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2016 Georgia Bulldogs football team

The 2016 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Sanford Stadium. They were members of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Kirby Smart. They finished the season 8–5, 4–4 in SEC play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the Eastern Division. They were invited to the Liberty Bowl where they defeated TCU.

Coaching changes

After the 2015 regular season, Georgia's athletic director Greg McGarity fired head coach Mark Richt after 15 seasons with an overall 145–51 record. Richt was replaced with former Georgia football player Kirby Smart, who, at the time, was Alabama's defensive coordinator. Smart played for the Bulldogs from 1995 to 1998 for coaches Ray Goff and Jim Donnan and was defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2008 to 2015 under head coach Nick Saban. Jeremy Pruitt, who was defensive coordinator for Georgia from 2014 to 2015, accepted a position as the defensive coordinator for Alabama to replace Smart.

2016 recruiting class

National Signing Day was on February 3, 2016.

Schedule

Georgia announced its 2016 football schedule on October 29, 2015. The 2016 schedule consisted of 6 home, 4 away, and 2 neutral site games in the regular season. The Bulldogs hosted SEC foes Auburn, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, and traveled to Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss, and South Carolina. Georgia went against Florida in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Bulldogs had hosted three of their four non–conference games, which were against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the North Carolina Tar Heels both from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns from the Sun Belt Conference, and Nicholls State Colonels from the Southland Conference.

^{^[a]}The game between Georgia and South Carolina had been originally scheduled for October 8, 2016, but was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew and played on October 9, 2016.