Georgia Football's 2024 Season Marks the End of Annual Meetings Between Certain SEC Foe's

Now that divisions in the SEC are no more, the Georgia Bulldogs will no longer be facing some major SEC opponents annually

Christian Kirby II | Jul 3, 2024

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Georgia Bulldogs

Now that divisions in the SEC are no more, the Georgia Bulldogs will no longer be facing some major SEC opponents annually

Throughout the storied history of the University of Georgia’s football program, the Bulldogs have been a part of some historic rivalries that span more than a century. While some of the Dawgs’ rivals belong to other conferences (such as Georgia Tech and Clemson), the majority of Georgia’s most bitter foes reside in the SEC.

However, the SEC received a major update this offseason and will have an extremely new feel to it in 2024. For starters, the conference added two more powerhouse programs such as Texas and Oklahoma to its alliance, making the SEC arguably the most dominant conference in the entire sport. But along with the addition of two more teams, the conference elected to no longer utilize the two-division system.

For many years, divisions were the determining factor of a team’s schedule. Each team played every other team within its division and the two teams with the best record in each of their divisions would face each other in the SEC Championship. This system ensured that teams would face the same 6-7 conference opponents annually and led to some ferocious rivalry games with major importance.

But with divisions no longer a factor, teams are beginning to see more variety in their conference schedules. While the added variety and “fresh faces” in conference schedules are good, certain rivalry games between SEC teams that would meet annually are becoming less prevalent.

For the Georgia Bulldogs, this means that teams such as Missouri, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt will no longer be annual opponents for the Dawgs. Since 1992, Georgia and South Carolina met annually and participated in some major SEC matchups. Especially during the years that college football legend Steve Spurrier was their head coach.

Missouri and Vanderbilt (while not major rivals for the Dawgs) had also been annual opponents for Georgia since the 2012 season. While Georgia dominated these rivalries for the most part, the Commodores and Tigers still provided some iconic moments for Georgia football.

Though, the absence of certain teams on the Bulldogs’ annual schedule could be upsetting to certain Georgia fans. The Bulldogs’ SEC slate will almost certainly still be exciting to watch and could even see the birth of new rivalries form.