ATHENS — Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks is in support of the SEC moving to a nine-game conference schedule. Even if it makes his job more difficult at the moment.
The league has played eight conference games, even as the Big Ten and Big 12 both play nine-game schedules. That changed at the end of August as the SEC announced its plans to go to a nine-game schedule starting in 2026.
The slate will include three annual opponents, while rotating through the other six games. That ensures that every student-athlete who remains at an institution for four years will play every team in the league twice and at least once as a home game.
Brooks spoke about the change on Friday following the University of Georgia Athletic Board meeting, as well as what comes next from the school.
“When you talk to fans and the desire for higher-quality opponents and then knowing the rotation and being able to plan the next four years, you’ll be able to come out and plan your next four years and say, ‘I’m going to go to this trip in this year,’” Brooks said. “I think that’s good for fans.”
As it stands right now, Georgia is scheduled to play 11 games against Power 4 opponents next season. In addition to the nine conference games, Georgia also has previously scheduled games against Louisville and Georgia Tech. Georgia also has games against Western Kentucky and Tennessee State on the schedule as well.
That leaves Georgia with 13 games, meaning changes and tweaks will have to be made.
“We’re working through that right now, and a lot of that’s going to be determined as we learn when and where our schedule is going to be in the next few weeks,” Brooks said. “But that’s something we’re attacking right now to see what our options are going to be in 2026. So we’re going to take it one year at a time right now. The first focus is going to be on 2026 and then 2027 and moving on.”
Brooks added that he has reached out to the schools on Georgia’s 2026 nonconference slate, but those have only been preliminary talks and that nothing has been finalized.
Georgia has future series against Florida State, Clemson and Ohio State on the schedule as well. Georgia already satisfies the SEC’s rule to play one Power 4 nonconference foe every year, as it faces in-state rival Georgia Tech.
A 2026 league schedule has not yet been announced, nor has which three opponents would become annual foes for Georgia. Florida and Auburn are likely candidates, while Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee all have cases to be the third team.
Where Georgia stands in its deal with Nike
Two of the more notable programs in college football have changed up their apparel deals in recent weeks.
Tennessee previously announced it would be switching from Nike to Adidas, with a name, image and likeness component being a factor for the move.
Penn State became the latest school to flip from Nike to Adidas, publicly announcing it would do so on Friday. Penn State had been a Nike school since 1993.
As for Georgia, expect them to remain with Nike. Brooks made that very clear to reporters on Friday.
“We have a great partner, Nike, great working relationship, and I don’t anticipate any change from them,” Brooks said.
