It was only a matter of time. As soon as the SEC expanded its conference schedule from eight games to nine, Georgia was eventually going to put in motion reasons to cancel their home-and-home with Louisville. The Bulldogs and the Cardinals were slated to play a home-and-home at each other's place in 2026 and in 2027. This was a mutual decision made by both schools to no longer play this series.
This is in part to scheduling changes and requirements of both leagues. The SEC is going from an eight-game to a nine-game conference schedule. While the ACC is still going to play eight games, keep in mind that both leagues have obligations to play 10 Power Four opponents annually. U of L has the Governor's Cup with Kentucky, while Georgia has Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate with Georgia Tech.
Historically, both programs do a good job of scheduling meaningful non-conference schedules. It does help having a baked-in rival in-state to easily schedule annually. While it would have been cool to see this home-and-home be played, this is all about making the College Football Playoff. The Selection Committee told us that it no longer values non-conference games as much as it once did.
Let's now unpack why it was mutually beneficial for Georgia and Louisville to call this whole thing off.
Why Louisville and Georgia canceled their upcoming home-and-home
In a way, it is kind of a bit of a Nash equilibrium. We are effectively playing our own situations of game theory in real time. What are the pros and cons of playing an additional non-conference opponent of substance? Again, Louisville and Georgia will always be on the up-and-up with this because of their ties to their in-state rivals. As long as the ACC remains a conference of power, it should all be fine.
In short, by playing these games, the winner may be catapulted higher up in the playoff rankings, while the loser may not ever be able to overcome it. If you want proof of that, Texas could never overcome its non-conference loss to Ohio State, while Indiana did not play anybody worth a damn in the non-conference this year. Guess who did not make the playoff, and who earned the No. 1 seed?
So clearly the best pathway forward for both of these schools in question is for Louisville to win as many games as possible in the ACC, and for Georgia to do the same over in the SEC. The shame in it all is it would have been a cool matchup we do not often get to see. Yes, they played in the former Belk Bowl, but that was over a decade ago. We just want more exciting matchups to be had annually.
Until we get some scheduling uniformity across the entire Power Four, this stuff cannot be avoided.