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ESPN Gurus Express Skepticism About Georgia Bulldogs 2026 Season

Dean Legge|
Kirby Smart takes the field before the start of the Alabama game in 2025.
Kirby Smart takes the field before the start of the Alabama game in 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS - A trio of ESPN’s college football gurus said Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs would leave 2026 without a national title once more.

During a pre-game segment picking the results of the College Football Playoff, ESPN’s trio of analysts picked Georgia to fail to get back to the College Football Playoff Championship Game. None of the three former SEC players agreed on which program would wind up winning it all.

Greg McElroy predicted the Dawgs, as the No. 4 seed, would defeat No. 5 Texas in the quarterfinals.

"Georgia wins the SEC and gets a rematch," Greg McElroy said Saturday of the matchup. But he had bad news for the Dawgs after that.

The former Alabama QB predicted UGA would lose to No. 1 Notre Dame in the semifinals. McElroy predicted No. 2 Ohio State would defeat No. 1 Notre Dame in the CFP National Championship Game.

Former LSU DL Booger McFarland said Georgia would host its first home CFP game ever when No. 7 UGA knocks out No. 10 USC in Athens in the first round to advance to play No. 3 Texas - his predicted SEC champion this season.

He then posed a very compelling question:

"Can Texas get over their Georgia problem?" McFarland asked.

He answered that by advancing the Horns past the Bulldogs with Texas losing to No. 1 Notre Dame in the CFP National Championship Game.

Former Gator QB Jesse Palmer also predicted that No. 5 Texas and No. 4 Georgia would meet in a quarterfinal. Palmer had the Dawgs falling to Texas in the CFP after winning the SEC for the third season in a row.

"I think Texas wins that rematch," Palmer said of yet another big game between the two programs.

The former Gator picked No. 1 Oregon to win its first national title - beating No. 3 Miami in the CFP National Championship Game.

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Dean Legge
DEAN LEGGE

After two-plus decades of covering the Georgia Bulldogs and the SEC, Dean Legge is one of the definitive voices in Athens and beyond. Legge has authored two books - DAWGSTRUCTION and DOUBLE DAWGS - with each chronicling Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs' run to national titles in 2021 and 2022. Legge has been a Heisman Trophy voter since 2005 and a Biletnikoff Award voter since 2009. He’s covered SEC Championships, Peach Bowls, Orange Bowls, Sugar Bowls, the Rose Bowl Game, College Football Playoff National Championship Games, the NCAA Tournament, the College World Series as well as a slew of college football, basketball and baseball games. Legge graduated from Coker College in 1999 with a degree in Political Science. He played both tennis and basketball for the Cobras. After graduating, Legge completed his academic career at the University of Georgia where he earned a Master of Public Administration from the School of Public and International Affairs in 2001. In 2008, Legge was elected President of the Coker College Alumni Association. He served on the Board of Trustees at Coker from 2009 to 2017 and was a member of the Executive Committee, Student Services and Enrollment Committee and Athletic Committee in that time. Legge is a native of Tucker, Georgia.

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