ATHENS, Ga. — Fourth-ranked Georgia gets its lone off week of the season this Saturday, Oct. 24, the only weekend on the 2026 schedule without a game, a break that arrives right after the Bulldogs suffered their first loss of 2026 against Auburn at Sanford Stadium.
The setback came only a week after Georgia had celebrated a road victory at Alabama, and it knocked the Bulldogs from the unbeaten ranks. They now stand 6-1 overall and share first place in the SEC with Kentucky, each with one conference loss. Auburn’s Oct. 17 win went down as an upset, yet Georgia held on to a top-five ranking at No. 4, and it has two full weeks to sort out what went wrong before its next kickoff.
Speaking after the Auburn game, coach Kirby Smart said he was not surprised his team failed to play its best, but that it should not have happened. He brushed aside the explanations floating around, such as Auburn coming off its own open date or Georgia coming off the Alabama trip, and said the Bulldogs have yet to put together their best game. Getting them to that point, he said, falls to him.
Georgia will not play again until Saturday, Oct. 31, when it faces Florida in the annual rivalry game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on ABC. The Gators are also idle this weekend, and in recent years both programs have had an open date ahead of the matchup.
After the off week, Georgia plays five games in a row to close the regular season. For a team tied atop the league, a trip to the Dec. 5 SEC title game is still within reach, and the bigger goal is a deep run in the 12-team College Football Playoff, which plays out into January.
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