ATHENS — Usually when Georgia and Alabama meet, there are huge stakes on the line. Be it in a national championship game setting, as has been the case in 2017 and 2021, or the three times the teams have met in the SEC championship game since Kirby Smart became the head coach, when these two teams meet championships are decided.

So with the Bulldogs visiting Alabama on Sept. 28, that would seem like a season-defining contest. ESPN has already scheduled the game for a primetime kickoff, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

But those past games all had Nick Saban standing on the opposing sideline. And without the greatest college football coach of all time, the Georgia-Alabama contest doesn’t seem to have the same level of juice from a national standpoint.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach tabbed Georgia’s Oct. 19 game as the one that would define the 2024 season for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs will play Texas that day.

“With the Crimson Tide retooling after Nick Saban’s retirement, Georgia fans will spend the summer dreaming about the Bulldogs’ Oct. 19 trip to Texas,” Schlabach wrote. “The Longhorns might be the most difficult opponent this season after winning a Big 12 title and reaching the CFP for the first time in 2023, and it will also be Georgia’s first trip to Austin in 66 years.”

Georgia and Texas last met in the 2019 Sugar Bowl, with the Longhorns beating Georgia. Texas also made the College Football Playoff last season at the expense of Georgia. The one key difference between the two schools was that Texas was able to beat Alabama, while Georgia lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC championship game.

Texas is led by Steve Sarkisian who, like Smart, was a one-time Saban assistant. The Longhorns also bring back quarterback Quinn Ewers, who is a co-favorite for the Heisman Trophy along with Carson Beck.

Georgia-Texas and Georgia-Alabama are easily two of the biggest games of the college football season. Georgia’s participation in both games speaks to where the program is from a national standpoint.

Both the Texas and Alabama games will be on the road, as the Bulldogs also visit Ole Miss and Kentucky. Georgia opens the season against Clemson in Atlanta and plays Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.

It is worth noting that ESPN had Georgia as the season-defining opponent for both Alabama and Clemson. Alabama will be looking to set the tone for the Kalen DeBoer era after he stepped in to replace Saban.

Georgia last played Clemson to open the 2021 season, with the Bulldogs winning 10-3. Georgia went on to win a national championship that season, where it eventually beat Alabama to end the year.

The Bulldogs will certainly hope to follow a similar recipe to success in 2024.