Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosts No. 4 Georgia (10-1) on Black Friday as the Bulldogs face Georgia Tech (9-2) in their regular-season finale.
Georgia, 7-1 in SEC play, is aiming to return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium next weekend for the SEC Championship — the same venue as Friday’s Georgia Tech game. A trip on Dec. 6 would be the Bulldogs’ eighth conference title appearance in ten seasons under Kirby Smart.
The SEC title matchup is still unsettled, with four teams still alive entering the final week. Texas A&M (7-0) leads the race, while Georgia is 7-1. Alabama and Ole Miss are at 6-1. Georgia is the only contender that has already finished its SEC schedule.
Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss close their seasons this week with in-state rivalry games. Texas A&M plays Texas, Alabama plays Auburn, and Ole Miss plays Mississippi State. All three are SEC matchups, so this weekend will decide the conference championship race. A single Texas A&M loss would make things even more complicated, triggering a four-way tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker used depends on how many teams finish tied after rivalry weekend. If all the tied teams have played each other, the head-to-head results decide it. If more than two teams are tied, the next step is comparing each team’s strength of schedule.
Let’s break down the scenarios that would put the Dawgs in the title game on Dec. 6.
So, how can Georgia make it to the SEC Championship Game?
It’s very simple. Since UGA plays a nonconference game this week, that result does not matter. Simply put, if either Alabama or Texas A&M loses, Georgia’s in.
Even though Alabama beat Georgia, if the Tide lose to Auburn, they would have 2 conference losses. 2 SEC losses is more than 1. So Georgia would make it in over them.
What about everyone else?
SEC Championship Clinching Scenarios:
- Alabama is in with a win.
- Georgia is in with an Alabama loss or a Texas A&M loss.
- Ole Miss is in with a win and both an Alabama loss and a Texas A&M loss.
- Texas A&M is in with a win or an Alabama loss and an Ole Miss loss.
With a 12-team playoff, some have questioned if UGA should even want to play next Saturday. Georgia would practically be guaranteed to make the College Football Playoff without playing and get an extra week of rest.
When asked last week by the media about his desire to play in Atlanta, Kirby Smart made his feelings clear.
“I want to win every game that we possibly play. So, what does that mean? My objective is to win every game we play. So, where does that put us? It puts us in that (conference championship) game, right?” Smart said. “So, there would be no way I would ever look at not playing in that game.”
