Georgia football still has hope to make it to Atlanta to play in the SEC Championship game.
Georgia football may have played their final SEC regular season game this past weekend when they beat Tennessee, but that doesn’t mean their race to make it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game is over. Now that the SEC has eliminated divisions, the two participants in the SEC title game are reserved for the teams that finish first and second in the regular season standings.
That may sound simple enough, but this year it couldn’t be more complicated.
Texas and Texas A&M currently sit atop of the SEC standings with one loss each, but these two teams play in the season finale so at least one will get their second loss. After that, there is a logjam of two loss teams which includes Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Ole Miss. All six teams have a path to make it to the SEC Championship game, but for some it is more likely than others.
Kirby Smart and Georgia are on the end of the spectrum where they need a little help. Now while they can’t improve their record in conference play anymore, there are a few scenarios that would see them make it to Atlanta.
1. Texas and Texas A&M both finish with two losses
Does anyone want a chance to play Alabama again in the SEC Championship game? If so, then this is the scenario you want to root for.
If both Texas and Texas A&M finish with two losses, then no matter what happens (assuming Alabama wins out) the Bulldogs would get their rematch against Alabama in Atlanta. The hard part about this is that it is unlikely that both Texas schools finish with two losses.
One school will finish with two losses because these two teams play each other in their season finale. But what needs to happen is that the team that wins this game needs to lose this coming weekend. So either A&M needs to lose to Auburn this weekend then beat Texas the following week, or Texas needs to lose to Kentucky at home then beat A&M on the road.
Both options seem unlikely to happen, but crazier things have happened this season. But how ironic would it be for the two teams who dominated the East and West divisions to both still find a way to make it to Atlanta in the first season the divisions are gone.
2. Every home SEC team wins the rest of the season
This scenario is by far the most unlikely scenario to occur, but if every home SEC team wins the rest of the year, Georgia will play Texas A&M in the SEC Championship game.
In this scenario, Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee all pick up a third conference loss and drop below Georgia in the SEC standings. Both Texas schools would also pick up a second conference loss as well. So Georgia would end up moving on to Atlanta to play Texas A&M because both the Aggies and Georgia would have a head-to-head victory over Texas.
This scenario would be ideal, because out of all the teams with a chance to make it to the SEC Championship game, the Aggies are probably the easiest team for Georgia to beat.
3. Alabama loses, Ole Miss and Tennessee win out
This is probably the simplest scenario for Georgia to make it to the SEC Championship game. Alabama currently holds the edge over Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee when it comes to the conference opponents’ winning percentage tiebreaker. So if Georgia is going to make it to Atlanta, they need the Tide to lose.
Alabama’s final two games are at Oklahoma then at home against Auburn. So unfortunately those are two games that Alabama likely will win. But anything is possible in the SEC, so there is still hope.
If Alabama does lose a game, Georgia would come out on top in the already mentioned conference opponents’ winning percentage tiebreaker against Ole Miss, Tennessee and the loser of the Texas and Texas A&M game. So in this scenario, Georgia would play the winner of the Texas and Texas A&M game in Atlanta.
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