A new talking point has emerged regarding the Georgia football team as it enters the upcoming season.

The Bulldogs are a popular pick to return to the College Football Playoff. Georgia is the No. 3-ranked team in both the AP and Coaches Polls to start the season.

But most don’t see Georgia making a deeper run into the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs are more popularly viewed as a team that can win the SEC, but not a national championship this season.

Of the four major publications to put out their preseason bowl predictions, none have Georgia reaching the national championship game, much less win it.

Despite the public skepticism, the Bulldogs may be undervalued entering the upcoming season. While most in the national media don’t see Georgia as the top team, it does rank No. 1 in the 247Sports Team Composite talent rankings.

Georgia sits at No. 1, ahead of Texas at No. 2, Oregon at No. 3, Alabama at No. 4 and Ohio State at No. 5.

It is worth noting that the 247Sports Team Composite rankings only take into account a player’s high school recruiting ranking. It doesn’t account for transfers, which in part explains Georgia’s lofty ranking.

Georgia added the fewest transfers in the SEC this offseason. The Bulldogs also lost the least amount of transfers to the transfer portal in the SEC.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart still wants to build through the high school model. Its current roster reflects that.

“I choose to retain,” Smart said at SEC media days. “I mean, there’s coaches out there that don’t choose to retain. What do you mean? Their players choose to leave, not always. They get encouraged to leave. So we’re not a, we think that our investment in our player is better than your investment in your player that I would get from you in the portal. So we just keep thinking that if we pour into our guys, that our development is going to be better than taking a guy that’s second, third, fourth year that somebody else developed.”

Georgia’s 2026 roster has 13 former 5-star prospects on it, second in the country to Texas. The Bulldogs have 69 former 4-star recruits on their roster, which is also the most in the country.

Among those are former 5-star players on Georgia’s roster include safety KJ Bolden and cornerback Ellis Robinson.

But the Bulldogs do have a handful of expected contributors on the 2026 team who weren’t star-studded recruits. Offensive linemen Drew Bobo and Zykie Helton were both 3-star recruits coming into Georgia.

Helton has been perhaps the most impressive freshman in Georgia’s 2026 signing class. He’s poised to open the season as Georgia’s right guard.

“He has toughness,” Smart said. “Combine that with talent, and you’ve got a good player. He’s grown into a role for us, not afraid to be challenged or afraid to be coached, and I think that’s a great quality in any age player.”

Georgia isn’t a flawless team, as the Bulldogs have concerns about their pass rush and wide receiver room. With the latter, the Bulldogs have plenty of former blue-chip prospects it can turn to give quarterback Gunner Stockton an outlet.

As for the pass rush, the Bulldogs will look to get creative in how they pressure opposing quarterbacks. Perhaps they can turn to former 5-stars in Zayden Walker and Chris Cole to get after the opposing quarterback.

“We’re having to do it in other ways,” Smart said. “And we’ll have to do that probably all year in terms of the way we create pressure and how we go about it. So to say that we’re where we need to be pass-rush-wise, I don’t know that we are.”

Georgia opens the 2026 season on Sept. 5 when it takes on Tennessee State.