Morning, y’all!

After a record-setting season, Georgia baseball’s run ended Wednesday night after its second loss to red-hot Oklahoma in the College World Series.

To speak for myself for a moment, I truly had a blast covering this Georgia team this year. From the Sour Power celebrations alone, you can probably tell how much fun this group was. It was special to cover this crazy run right as I joined DawgNation.

Even if the season was cut shorter than they wanted, this team was picked to finish ninth in the SEC and ended up winning its first SEC Tournament title, its first SEC regular season title since 2008 and made its first CWS appearance since 2008.

The Bulldogs finish the season 53-14, with the 53 wins a program record.

Bats go cold at College World Series

A historic season with ample accomplishments to celebrate concluded with disappointment, as the Bulldogs were eliminated by the Sooners 11-4 in the championship round of their double-elimination bracket at the College World Series.

Needing two wins over the Sooners to make it to the final, Georgia got none.

The final score reflected Georgia’s inability to create offense in its four games in Omaha, Nebraska.

A team built on a foundation of unrivaled power and exceptional chemistry may have brought the latter to Omaha, but it left the former back in Athens.

In its four games, Georgia hit .183 and slugged .336, well under its season averages of .326 and .628 before Omaha, both top five in Division I.

Quote of the day

“We just got cold at the wrong time.” — Georgia coach Wes Johnson on bats going cold in the CWS

‘Georgia baseball is back’: Gordon Beckham credits Johnson for CWS run

Gordon Beckham knows great baseball when he sees it, so it’s fair to say the former Georgia star and major leaguer has enjoyed the Bulldogs’ College World Series run as much as anyone.

“Georgia baseball is back,” Beckham told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the hours leading up to the Bulldogs’ CWS clash with Oklahoma on Wednesday night.

Though Georgia’s season came to a close after the 11-4 loss, Beckham’s praise of Johnson for elevating Georgia’s program still stands.

“Wes Johnson has done a great job. He’s ‘that’ guy, and he loves it — he has a lot of energy that is infectious,” Beckham said.

Beckham was the catalyst for what, before this season, had been Georgia’s most recent CWS run, back in 2008 when the Bulldogs finished national runners-up to Fresno State.

The Atlanta native and Westminster School graduate was the SEC Player of the Year in 2008 and led the nation in home runs in what was then UGA’s fourth CWS appearance in an eight-year span (2001, 2004, 2006, 2008).

Beckham, who played 11 years in the majors after being selected No. 8 overall in the 2008 MLB draft, said with Johnson at the helm there are more stars in the making at Georgia.

“Wes has done a good job of bringing Georgia back into the limelight with the momentum we had going to the World Series multiple times in the 2000s,” said Beckham, who has worked as an MLB sportscaster since 2021 and currently calls games for ESPN and the White Sox on the Chicago Sports Network.

Report: Location for Georgia-Florida State 2028 game revealed

Georgia and Florida State had been working toward playing a neutral-site game during the 2028 season. It seems the two sides have agreed to a location for the contest.

According to a report from Ira Schoffel of warchant.com, the 2028 game will be played in Nashville, Tennessee.

Neither Florida State nor Georgia has officially confirmed the location of the game. A date for the game has not yet been announced.

The two sides had previously agreed to play a home-and-home in 2027 and 2028, but that was called off in May.

“We’re getting creative, working very well together,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in May. “We’ve been down this road before as we work great with the University of Florida on our game. So it’s nothing new. We work closely with them on trying to find an acceptable location that works for both schools.”

Nashville is set to open a new stadium in 2027, as the Tennessee Titans are expected to complete renovations on their new stadium in early 2027.

Georgia is already scheduled to make a trip to Nashville in 2028, as it will face Vanderbilt that season on the road. The Bulldogs host the Commodores this coming season in Athens on Oct. 3.

Georgia and Florida State last met in the 2023 Orange Bowl, a game the Bulldogs won 63-3. Georgia and Florida State last played a home-and-home against each other in 1963 and 1964.

Obvious things Georgia football needs to improve to go from good to great in 2026

Even if the ending was a disappointment, it’s hard to argue against the idea that Georgia had a good season. The Bulldogs won 12 games and the SEC while making the College Football Playoff.

At the same time, the end of the season prevented anyone from calling the 2025 campaign a great one. Coach Kirby Smart acknowledges as much.

So how do the Bulldogs make the leap from being a good team to a great one in 2026?

For as much winning as the Bulldogs did last season, they were far from perfect. Georgia found itself in a number of one-score games, going 4-2 in these contests.

Georgia figures to be a more talented team this coming season, in addition to being an older one.

As for how the Bulldogs can be a better team, below are three areas Georgia can shore up to make those incremental, but necessary, improvements from good to great:

1. Increase sack output

This is perhaps the most obvious area of improvement on Georgia’s team. The Bulldogs had only 20 sacks last season. Not only was that last among the 12 CFP participants, but it was also the lowest total in Smart’s 10 years in Athens.

Georgia tried to address this concern in the transfer portal by bringing Amaris Williams from Auburn, but the outside linebacker tore his ACL during spring practice.

That means the Bulldogs will be banking on internal improvement to up the sack total. There’s a lot to like between Chris Cole, Zayden Walker, Chase Linton, Elijah Griffin and others. But someone from that group is going to need to emerge as a dominant player in 2026 if the Georgia pass rush is to have more punch this coming season.

Georgia does not need to have the best pass rush in the country to make a noticeable improvement here. It just can’t rank outside the top 100 once again.

2. Stop falling in multi-score holes

Georgia played in six one-score games last season. But the Bulldogs found themselves trailing by multiple scores in five games as well, including both losses.

Georgia rallied in wins against Tennessee, Auburn and Ole Miss, but couldn’t do so against Alabama and in the rematch against Ole Miss.

It’s a credit to Georgia that it was able to win so many of those games. Even in the losses against Ole Miss and Alabama, Georgia had chances to win both of those games in the fourth quarter.

Of course, it’s better if Georgia doesn’t fall behind. Indiana never trailed by multiple scores last season as it won the national championship.

If Georgia can do a better job in the first half of games, it may not have to expend the same level of energy to come back. That reduces wear and tear, which should lead to a healthier team at the end of the season.

3. Get tight ends more involved

You could make the case for being more explosive, especially with how much of an emphasis Smart put on that aspect this spring.

But we’re looking at Georgia’s deepest and likely best position group to have a bigger statistical impact than it did last season.

The Bulldogs had only 43 receptions from the position group, which included third-round pick Oscar Delp.

Georgia leaned heavily on its wide receivers a season ago, but London Humphreys is the only returnee who caught more than 15 passes.

Georgia’s tight ends all figure to be mismatches in a variety of ways. Elyiss Williams can use his size to box out smaller defenders, while Jaden Reddell has rare speed for the Bulldogs.

In the spring game, Georgia used Kaiden Prothro as a power slot to funnel him the football. The Bulldogs may not have a Brock Bowers type player in this group, but the sum of the parts can be very strong for Georgia in 2026.

If utilized properly, this group can make things extremely difficult for opposing defenses. This should lighten the load for Gunner Stockton and a new-look wide receiver room.