Georgia's SEC East title hopes ended Friday and any long-shot hopes of making the college football playoffs evaporated with it.
The question now: Will it take any steam out of the Bulldogs going into their regular-season finale against rival Georgia Tech?
Needing help in the form of a Missouri collapse down the stretch to win the SEC East, the Dogs didn't get it. The Tigers won their sixth straight game -- after an embarrassing 34-0 loss to Georgia in Missouri back in October -- rallying from a 14-3 deficit Friday to beat Arkansas 21-14. As a result, the Tigers (7-1) edge the Bulldogs (6-2) to win the East and will face Alabama or Mississippi State in next week's SEC championship.
UPDATE: Here's a link to the full column on this subject.
The Tigers are probably the SEC's weakest division champions in history, having lost to 3-8 Indiana, as well as the lopsided defeat to Georgia. But Missouri managed to defeat two opponents that the Dogs should have but couldn't: South Carolina and Florida.
And file this under things you thought you would never hear: Missouri, back-to-back SEC East champions.
Will it affect Georgia's play Saturday against Tech? We'll find out. The Jackets clinched a berth in the ACC championship last week and are squarely focused on Georgia. The Dogs should be focused on Tech but this ending has to be deflating, given they still held out slim hopes of making the college football playoffs if it won consecutive games over the Jackets and No. 1 ranked Alabama (should the Tide win the SEC West).Now, they'll have a long break until their bowl game.
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