Georgia begins its 132nd season of football with Kirby Smart starting his eighth year at the helm. Smart’s Bulldogs are 81-15 during this time with national championships in 2021 and 2022. The Bulldogs rank ninth all-time in victories with 868.
Due to the cancelation of a previously scheduled matchup at Oklahoma (who now will join the SEC in 2024), Georgia plays host to four consecutive games to start the campaign and seven total in 2023. The last time the Bulldogs played four straight contests in Sanford Stadium was in 2004, topping Marshall, LSU and Vanderbilt before falling to Tennessee in those showdowns.
The last schedule that featured four home games to start a season was in 1999. That year, the Bulldogs went 4-0, beating Utah State, USC, UCF and LSU.
Two of Georgia’s first non-conference opponents, UT Martin and Ball State, the Bulldogs have never faced. Georgia has played UAB twice, winning both, including a 56-7 rout in 2021.
Georgia’s final home game is versus Ole Miss. The Rebels will be the Western Division crossover and will be making their first trip to Athens since 2012. The Bulldogs ran away with that contest, 37- 10. The most recent meeting with the Rebels came in 2016 in Oxford where Ole Miss claimed a victory.
The Bulldogs return nine players with starting experience on offense, including junior C Sedrick Van Pran and All-American and John Mackey Award winner junior TE Brock Bowers, who was the 2021 and 2022 leader in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns. Georgia ranked fifth nationally averaging 41.1 points per game last season. Junior QB Carson Beck has earned the starting job after playing behind Heisman Trophy finalist Stetson Bennett who is now with the Los Angeles Rams. Redshirt sophomore Brock Vandagriff and redshirt freshman Gunner Stockton will look to gain experience directing the offense during the 2023 campaign as well.
Georgia’s offensive line is slated to return three of five starters from a year ago. For the past two years, the offensive line has been a finalist for the Joe Moore Award, which has gone to the University of Michigan. The Bulldogs must replace Warren McClendon and Broderick Jones as the duo combined for 56 career starts before moving on to the NFL. The Bulldogs welcome back junior C Sedrick Van Pran, who has a team-best 30 consecutive starts, plus redshirt sophomore guard Tate Ratledge and senior guard Xavier Truss, who each started 14 contests in 2022. Junior Amarius Mims filled in for McClendon after a knee injury sidelined him during the College Football Playoff. Mims will be in the starting unit. The team tragically lost OL Devin Willock in a car accident this past January. Willock played in all 15 games last year, starting a pair of contests.
