- Lane Kiffin, LSU, arriving after a 55-19 run at Ole Miss
- Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas
- Jon Sumrall, Florida, the newest coach at this year’s host school
Georgia’s contingent will share a media week with the coach who eliminated them and the coach whose roster did it, both making their conference debut in new jobs.
Nine Conference Games Reshape the Math
For the first time in SEC history, teams play nine conference games in 2026 instead of eight, a format the league has debated since the 1990s. Commissioner Greg Sankey framed the change directly when it was approved last August.
“Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation,” Sankey said in its case for a ninth conference game. Each school keeps three annual rivals and rotates through the rest of the league, guaranteeing every team a matchup at least once every two years.
Georgia adjusted its own future in response, canceling home-and-home nonconference series with Louisville and NC State to make room. The Bulldogs’ 2026 SEC slate runs through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Missouri and South Carolina, plus rival Georgia Tech to close the regular season. One preseason breakdown of Georgia’s likely loss already flags the trip that matters most.
That game lands November 7, when Georgia travels to Oxford for a rematch with Ole Miss, now Golding’s team, in the building where Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels ended last season.
Why Is a Former Bulldog Wearing Maroon in Tampa?
Anthony Evans, a wide receiver who played two seasons at Georgia before transferring, represents Mississippi State at this year’s media days instead of his old team. He broke out for Georgia’s rival last season and chose to return for one more year instead of entering the transfer portal or the NFL draft.
Evans caught 13 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown in 19 games at Georgia, doubling as the team’s primary punt returner before leaving for Starkville in January 2025. The move paid off fast. Evans led Mississippi State with 67 catches for 831 yards and four touchdowns last season, including a 67 catch, 831 yard breakout year capped by three 100-yard games.
Evans announced in January that he was staying in Starkville, writing on social media that he was “running it back one last time” rather than testing the draft. His production didn’t translate to a win over his old team. Georgia beat Mississippi State 41-21 the last time the two programs met, in 2025.
Smart Isn’t Dodging the Pressure
Smart was asked directly this spring whether two straight quarterfinal exits, after two straight SEC titles, were wearing on him.
Oh I’m great. I think our fans are as excited as they can be.
Kirby Smart, Georgia’s head coach, said that in April on The Paul Finebaum Show, addressed the pressure question directly rather than deflect it. He enters this season with a 117-21 record heading into year eleven, two national titles and four SEC championships.
Georgia returns 17 starters and 68 percent of last season’s production, a rare stretch of continuity in the transfer portal era. Former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, now an analyst, said this team’s habit of winning close games last year should carry over. Bookmakers still like Georgia’s chances, if a notch behind the clear favorites: BetMGM lists the Bulldogs at plus-900 to win it all, sixth best in the country.
Smart’s group leaves Tampa knowing exactly which Saturday will test that answer. November 7, back in Oxford, in Chambliss’ building.
Frequently Asked Questions
When Does Georgia Play Its 2026 Season Opener?
Georgia opens the 2026 season at home against Tennessee State on September 5 at Sanford Stadium. Kirby Smart has never lost a season opener in Athens, and the Bulldogs haven’t dropped a home opener since 2011.
Will Georgia Play Mississippi State, Anthony Evans’ Team, in 2026?
No. Under the SEC’s new nine-game rotation, Georgia and Mississippi State don’t meet in 2026, even though Evans faces his old program whenever the rotation allows it. Georgia won the most recent meeting, 41-21, in 2025.
Which SEC Team Has the Best Odds to Win the 2026 National Title?
Texas, not Georgia, carries the best national championship odds among SEC teams according to DraftKings, boosted by returning quarterback Arch Manning. Georgia sits behind as roughly the sixth choice nationally at most sportsbooks.
