ATHENS — The Georgia football season-opening game is a week away, and the anticipation is rapidly growing.

Can these Bulldogs win it all or repeat as SEC champions?

At a minimum Coach Kirby Smart is expected to produce a team capable of making the 12-team College Football Playoff field.

Smart, after all, has produced the longest active streak of Top 10 finishes in the SEC, eight straight seasons dating back to 2017.

But every team and every campaign is different, and the Bulldogs enter their 3:30 p.m. game with Marshall next Saturday with more questions than answers.

Here are five fearless predictions on this Georgia football team:

1. Ryan Puglisi will play key role

Gunner Stockton has been Georgia’s No. 1 quarterback since taking over for an injured Carson Beck in the second half of the SEC Championship Game.

Smart hasn’t named Stockton the starter yet — he snapped at a reporter who innocently asked if he was ready to do so last week.

There’s little doubt Stockton will be under center for the first snap, and it would be surprising to see anything change between now and the game at Tennessee on Sept. 13.

The Bulldogs will beat the Vols, but things could get interesting from that game onward with Stockton’s penchant for lowering his shoulder on runs — he was knocked out of the SEC title game after fearlessly taking on an NFL-ready safety.

Puglisi, according to many who have viewed practices and scrimmages, has the sort of undeniable arm talent that might ultimately be hard to keep off the field.

One way or another, the prediction here is Puglisi will play a key role for Georgia this season, as a starter, next man up after injury or plug-in to air it out in the clutch.

2. Zachariah Branch will have 1,000 yards receiving

Branch, the high-dollar transfer from USC, will join Terrence Edwards as the only Georgia receivers to record a 1,000-yard season.

Branch has shown joystick quickness and reliable hands, capable of getting open consistently most anywhere on the field.

Georgia has a deep, talented receiving corps, but Branch has the look of a third-down, go-to target and quick-throw, run-after-the-catch kind of weapon.

Branch also figures to play a role on special teams, so there’s an argument to be made he could prove to be UGA’s most valuable offensive player.

3. Georgia will average 200 yards-plus rushing per game

Smart and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo both stressed that these Bulldogs will dictate the run, and with a deep backfield and powerful offense line, RBU is on the way back.

Game situation often has a great deal to do with how the offense is called, and the strong defense Georgia figures to have this season means these Bulldogs won’t be playing from behind as often as they were last season when they finished 15th in the SEC in rushing with 124.4 yards per game.

For perspective, the 2017 Georgia offense led the SEC with 258.4 yards per game on the ground.

This unit doesn’t have that sort of talent in the backfield. After all, who does have a Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and D’Andre Swift all on one roster these days of NIL and free-agent transfer movement?

But it does have enough to do a tad more than the 2023 unit managed with Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards leading a ground attack that averaged 191.2 yards per game with then-first-year starter Carson Beck.

Stockton’s running ability figures to add to the rushing total enough to eclipse 200 yards per game on the ground.

4. Georgia’s home win streak will end

The Bulldogs’ fans will do everything they can to make sure this doesn’t happen, just as they answered the bell against Notre Dame in 2019 and Tennessee in 2022.

The schedule, and the odds, have as much to do with this prediction as anything.

Georgia will play a tested-Alabama team at home on Sept. 27, the Tide having the benefit of tests against Florida State and Wisconsin before a bye week leading into the game in Athens.

Smart and his staff figure to have that game circled after getting out-schemed the first half last season’s loss in Tuscaloosa, however, so this might not be the most likely home loss on the schedule.

Texas, it seems, is the biggest threat to a Georgia home win streak that stands at a mind-boggling 31 games entering the opener with Marshall.

Longhorns first-year starting quarterback Arch Manning will have ironed out whatever wrinkles he’ll start the season with — the prediction here is with a win over Ohio State in the opener.

But the real kicker is Texas was given a valuable off-week before its Nov. 15 trip to Sanford Stadium, while Georgia will be coming off a road trip at Mississippi State.

The SEC is as physical as ever, and there’s an argument to be made that, come November, a bye week advantage trumps that of home field, as Texas will have an extra week to prepare as well as rest the sort of bumps and bruises that are sure to be adding up in a league that features a record-10 preseason Top 25 teams.

Ole Miss also plays at Georgia, on Oct. 18, and the Rebels seem a bit of a long shot to upset the Bulldogs with first-year starting quarterback Austin Simmons and a rebuilt defense.

But between the home games of Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss, the odds would suggest Georgia finally stumble again at home after putting together a record-breaking SEC streak.

Remember, no one saw that most recent home loss coming — in 2019 against South Carolina.

There’s just not much of a margin for error in the SEC, and Georgia’s home slate is as difficult as it has been in years.

5. Georgia will play in SEC Championship Game

Smart’s teams most often get better as the season progresses, and while one SEC loss seems more likely than not, the feeling here is the head coach will get whatever goes wrong fixed.

This Georgia team has stressed the sort of unity great teams possess and have likely realized they will need to band together to accomplish their goals.

Smart’s defensive coaching staff is further along than a season ago, when everyone seemed to be holding their breath after Will Muschamp’s decision to withdraw from his co-defensive coordinator role and act as more of an advisor.

The offense, while no longer possessing an NFL talent at quarterback, has more dynamic and consistent pass-catching weapons in addition to a deeper offensive backfield with tailback Nate Frazier ready to prove more reliable and certain with the ball in his hands.

It’s too early to predict Georgia will win the SEC Championship Game as injuries always seem to play a role.

The Bulldogs also match up better against some teams than others, and entering the season Alabama, Texas, LSU and even Texas A&M are possible SEC Championship Game contenders.