Does 2025 SEC football title run through Georgia?

ATHENS — SEC Network stars Chris Doering and Peter Burns came right out and said last week what some around the league have been thinking.

Georgia football enters the 2025 season atop the SEC, but the program’s air of dominance has been shaken by transfer portal and NIL dealings.“I don’t know if we’ve ever gone into a season with more questions marks about Georgia since maybe after Kirby’s second year,” Doering told DawgNation.

“We’ve always felt good about their depth and next man up, but the questions about the quarterback position are legitimate, and you look at the way they were physically beaten up by Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl — we don’t see that when teams play Kirby’s Bulldogs — so there are legitimate questions about how far the gap is.

“I don’t think anyone has necessarily passed them, but they aren’t head and shoulders above everyone else like they had been for the last five or six years.”

Burns has picked Georgia to win the SEC the past four seasons, but he gives the edge to Texas with the 2025 season approaching.

“It’s more of a 1A and 1B, and I give Texas the edge because of Arch (Manning), their schedule and the NIL money,” Burns told DawgNation. “But I’m not saying there’s going to be a major drop-off or 8-4 season or anything like that.”

Smart, himself, has shared the challenges the 2025 Bulldogs have coming up this season with an inexperienced quarterback leading a very young roster.

“Mental and physical toughness, I think, is one of the number one areas we can get better at,” Smart said after seeing mixed results from his offense in the annual G-Day spring scrimmage last month.

“Grow, have more guys that can play winning football.”

Smart gave a mixed review on QB Gunner Stockton after the G-Day game when asked how the fourth-year sophomore had improved the most in the spring session.

“Confidence, understanding the offense, knowing when to take a shot, which he didn’t do a great job today,” Smart said. “He had a couple times where he could have thrown the ball or checked it down. He took shots that he probably didn’t have to.

“But he’s done a really good job with his feet, his legs. He made plays with his legs today, and I thought Ryan (Puglisi) did too.”

Stockton, of course, came on in relief of starter Carson Beck in the 22-19 SEC Championship Game win over Texas and was the starter in the 23-10 CFP Quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

Stockton was 20-of-32 passing for 234 yards with a touchdown against the Irish but was sacked four times and had a fumble that directly led to a Notre Dame touchdown.

It’s fair to say Stockton enters the 2025 season an unproven commodity, just as there will be new faces on the offensive and defensive lines.

Georgia had four starting offensive linemen and four defensive line veterans move on to the NFL.

“There’s a lot of big bodies for us that had to be replaced, and we’re not where we need to be on the line of scrimmage,” Smart said. “I’m very pleased with the kids we have, I’m just not pleased with where we are. We have to get better.”

Some have written off Smart’s comments as a championship level coach always pushing for more improvement.

But Doering explained why there’s more reason for concern that in the past at Georgia, and it has everything to do with the transfer portal and the unlimited NIL funds, as the House vs. NCAA settlement does not yet have a final ruling.

“We’re seeing things we haven’t seen from Georgia before, we’re seeing the inability to retain the roster,” Doering said in an SEC Network Instagram clip.

“They were one of the last schools to be able to keep their team and have the kind of depth you have to depth to win championships …. They go and get manhandled by Ole Miss the way they did, they get physically beaten by Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, these are things that are signs of concern.”

Burns, in the SEC Network clip, noted how the formula has changed for powerhouse programs like Georgia and the Alabama teams led by Nick Saban.

“They were built on the foundation of, ‘I have a draft pick, and then the backup of the draft pick is a draft pick, and the backup of that draft pick is a freshman who will become a draft pick,’ “ Burns said.

“That stacking of talent is no longer available because of NIL and the transfer portal.”

Burns said the trend begs a question.

“If Georgia is a team that has struggled, is it Texas that’s now the superpower of the SEC, going back to back in their college football playoff runs, and they are spending $35 to $40 million on this roster?” Burns said.

“If you’re looking at the numbers, the SEC does not run through Georgia, the SEC powerhouse is the Texas Longhorns.”