Monday should be an interesting day. We’ll hear from Georgia coach Kirby Smart for the first time since UGA officially learned it would be in the Sugar Bowl two weeks ago. There should be several newsworthy items to come from the press conference.

First of all, two Bulldogs players were recently arrested on shoplifting charges. Will either or both of them miss the Sugar Bowl? Smart is likely to keep it vague on this topic -- as is his prerogative. However, he’ll be asked about the situation nonetheless.

Smart will also be asked about a couple of key injuries.

He recently left the door open for a possible return for wide receiver Colbie Young. Is that realistic for the Sugar Bowl? We’ll see if there’s any new information to provide.

There have also been recent rumors involving a possible turf toe for defensive end Gabe Harris. Will Smart confirm them and shed light on his potential status? Probably not, but what can hope, right?

Since we last had a press conference, we’ve also learned that UGA will be playing Ole Miss -- after the Rebels easily handled Tulane on Saturday afternoon. Expect a series of questions about the various scenarios involving rematches and how Ole Miss will be impacted by Lane Kiffin’s absence.

Hope you’ll stay close to DawgNation for more on these storylines and all your Sugar Bowl coverage -- including the stories linked below.

Trivia time

When is the last time Georgia football played in the Sugar Bowl?

Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

Georgia football to face Ole Miss in Sugar Bowl

Georgia now officially knows its next opponent in the College Football Playoff.

After a 41-10 Ole Miss win over Tulane, the Bulldogs will face the Rebels in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. The game will be played in New Orleans and is set for an 8 p.m. ET start on ESPN.

Georgia enters the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 seed after a 12-1 season. The Bulldogs took home the SEC championship after beating Alabama 28-7. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 in its College Football Playoff game.

Georgia has prior experience with Ole Miss, having beaten the Rebels 43-35 earlier this season.

Georgia got off to a poor start in that game, which was played in Athens on Oct. 18. The Bulldogs allowed touchdowns on their first five defensive possessions of the game and trailed 35-26 at the start of the fourth quarter.

But a 17-0 fourth quarter gave the Bulldogs the winning margin.

“I just told the guys, that’s a culture win,” Smart said after the game. “You don’t win that game if you’re not physically tough, mentally tough. We call it hard to kill. The one thing we are, we’re hard to kill. We won’t go away.”

CFB weekly bowl results

Final

  • CFP First Round: Alabama over Oklahoma, 34-24
  • CFP First Round: Miami over Texas A&M, 10-3
  • CFP First Round: Ole Miss over Tulane, 41-10
  • CFP First Round: Oregon over James Madison, 51-34

Monday

  • Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Washington State vs. Utah State, 2 p.m.

Tuesday

  • Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl: Toledo vs. Louisville, 2 p.m.
  • New Orleans Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. Southern Miss, 5:30 p.m.
  • Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: UNLV vs. Ohio, 9 p.m.

Wednesday

  • Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl: California vs. Hawaii, 8 p.m.

Friday

  • GameAbove Sports Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Northwestern, 1 p.m.
  • Rate Bowl: New Mexico vs. Minnesota, 4:30 p.m.
  • SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: Florida International vs. UTSA, 8 p.m.

Early enrollees hope ‘to get the call’ for bowl practices

College football has made roster management much more complicated these days. The latest is Georgia football’s annual December tradition of bringing in a horde of its latest signees for bowl practices.

That now intersects with the new 105-man roster management landscape, among other things.

While it seems like almost all of Georgia’s 29 signees will be early enrollees in January, there won’t be quite that many in Athens for Sugar Bowl practices. DawgNation has confirmed that several members of the 2026 class are expected to practice with the Dawgs for the first time on Saturday.

While the entire class of 2026 can ball, not all of them will get the call.

Photo of the day

A letter writer is extremely optimistic about Gunner Stockton as Georgia’s starting quarterback. (Jason Getz/AJC) (Jason Getz/Dawgnation)

Quote of the day

Smart on Georgia’s 2026 signing class:

“Really excited about that group. It was a kind of anticlimactic like it normally is nowadays on Signing Day ... More of these kids have to be ready to play.”

Georgia football among CFP quarterfinal favorites

Georgia has opened as a 7-point favorite over Ole Miss in the CFP Sugar Bowl quarterfinal, per DraftKings.com.

The Bulldogs (12-1) will play the Rebels (12-1) in a rematch of the teams’ regular-season meeting Athens, which Georgia won 43-35 on Oct. 18.

Ole Miss defeated Tulane 41-10 on Saturday in Oxford, Mississippi, in a College Football Playoff first-round game.

The Rebels saw their All-American tailback, Kewan Lacy, leave the game in the third quarter with an injury.

“He banged his shoulder up,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said. “Obviously he came back into the game and fought through that, so we’ll address that from here going forward.”

The winner of the Georgia-Ole Miss Sugar Bowl will play in the Fiesta Bowl against the winner of the Dec. 31 Cotton Bowl game between Ohio State and Miami in Arlington, Texas.

Here are the other point spreads for the quarterfinals:

  • Cotton Bowl: Ohio State (-9 ½ ) vs. Miami
  • Rose Bowl: Indiana (-7) vs. Alabama
  • Orange Bowl: Oregon (-1 ½) vs. Texas Tech

Trivia answer

2024 season