College Football is back. The traditions, the upsets, the blowouts, the fight songs, and the nail-biting moments, are all back, and so are the Dawgs. In the past two seasons, the Georgia Bulldogs have been the kings of college football. They capped off two of the most recent seasons covered in confetti that saw them break the 40-year curse to become the first back-to-back national champions since Alabama in the 2011-2012 seasons. The taste of two championships in two years has worn off as the new college football season starts. Georgia fans all over have been wondering the same thing, can the Dawgs three-peat as national champions?
The first thing that every fan, player, and coach looks at when preparing for the season ahead is the schedule. For Georgia, their schedule is one of the easiest in the whole nation this year. They play seven home games. Four are out-of-conference “throwaway” games where Georgia plays UT Martin, Ball State, UAB, and Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The meat of the schedule comes in late October when they play Florida in Jacksonville, an on-the-rise Ole Miss team in Athens, and the Tennessee Volunteers in the very intimidating Neyland Stadium. If the Dawgs can get past this part of the schedule, it would be no surprise to see them suiting up for the SEC Championship with a 12-0 regular season record for the third straight year.
A new season not only means new goals and aspirations for the upcoming games, but it also means new players added to the starting lineup. This year the Dawgs’ offense will be led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Carson Beck, running backs Kendall Milton, and Daijun Edwards, and future NFL first-round pick Brock Bowers. In this year’s offseason, the Dawgs landed star receivers Dominick Lovett from Missouri and Rara Thomas from Mississippi State in the transfer portal to assist with the offense’s passing game. On the other side of the ball, the Dawg’s defense is as good as ever, as players such as Smael Mondon Jr. and Kamari Lassiter are coming back for another season of collegiate ball. If this team of returning players and new faces can mix together correctly to produce wins, the Dawgs will be the team to beat this year.
Even if the Dawgs end up going 12-0 in their cakewalk of a regular season, teams such as Texas, Michigan, and even Florida State will most likely prove themselves as threats in the playoffs to the Dawgs three-peat crown. It’s clear to see that this year Georgia football team is not as dominant as the years prior, so if the Dawgs are looking to bring another national championship to Athens, they need to hunker down and play the game they are supposed to play, Georgia football.
