2026 Vanderbilt Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 5: Georgia – Sports Illustrated

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It is not often that Vanderbilt and Georgia are a matchup that looks intriguing and full of storylines between the matchup, but this year is different.
Vanderbilt will travel to Athens to take on a Georgia Bulldogs team that will almost certainly be competing for the SEC crown yet again. Georgia is coming off a SEC Championship Game victory over Alabama and a trip to the Sugar Bowl, in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, where it lost to Ole Miss.
This season, the storyline that will be in between the X’s and O’s of this fall’s matchup between Vanderbilt and Georgia is the story of five-star quarterback Jared Curtis. Curtis has to win the starting job at Vanderbilt first in order for that story to really dominate headlines, but if he is, it becomes the game within the game.
Curtis flipped his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt in December 2025 after months of being committed to Georgia. The flip to the Commodores sent shockwaves around the world of college football. On Oct. 3, Vanderbilt with a potentially Curtis-led offense will march into Sanford Stadium to face the school he once was committed to.
Here is a breakdown and the game information for Vanderbilt’s first conference opponent of the 2026 season.
There is good and bad news when it comes to Georgia’s offense in 2026. The good news is that it has six returning starters and three of them are offensive lineman and another one of them is quarterback Gunner Stockton. With another year of experience under their belt, the Bulldogs should be rock solid in terms of having enough to protect Stockton.
The bad news, though, is that Georgia lost a ton of pass catching depth. Zachariah Branch and Colbie Young, Georgia’s top two receivers last year, are gone. Dillon Bell is gone and so is Noah Thomas, who was second on the team in receiving touchdowns.
But in classic Kirby Smart and Georgia fashion, it had the No. 9 overall 2026 recruiting class. That class includes four-star wide receiver Craig Dandridge and four-star tight end Lincoln Keyes. In the transfer portal, the only wide receiver that Georgia added was former Georgia Tech wide receiver Isiah Canion.
It is essentially a guarantee that Canion will play an important part in Georgia’s passing game while its four-stars will have to step up this season as well. Rushing-wise, Georgia does return its top running back Nate Frazier.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has been creative in terms of getting his pass catchers the ball over the years, but Georgia’s situation this season makes it more interesting to see how things turn out.
It is not hyperbolic to say that Georgia could have one of, if not, the best defense in college football this fall. A season ago, the Bulldogs were 14th in the country in total defense, though it did look vulnerable against an offense like Ole Miss that was known for its production.
But this season, Georgia returns eight starters on defense. That is 73 percent of its defensive starters running it back this season. In the transfer portal, Georgia added Auburn EDGE rusher Amaris Williams and East Carolina safety Ja’Marley Riddle. Another guy that could become an important piece of the Georgia defense is freshman five-star defensive lineman Valdin Sone.
Last season, Georgia gave up just 298 yards and 17.6 points per game. Only three of the 14 games it played it gave up more than 24 points. Two of three games were against Ole Miss.
Georgia’s defense will be wreaking havoc across the SEC this season. The question is if it will be good enough to make up for the losses the offense suffered this offseason. Talent-wise, it is possible.
Georgia’s schedule starts off easy with a game against Tennessee State at home, but it is the middle of the season where the Bulldogs will really be tested. In addition to facing a scrappy Vanderbilt team, Georgia plays Alabama on the road, Auburn and Florida in rivalry games before taking on Ole Miss on the road. Those are all back-to-back over the month of October and early November.
If it survives that stretch, Georgia finishes the regular season with a lighter finish going into the postseason.
Georgia will no doubt be a team that will be contending for the SEC Championship in both the regular season and postseason, but the Bulldogs will also be contending for the College Football Playoffs barring something unforeseen happening in their 2026 season.
The biggest issue for Georgia is finding who will catch the ball. While Isiah Canion is a great addition and will likely be featured plenty in the passing game, the question is who else will step up.
Outside of that, Georgia is going to be one of the more experienced teams in college football. The Bulldogs have so much defensive production that is returning that it can make up for its losses on the offensive side of the ball early this offseason.
As for Vanderbilt’s game against Georgia, this will probably end up being the most difficult game the Commodores play all year. The positive of it is that it is an earlier kickoff, so there is not the pressure of playing in prime time at night and the fact that this game still occurs relatively earlier in the season, so Georgia may not be playing at its max potential to begin October. This is a game Vanderbilt will not be favored in, but anything can happen in college football.
Date: Oct. 3
Time: TBD (Early time window slate: 11 a.m. to noon CT kickoff time)
TV: TBD
Location: Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia
Series history: Georgia leads 61-20-2
Last meeting: Georgia beat Vanderbilt 37-20 in 2023.
Coach: Kirby Smart, 11th season, 117-21 record
Offensive coordinator: Mike Bobo
Defensive coordinator: Glenn Schumann
2025 record: 12-2 (7-1 SEC)
2025 rankings: 50th in total offense, 14th in total defense
Top Newcomer: Amaris Williams, EDGE transfer from Auburn
Biggest Question: How does Georgia make up for the departures from its receiving corps last season with only one wide receiver transfer addition?
Location: Athens, Georgia
Founded: 1785
Enrollment: 43,888 total students
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: Red, black and white
Mascot: UGA the Bulldog
Last win in series: Georgia beat Vanderbilt 37-20 in 2023
FBS championships: Four claimed national championships
FBS Playoff Appearances: Five
September 5: vs. Tennessee State
September 12: vs. Western Kentucky
September 19: at Arkansas
September 26: vs. Oklahoma
October 3: vs. Vanderbilt
October 10: at Alabama
October 17: vs. Auburn
October 31: vs. Florida (in Atlanta)
November 7: at Ole Miss
November 14: vs. Missouri
November 21: at South Carolina
November 28: vs. Georgia Tech
This is the fifth story in Vanderbilt on SI's early preview series of all 12 regular-season opponents for Vanderbilt football in 2026
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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