Georgia Tech and Georgia close out the regular season the same way they always do — hating each other in prime time. This year both sides bring real questions to Athens.
Bush’s Picks
GTUGA
GTUGA
OverUnder
Best BetGeorgia
Georgia brings back 14 starters and a defense stacked with future draft picks, while Georgia Tech is asking a first-year starting quarterback to win a road rivalry game in prime time. On paper this favors the more stable roster, and Georgia is that team even after losing six players to the draft.
Georgia Tech
+Brent Key has topped preseason projections 3 straight years
+9-4 in 2025, program's best mark in 9 years
+Heavy defensive transfer haul: Carter, Walker, McCoy
−Multi-year starter Haynes King now in the NFL
−Presumed heir Aaron Philo transferred to Florida instead
−New OC and DC both untested in these roles
Georgia
+Kirby Smart stability after a 12-2, SEC title year
+14 starters back, including 3 potential future 1st-rounders
+Gunner Stockton locked in with no QB competition
−Lost 6 players in the NFL Draft, including 1st-round OT
−Must replace significant left tackle production
−Preseason rankings split on how good this team really is
Georgia Tech's whole operation runs through a new quarterback this fall. Haynes King is gone to the NFL after years as the starter, and the presumed heir apparent, Aaron Philo, transferred out to Florida. That left the door open for Indiana transfer Alberto Mendoza, who reportedly won the job over Graham Knowles in spring practice. Brent Key is also breaking in new coordinators on both sides of the ball, which is a lot of moving parts for a team trying to build on last year's 9-4 season.
Georgia isn't dealing with quite the same overhaul, but the roster took a hit too. The Dawgs sent six players off the 2025 team into the NFL Draft, including left tackle Monroe Freeling in the first round, and now have to replace that O-line production. Gunner Stockton is locked in as QB1 with no portal competition brought in behind him, which says plenty about how Kirby Smart feels about him heading into the year.
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GT Georgia Tech
UGA Georgia
Both programs are selling the same story this offseason: more talent walked out the door than most fans would like, but the cupboard isn't bare. Georgia still has 14 returning starters, including defensive pieces like KJ Bolden, Ellis Robinson and Chris Cole who are already drawing early buzz as future first-round talents. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, went out and loaded up on defensive transfers — Noah Carter, Jordan Walker, Taje McCoy and others — betting that a retooled defense can cover for the offense finding its footing.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Nov 20?vs Wake Forest—
Nov 13?@ Clemson—
Nov 6?vs Louisville—
Oct 30?@ Pittsburgh—
Oct 16?@ Virginia Tech—
Oct 9?vs Duke—
Sep 26?@ Stanford—
Sep 19?vs Mercer—
Sep 12?vs Tennessee—
Sep 3?vs Colorado—
Georgia Bulldogs
Nov 20?@ South Carolina—
Nov 13?vs Missouri—
Nov 6?@ Ole Miss—
Oct 31?vs Florida—
Oct 16?vs Auburn—
Oct 9?@ Alabama—
Oct 2?vs Vanderbilt—
Sep 25?vs Oklahoma—
Sep 19?@ Arkansas—
Sep 12?vs Western Kentucky—
Sep 5?vs Tennessee State—
Recent form.
The rivalry itself needs no extra hype. The 2024 meeting went eight overtimes before Georgia escaped 44-42 after trailing by 17, one of the wildest games in the sport that year. Nobody in either building has forgotten it, and Brent Key has made a habit of getting his teams to outplay their preseason expectations three years running — Georgia Tech opened as low as a 6.5-win team in some early projections and still found ways to be a problem for everyone on the schedule.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Georgia Bulldogs
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
By the time this one kicks off on Friday, November 27, both teams will have played a full slate of SEC and ACC football, and the roster questions floating around right now — the O-line replacements in Athens, the Mendoza experiment in Atlanta — will have either resolved themselves or turned into full-blown storylines. Either way, this is a season finale that both fan bases circle in pen, not pencil.
