Georgia and Oregon will open the season in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and now the kickoff time and TV channel are set.

Kirby Smart and Dan Lanning will lead their teams at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 3 on ABC.

The game will be the first glimpse at the Georgia defense without Lanning as he helped design and coach the defense, as the defensive coordinator at Georgia since 2019, to be ranked in the top 10 in yards per play allowed in each of the past 3 seasons.

With so many changes to both programs, most notably Georgia’s defense given the mass exodus to the NFL, it is difficult to get a read on how the game would play out.

About 2 weeks ago, Kirby Smart was asked about the game.

“We looked at them in the spring and studied those guys. It makes it awkward in the spring,” he said. “With the new head coach, you can take the film, but the things you’re looking for is who the players are more than anything,” Smart said. “We’re of course very familiar with Dan Lanning, but we’re also familiar with other guys on their staff. Their offensive coordinator (Kenny Dillingham) was at Auburn, and also at FSU, so we’ve looked at those guys. We’ve got a lot of respect for Dan, what he did for our program, and we know he’ll do a really good job there at Oregon.”