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Kirby Smart and Georgia begin the season on Saturday.

Why Georgia is going to make the College Football Playoff, again

Connor Riley
Connor Riley

Welcome to Good Day, UGA, your one-stop shop for Georgia football news and takes. Check us out every weekday morning for everything you need to know about Georgia football, recruiting, basketball and more.

Georgia football. College Football Playoff. Collision Course

Guys, we made it. The long offseason is over. Several teams began week 1 last night and Georgia begins its season tomorrow.

So after spending all season looking ahead, to Sept.1, let’s use the last day of Georgia’s offseason to look ahead one last time. To Dec. 2, the day when this year’s College Football Playoff field will be announced. Because Georgia is going to be one of the four teams whose name gets called that day.

Yes Georgia lost a number of key contributors from last year: It’s No. 2(Nick Chubb) and No. 3(Sony Michel) rushers in program history, a starting left tackle (Isaiah Wynn)who was taken in the first round of the NFL draft and the team’s best player in Roquan Smith. But there are still plenty of great players who came back.

Deandre Baker might be the best defensive back. Andrew Thomas could be a better left tackle than Wynn. And Jake Fromm, who should only get better, returns along with seven 5-star freshman and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class.

There’s also the fact that Georgia’s schedule isn’t nearly as tough as it was a season ago. There is no road game at Notre Dame or Auburn. And while Auburn at home and a road trip to LSU will be tough, the SEC East looks just as weak as it did a season ago. Georgia should cruise again to an SEC Championship game.

From there Georgia will Alabama in Atlanta. There’s a chance that both teams enter that game unbeaten. The winner of the game will lock up a playoff spot while the loser will sweat out Sunday, and I believe ultimately miss the College Football Playoff. And Georgia, because of an improved Fromm and a better and bigger offensive line will end the Bulldogs losing streak against the Crimson Tide.

For the second consecutive year, Georgia is going to be playing in the College Football Playoff. It will join Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State as teams with multiple playoff appearances(for the record I also have Washington making the College Football Playoff this year meaning it would also join the list).

And for full disclosure, my College Football Playoff four is Clemson, Georgia, Washington and Michigan.

Hopefully it’s another fun season of Georgia football that breeds iconic moments, great victories and just a lot of fun. So buckle up Georgia fans, because football season is back!

Friday Football Fun

Make sure you check out DawgNation on Friday as we’ll have lots of coverage of the unveiling of the West End Zone as well as Georgia’s new locker. DawgNation team reporter Chip Towers will be leading our coverage but make sure to check out the DawgNation Twitter account for other updates and pictures on the brand new facility. Or if you want to wait till kickoff on Saturday, you could do that as well.

Related: Georgia football facility upgrades won’t end with West End dedication at Sanford Stadium 

Friday picks:

I’m going to try my best to make this a running feature but every Friday I’m going to pick the Georgia game and five other games against the spread. For sake of transparency I’ll keep track of my record all year. And also, please don’t take these picks to the bank.

  • Austin Peay at Georgia, 3:30 p.m Saturday: Austin Peay is a 42.5 underdog Georgia by a lot but not that much, 34-3
  • San Diego State at Stanford, 9 p.m. Friday: San Diego State(+14) covers but Stanford pulls one out, 35-24
  • Florida Atlantic at. Oklahoma, 12 p.m. Saturday: Florida Atlantic(+21) covers but doesn’t pull the big upset, Oklahoma 48-31
  • Washington vs. Auburn, 3:30 p.m. Saturday: Washington(+2) is one of my College Football Playoff teams so of course I’m taking them, Washington 23-17
  • Michigan at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. Saturday: Michigan(+1) is also one of my College Football Playoff teams, Michigan 20-10
  • Miami vs. LSU, 7:30 p.m. Sunday: DawgNation’s Brandon Adams disagrees with me but give me Miami(-3.5). I think LSU will have the worst offense in the SEC, 13-3

The season is really here because Georgia dropped a hype video

I could spend hundreds of words telling you why Georgia football hype videos are so great. Mostly because they perfectly manage to capture Athens, the Georgia fan base and Georgia football in a really great way.

But instead of doing that I’m just going to give you the link to its latest work of art. As a Georgia fan, you can’t not get chills watching this video. Hopefully it’s the first of many great productions from this season.

Georgia football names its captains

If you had asked most Georgia fans who they thought would be the captains for the first game against Austin Peay, most would’ve said some combination of Jake Fromm, Deandre Baker, JR Reed and Lamont Gaillard to name a few.

Instead, the Georgia Football Twitter account announced that senior inside linebacker Juwan Taylor, senior wide receiver Ahkil Crumpton and junior running back Elijah Holyfield would be captains for the Austin Peay game.

It’s a huge honor for all three players and likely rewards all three for how hard they’ve worked during the offseason. Holyfield and Taylor are very likely to see larger roles this year while Crumpton will again be a kick player on special teams.

The Bulldogs kickoff against Austin Peay at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and air after the Texas Tech-Ole Miss game.

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NEXT By the Numbers: UGA has improved mightily since 2016 nailbiter with FCS foe

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