In this week’s AP Poll, Texas is the overwhelming No. 1 team per voters. The Longhorns have 56 first-place votes, buoyed by their 24-23 win over No. 4 Ohio State last week.

Georgia sits at No. 2 in the AP Poll. The Bulldogs have just three first-place votes, which is actually an increase coming out of last week.

While the Longhorns found themselves in a four-quarter fight against the Buckeyes, Georgia has been untested in its first two games. The Bulldogs opened the season with a 60-point win over Tennessee State and followed it up with a 50-point win over Western Kentucky.

Those performances, along with Georgia’s track record under Kirby Smart, have some in the national media touting Georgia, not Texas, as the top team in college football.

“I don’t care that they haven’t beaten Ohio State or a team like that,” Alyssa Lang said on a recent appearance on the Paul Finebaum show. “The road through the SEC still runs through Athens. For me, until proven otherwise that will not change.”

Georgia has beaten Texas three times in the previous two seasons. The earliest the two sides could meet would be in the SEC championship game on Dec. 5 in Atlanta. Georgia beat the Longhorns in the 2024 edition of the game.

The two schools were predicted to play in the SEC championship game by the voting media at SEC media days back in July. Through two games, it’s easy to see why they were such popular picks.

“I watch Georgia play right now and I go, I don’t know, ‘they kind of look like the best team in the country,’” Matt Stinchcomb said in an appearance on SEC Now. “I’m looking for some deficiencies. They haven’t played anybody that could expose that.”

Georgia’s schedule will get tougher as it enters SEC play this week against Arkansas. But the rest of the league slate does not look as intimidating as other league foes. Oklahoma, one of Georgia’s biggest games, struggled offensively in a Week 2 loss to Michigan.

Even Georgia’s first SEC foe, Arkansas, is expected to be another blowout win for the Bulldogs.

“I think if you thought that Georgia was better than Texas before, I don’t know why you wouldn’t think that now,” Stinchcomb said.

The play of Gunner Stockton has been a big reason for Georgia’s strong start to the 2026 season. He’s quarterbacked 11 drives thus far, with each ending in a touchdown. Lang believes Stockton has “clearly” taken the next step as a quarterback.

David Cobb of CBS Sports has also noted the improvements made by Stockton. The Georgia quarterback went from 12th in his quarterback rankings to seventh after he tied a school record with five touchdown passes against Western Kentucky.

“The competition has been lackluster, but Stockton has been almost perfect,” Cobb wrote. “He is second in passer efficiency, third in EPA per dropback and fourth in yards per attempt. Look for another strong performance against a struggling Arkansas team this week in Georgia’s SEC opener.”

For as well as Georgia has played so far, Kirby Smart knows his team will have to be better moving forward.

Especially going on the road for the first time.

“We don’t want to anoint anybody right now because they recover fumbles or catch touchdowns when you score 70, you’re gonna have a lot of fluffy stats. I don’t care about stats,” Smart said. “I really do not care. The one that you guys are chasing, you guys will reward them. You will say we scored 70 and 60. And the only thing I’m worried about is how the hell we’re gonna play on the road next week.”

Georgia starts SEC play this weekend with a trip to Arkansas. Texas, meanwhile, takes on UTSA to round out its nonconference slate.