Pack your tailgate chair, don your school colors, and hit the road to spend Saturday at a stadium in the best college football towns in Georgia.
Bustling campuses, school color swag, flat-screen televisions, chips and dips, coolers, and tailgate tents as far as the eye can see all point to one conclusion: college football season is back, y’all!
Whether the team plays in front of a crowd of tens of thousands or has a pinch smaller fanbase, there’s nothing like college football, especially in the Peach State. Here, Georgians might have to choose between calling the Dawgs or cheering for the Yellow Jackets, but we can all agree on one thing: The best season in Georgia isn’t winter, spring, summer, or fall; it’s football season.
Athens may be the state’s most famous college football town, but it’s got plenty of company. Consider this your guide to the towns, big and small, where Saturdays hit different. This list runs the gamut from a program that flies a bald eagle before kickoff to a city where two schools share a skyline but offer completely different experiences.
Some of these institutions have been playing football for more than a century. Others took a 70-year hiatus. What ties them together isn’t the size of the stadium or the conference on the schedule; it’s the fact that in every one of these towns, fall Saturdays mean something.
Athens
School: University of Georgia
Conference: SEC
Mascot: Bulldogs
Colors to Wear: Red and Black
Home to the state’s largest university by student population, Athens is the quintessential college football town. The University of Georgia was founded here in 1785 as the country’s first state-chartered public university.
On home game Saturdays (and the occasional Thursday), nearly 93,000 fans pour into Sanford Stadium to watch the action unfold between the hedges. On any given weekend, especially when the team is on the road, catch Georgia alumni and Athens locals alike exploring the city known for its music scene. It is, after all, the hometown of talent such as The B-52s, R.E.M., and Widespread Panic.
Statesboro
School: Georgia Southern University
Conference: Sun Belt
Mascot: Eagles
Colors to Wear: Blue and White
This is a college town built around a university that started as a 15-student agricultural school in 1908 and grew into the largest institution in southeast Georgia. Come game day, downtown Statesboro empties and Paulson Stadium, nicknamed “The Prettiest Little Stadium in America,” fills to capacity.
Saturdays here are a special sort of spectacle. For more than 17 years, before each Georgia Southern home football game, a bald eagle named Freedom flew over the stadium. The school is currently training a female rescue eagle, Freedom II, to take his place. In the meantime, the Eagles will keep racking up national championships and work towards maintaining a home winning percentage that ranks among the best in the country.
Carrollton
School: University of West Georgia
Conference: UAC
Mascot: Wolves
Colors to Wear: Blue and Red
The University of West Georgia is located in Carrollton. It’s a small town that sits about 50 miles west of Atlanta and is close enough for a day trip, but far enough to feel like a proper collegiate getaway.
Upon arrival, wander the historic Adamson Square, where 19th-century buildings house local shops and restaurants. Then head over to the Wolf Walk, which transforms the path to University Stadium into a sea of blue and red, as fans line up to cheer the team to a hopeful victory. It’s a small, personal tradition where players and fans are close enough to slap hands and trade a few words before kickoff. The energy carries into the stands, where the Marching Wolves keep things loud between plays.
Macon
School: Mercer University
Conference: SoCon
Mascot: Bears
Colors to Wear: Orange and Black
Once upon a time, Mercer University’s football program was dormant, benched since 1941. It came roaring back in 2013, and the Bears have been on a tear ever since, winning back-to-back SoCon titles in 2024 and 2025 at the 10,200-seat Five Star Stadium.
Before kickoff, fans tailgate around the stadium to a pregame concert on the grassy lawn near the softball field. It’s a fitting tradition since Macon is a city built on music history; it’s home to Otis Redding, Little Richard, and the Allman Brothers. After the final whistle, the celebration spills into downtown spots like Fall Line Brewing Co. Make a weekend of it at Hotel Forty Five, a boutique stay just minutes from the stadium.
Atlanta
School: Georgia Institute of Technology
Conference: ACC
Mascot: Yellow Jackets
Colors to Wear: Gold and White
Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium sits right in the middle of Midtown, one of the oldest on-campus stadiums in the country. It’s also where John Heisman coached the Yellow Jackets to a national championship in 1917, decades before the trophy bearing his name existed.
Before every home game, a 1930 Ford Model A named the Ramblin’ Wreck rumbles out of the tunnel, loaded with cheerleaders and horn blaring, leading the team onto the field, a tradition it’s kept up since 1961. Fans tailgate around Midtown and West Midtown, and if hunger calls and the tailgate spread isn’t cutting it, they head to the iconic Atlanta drive-in, The Varsity, for a slaw dog and frosted orange, affectionately known by locals as “an F.O.”
School: Georgia State University
Conference: Sun Belt
Mascot: Panthers
Colors to Wear: Blue, White, and Red Accent
Georgia State’s Panthers play home games at Center Parc Stadium, a name that might not ring a bell until you hear its former one: Turner Field, home to the Atlanta Braves for two decades before the university bought it and converted it into a football stadium in 2017.
It’s a downtown stadium for a downtown school, tucked right into the heart of the city. Game days here carry a different kind of energy than the smaller towns on the list. They’re full of big-city buzz, with the whole Atlanta skyline as a backdrop.
