Major college football programs cancel home-and-home series set for 2026 and 2027

Photo of an SEC chain marker during a major college football game | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

College football fans received an unfortunate piece of news this week when word hit the street that a pair of blockbuster inter-conference matchups scheduled for 2026 and 2027 have now been cancelled. Two 2025 College Football Playoff contenders could have been set up for heavyweight fights in back-to-back seasons, and now, they've called it all off.

According to the local Courier Journal in Louisville, KY, the Louisville Cardinals and Georgia Bulldogs have officially canceled their series that was supposed to be played next season and the year after at the schools' respective campuses. This isn't uncommon in modern college football. Heck, the current CFP 1-seed, Indiana, even cancelled a game against Louisville last season and cancelled one against Virginia for this year. Cancellations happen. It's just a shame that they do.

"Louisville and Georgia football have canceled their 2026-27 home-and-home agreement for the 2026 and 2027 seasons," writer Payton Titus reported in her piece for the CJ. "This scheduling change comes after the ACC and SEC established a scheduling requirement where member schools must play 10 power opponents every year."

Georgia Bulldogs players celebrate a score | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Titus also noted that there won't be much financial fallout from the cancellation: "Because both schools mutually agreed to cancel the series, which UofL athletics director Josh Heird and Georgia athletics director Josh Brooks signed in 2021, neither school will owe the other liquidated damages."

Georgia, Louisville plan for future game

So, there's that. But there's another piece of info Payton Titus included in her article, that Georgia and Louisville are still eying a neutral site game at some point in the future since the home-and-home series did not work out.

Louisville Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm talks with Louisville Cardinals quarterback Miller Moss | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

"Louisville and UGA, in a news release on Wednesday, said they will look to play a neutral site game in the future," added Titus. Georgia's own athletics website posted the official news as well but with much less dressing than Titus' article. Their release literally stated:

"The Bulldogs and Louisville have mutually agreed to cancel their home-and-home series for the 2026-27 seasons. The teams will look to play each other in a neutral site game on a later date. Additionally, Georgia and N.C. State have agreed to cancel their home-and-home series for the 2033-34 seasons."

Woof, no Georgia and NC State in 2034? What are we going to do with ourselves. But seriously, the cancellation of more and more non-conference machtups between teams in those major leagues is disappointing. College football fans ought to wish for more crossover data points, games between teams from different conferences, than less. But alas, we're getting less anyways.