College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

The SEC East is far from what it was in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but there are a couple road games on Georgia’s schedule that they won’t be able to sleepwalk through. The Dawgs play at South Carolina in Week 2, at Missouri Week 4 then go to Death Valley to take on LSU from the West and Jacksonville for the ‘Cocktail Party’ with a bye week separating the last two.

The biggest game on the schedule for Georgia in 2018 (outside of the SEC Championship) is Auburn in Athens. Georgia and Auburn met twice in 2017 and split the pair of games. Auburn took care of Georgia 40-17 the second week of November but when they played again less than a month later in Atlanta, the Bulldog defense found another gear and shut Auburn down 28-7.

Georgia lost a pair of running backs who will be playing on Sundays and SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Roquan Smith. Kirby Smart has put together three top recruiting so Georgia will reload, especially at running back. Jake Fromm was great as a true freshman last year and should be even better as a sophomore (as long as he curbs his outdoor activities in the offseason and can stay healthy).

Auburn is bringing back most of their key players on both sides of the ball as well, making this a rubber match even bigger after they split last season. The pressure is on Stidham to deliver on the road like he has at Jordan-Hare. I think he’ll step up and help Auburn give Georgia their first loss of the season but likely miss out on round two with Alabama winning the West.