Georgia clinches spot in SEC championship game, waits to learn opponent

Georgia got the help it needed to get back to Atlanta.

Thanks to Texas A&M’s 27-17 loss to Texas on Friday, the Georgia Bulldogs will play in the SEC championship game for a fifth consecutive season.

Georgia wrapped up SEC play with a 35-10 win over Texas back on Nov. 15, finishing league play with a 7-1 record. Georgia beat Georgia Tech 16-9 on Friday to move to 11-1 on the season.

After beating the Yellow Jackets, Kirby Smart made it very clear he wanted this Georgia team in the game.

“There’s also an opportunity to win an SEC championship. Does that matter? Does anybody care about that anymore,“ Smart said to the room of reporters. ”I mean, I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world and different from everybody else. Yeah, we lost guys today to injury. We’re going to lose guys in practice to injury. But that’s next man up. Like, that’s what’s wrong with this whole thing now. It’s like, well, what if you get hurt? What if you do this? What if you do that? I mean, it’s football. It’s all part of it.”

Last year, Georgia lost starting quarterback Carson Beck in the SEC championship game. Yet the Bulldogs rallied to win in overtime 22-19 to give Smart a third SEC championship win.

As for who Georgia might play in this year’s SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, that is still to be decided. If Alabama beats Auburn on Saturday night, Georgia will get a rematch against the Crimson Tide next week. Alabama beat Georgia 24-21 earlier in the season.

If Auburn pulls the upset, Georgia will get a rematch against Ole Miss. The Rebels lost to Georgia 43-35 in Athens in October. Ole Miss also may not have its coach, as Lane Kiffin is weighing an offer to possibly leave Ole Miss for LSU.

Winning the SEC championship game last season guaranteed Georgia a first-round bye. That will not be the case this season, as the first-round byes would go to the top four-ranked teams in the College Football Playoff rankings. Texas A&M was ranked No. 3, which should allow No. 4 Georgia to move up heading into the penultimate rankings.

By getting to Atlanta, Georgia becomes the second program in league history to reach five consecutive SEC championship games. Florida did the same from 1992 through 1996.

The Alabama-Auburn game is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on Saturday on ABC.

The 2025 SEC Championship Game is set for a 4 p.m. ET start on Dec. 6. ABC will also broadcast that game.