ATHENS – And just like that, Georgia is back in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Alabama’s loss to Oklahoma in Norman Saturday, coupled with Ole Miss’s loss to Florida in Gainesville and Auburn’s win over Texas A&M in quadruple overtime did the trick for the Bulldogs. Georgia needed all three results to make it happen. Remarkably, they all did.
The SEC title game is Dec. 7 and kickoff is at 4 p.m. on ABC. The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs (9-2, 6-2 SEC) will face the winner of next Saturday’s Texas-Texas A&M game in College Station, Texas.
But first, Georgia has a date with archrival Georgia Tech. Those teams will meet Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Athens (ABC). The outcome will not affect the Bulldogs’ SEC pursuits.
Coach Kirby Smart was asked after Saturday’s 59-21 win over UMass if he was aware that Ole Miss had lost to Florida earlier in the day and whether he would be watching the other games Saturday night to see the Bulldogs might end up with a way back into the SEC Championship game.
“Yeah, I’m worried about Georgia Tech; that’s all I’m thinking about,” Smart said. “I could care less about anybody else in the world but my team and how we get ready in six days for Georgia Tech.”
Georgia defeated then-No. 1 Texas 30-15 on Oct. 19 in Austin. The Bulldogs didn’t play Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2) this year. The Aggies’ other conference loss was to South Carolina and they fell at home to Notre Dame in the season opener.
Georgia completed conference play on Nov. 16 with a 31-17 win over then-No. 7-ranked Tennessee (9-2, 6-2) at Sanford Stadium. That victory gave the Bulldogs the tiebreaker over the Vols, the SEC’s other two-loss team.
Georgia will be playing in the conference title game for a fourth consecutive season. The Bulldogs also played in three straight SEC Championships from 2017-2019. They won titles in 2017 and 2022. Georgia has won 14 SEC titles dating back to 1942. It is 4-7 in SEC Championship games.
The Crimson Tide (8-3, 4-3) hadn’t lost three SEC games in a season in 13 years, the longest streak in college football. It was the first time since 2011 that Alabama didn’t score a touchdown in a game.
