Major college football program predicted to be No. 1 program in SEC

The 2025 college football season has officially reached its conclusion. A seven-month-long offseason separates the College Football Playoff national championship game from the first college football games of 2026.

Media outlets across the college football landscape have logged way too early predictions for how the 2026 season could play out. These predictions can include top 25 rankings, Heisman Trophy projections and College Football Playoff brackets.

Chris Marler of LouisianaSports.net released way too early predictions for how the SEC will play out in the 2026 college football season. His way-too-early winner was Georgia, meaning the Bulldogs will win their third consecutive SEC championship.

2026 SEC Predictions: Way Too Early Look for next year

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"I will never bet against Kirby Smart. Last season, they were the second youngest team in the SEC in 2025, and they lost very little from that roster," Marler wrote. "They also only play four games outside of the state in 2026, and two of those were 4-8 or worse a season ago. Give me the Dawgs."

Georgia has been a frequent flyer in the SEC Championship during Smart's tenure in Athens. The Bulldogs' overall record in the SEC Championship under Smart is 4-4, three of the losses coming against Nick Saban-led Alabama teams and the other against the 2019 LSU team.

The 2024 Texas team is the only team to lose closely to Georgia in any of its four SEC Championship wins (22-19) in Smart's tenure. The Bulldogs defeated Auburn in 2017 (28-7), LSU in 2022 (50-30) and Alabama in 2025 (28-7).

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart looks toward the field during the Sugar Bowl | Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The SEC made the decision to shrink its non-conference schedule from four to three games in order to increase its conference schedule to nine games in an effort to align with the rest of the power conferences.

The league is requiring all members to play one of their non-conference games against another Power Four team or Notre Dame, although this is nothing new for Georgia, since it plays Georgia Tech annually.

There is a favorable abnormality in Georgia's 2026 SEC schedule that involves one of the conference's most bitter rivalries. With the Jacksonville Jaguars in the process of building a new stadium, the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" is being played in Atlanta in 2026 and Tampa in 2027, less convenient locations for one of the teams each season than Jacksonville.

SEC home games for the Bulldogs include Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Missouri, two of which won 10 games in 2025. The road games are at Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina, the middle two of which defeated the Bulldogs the last time they hosted them.