Georgia Football Weekend 2022 – Week 1

College Football is back and in full effect. The country got a taste last weekend, but the official big kickoff starts this week. Saturday is loaded some big games around the country and here with our Georgia teams. The boys from Athens are coming back after winning last year’s National Championship and walk into high expectations this season. Georgia Tech is facing a put up or shut year for Coach Collins, as the Yellowjackets face tough ACC walk.

This season has had a lot of movement of coaches in the offseason at high profile programs. USC, LSU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma all come into the season with new coaches running the show. With Texas, USC, UCLA and Oklahoma scheduled to leave their conference homes in the next few years, the landscape of college football expects to be a wild place. Here is how the first week games around the state should shape out.

Kirby Smart leads the National Champion Georgia Bulldogs into Mercedes Benz Stadium to face the Ducks of Oregon. The Bulldogs are overwhelming favorites in this game but it may not be as easy as everyone thinks. The generationally good Georgia defense lost 8 players to the NFL draft. They still have some good players but there will be drop off in experience especially along the front. A monster like Jordan Davis is hard to replace. They will face an Oregon team that is returning all 5 starters on the offensive line.

Oregon will be led by first year Head Coach Dan Lanning who is very familiar with this Georgia team as he served as Smart’s Co-Defensive Coordinator for the past 3 seasons. Georgia will also face a familiar opponent as the Ducks expect to start former Auburn signal caller Bo Nix at the Quarterback spot. Now good news for the Dawgs are that they are 3-0 against Nix. Georgia will go into the season with Stetson Bennett inked as the starter at the QB position. Can they get by this season with a low ceiling guy at the helm of the offense without an all-world defense to lean on.

Prediction: Oregon 27 Georgia 21

Watch On: ABC @3:30pm

Georgia Southern will invite the Bears of Morgan State down to Statesboro this evening. Both teams have new head coaches after disappointing 2021 campaigns. Georgia Southern brought in USC’s Clay Helton to help get the program back in shape. He has brought in a few transfers and looks to dump that old option for a more pro-style approach on offense. Neither team has done much to write home about but will still offer out prediction. Georgia Southern being at home will be a plus for them.

Prediction: Georgia Southern 24 Morgan State 17

Watch On: ESPN3 @6:00PM

Georgia State heads to South Carolina to face the Gamecocks. South Carolina has high hopes for this season with new Coach Frank Beamer and high-profile transfer Quarterback Spencer Rattler. They expect to have a better season than last year, but they may be looking past the Panthers this week. The Gamecocks have #19 Arkansas next week and #3 Georgia the week after. The Panthers aren’t a bad football team and looking to build on this growing program that is probably the best college football team in Metro Atlanta. With all that being said it will take a lot to overcome a legit SEC opponent.

Prediction: South Carolina 34 Georgia State 27

Watch On: ESPN+/SEC Network+ @7:30pm

Georgia Tech is facing a make break year for Coach Geoff Collins. Will his team break through and at least become bowl eligible. The have the luxury of rounding out the opening weekend with a Monday night tilt against the Tigers from Clemson. Dabo Sweeney is coming off a disappointing 10-3 campaign with his team last season. Yes, I know that sounds odd as a down year, but Clemson has put themselves in rare company where 10-3 is not good enough. That being said, the Tigers did win their last 5 games of the season last year including a bowl win against Iowa State.

Clemson Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei returns with some experience and expects to shake off the disappointment from last year. The team also has probably one of the best defensive lines in the country. It may seem like we are talking about Clemson a lot but that’s because there isn’t much to speak on about Georgia Tech. That 23 point spread won’t be hard to cover Clemson.

Prediction: Clemson 43 Georgia Tech 3

Watch On: ESPN Monday @8:00pm

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr