Why does Georgia play in the Sugar Bowl instead of the Peach Bowl?

On By Littum

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When Georgia won its 15th Southeastern Conference title with a win over Texas, the Bulldogs missed out on playing a potential first-round College Football Playoff game at Sanford Stadium.

But for good reason — the Bulldogs earned one of the top four seeds that came with a first-round bye.

Then the idea of ​​the possibility of the two-seeded Bulldogs (11-2) being sent to the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for their CFP quarterfinal game began to gain more steam than it might already have had. But unfortunately, the potential “home field advantage” was thrown away on Selection Sunday.

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Georgia was instead sent down to The Big Easy and Caesars Superdome for the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. Bulldogs start at 8:45 PM ET Wednesday vs. No. 7 seed Notre Dame, which advanced to the quarterfinals after beating No. 10 Indiana in the first round.

Wednesday’s CFP quarterfinal game will be the 12th appearance for Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and the first since 2019, when it beat Baylor 26-14.

With that, here’s what you need to know about why Georgia isn’t playing in the Peach Bowl and instead in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday against Notre Dame:

Why does Georgia play in the Sugar Bowl, not the Peach Bowl?

In short, it’s out of Georgia’s control and not like how the NCAA basketball tournament works for top seeds.

But to explain, while the Peach Bowl is a much closer “home” game for Georgia – 71.2 miles and a 1 hour 45 minute drive to Atlanta compared to 540 miles and close to eight hours to New Orleans – the Bulldogs are in the Sugar Bowl due to SEC bowl game ties.

By winning the SEC championship on Dec. 7 against Texas, Georgia was sent to the Sugar Bowl, the traditional bowl site for the conference champion when the Sugar Bowl is not a CFP game.

But with Wednesday’s game as a CFP quarterfinal game, the selection committee for the common fisheries policy considered the historic conference ties that the four CFP quarterfinal spots hold when assigning where each of the top four teams in the 12-team CFP bracket would play.

If Arizona State, which won the Big 12 conference, had been ranked higher than Georgia in the final CFP top 25 rankings, the Sun Devils would have been sent to the Sugar Bowl over the Bulldogs. However, that was not the case as Georgia was ranked No. 2 seed and Arizona State in the no. the 4 seed.

“There’s a tremendous amount of history (to the Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl). I know, as an early kid, one of the first games that I remember watching and watching back in the early ’80s as a five , six-year-old child and Herschel Walker and the moments that happened in the sugar bowl,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said on Selection Sunday after learning the Bulldogs would play their CFP quarterfinal game at the Sugar Bowl.

“All the way through a lot of games that I’ve been a part of, whether it was Florida State-Georgia when I was a GA (graduate assistant) at Florida State; many years at Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. I think that my kids think their second home is the Sugar Bowl because they spent a lot of time there and they’re very spoiled when it comes to playing in an electric atmosphere, big matchups, big games Sugar Bowl for a long time, have a long history, and so does Georgia.”

Georgia-Notre Dame sugar bowl time

  • Date: Wednesday, January 1
  • Time: 8:45 PM ET
  • Location: Caesars Superdome (New Orleans)

Georgia and Notre Dame will tip off at 8:45 PM ET on Wednesday, January 1 in the 2025 Sugar Bowl and CFP quarterfinals from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

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Georgia record in Sugar Bowl

  • Georgia record in Sugar Bowl: 5-6

Georgia enters Wednesday’s CFP quarterfinal game against Notre Dame with a 5-6 record in its previous 11 Sugar Bowl appearances.

Here’s a breakdown of how the Bulldogs have fared in previous Sugar Bowls:

  • January 1, 1947: Georgia 20, UNC 10
  • January 1, 1969: Arkansas 16, Georgia 2
  • January 1, 1977: Pitt 27, Georgia 3
  • January 1, 1981: Georgia 17, Notre Dame 10
  • January 1, 1982: Pitt 24, Georgia 20
  • January 1, 1983: Penn State 27, Georgia 23
  • January 1, 2003: Georgia 26, Florida State 13
  • January 2, 2006: West Virginia 38, Georgia 35
  • 1 January 2008: Georgia 41, Hawaii 10
  • 1 January 2019: Texas 28, Georgia 21
  • 1 January 2020: Georgia 26, Baylor 14
  • 1 January 2025 (CFP quarter-finals): no. 2 Georgia vs. no. 7 Notre Dame (TBD)