Here’s what must happen for Georgia to play in 2025 SEC championship game
ATHENS — Georgia wrapped up conference play with a 7-1 record after the Bulldogs beat Texas 35-10 on Saturday.
Georgia has two regular-season games left: Charlotte and Georgia Tech. As for a 13th game, that is still left to be decided.
“Proud of them, man. They’ve gotten better,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Saturday. “A lot of teams in the country, it’s hard to keep getting better this time of year. You start questioning what I’m doing. I mean, let’s be honest, we’re two months from the portal opening. I mean, there’s kids that are like, I don’t know if I really want to go out here and get better.
“They continue to get better. They continue to grow, work hard, believe in each other. It’s a good football team, guys, but you’re a week away from humility.”
The 7-1 conference record is an improvement from last year’s 6-2 record, after which Georgia went on to win the SEC championship game, beating Texas in overtime.
But the improved conference record does not yet mean Georgia has clinched a spot in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs will need help to return.
With two weeks left in the regular season, only three other teams still have a chance to play in the SEC championship game — Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss.
Texas A&M is the only unbeaten team in the league and visits Texas on Nov. 28. If the Aggies win that game, Texas A&M would clinch a spot in the SEC championship game, something it has not done since joining the league.
If Texas A&M loses to the Longhorns, Georgia would clinch a spot in the SEC championship game.
Another scenario where Georgia locks up a spot is if Alabama were to lose its final SEC game to Auburn. Alabama and Texas A&M both have nonconference games this week. The Crimson Tide face Eastern Illinois, while the Aggies take on Samford.
The only way Ole Miss gets into the SEC championship game would be if the Rebels beat Mississippi State and Texas A&M and Alabama both lose. Ole Miss would face Georgia in that scenario.
If Alabama and Texas A&M win and Ole Miss loses, Alabama and Texas A&M would play for the SEC championship because of Alabama having the head-to-head win over Georgia.
The important metric to know for three- or four-team tiebreakers will be conference opponent winning percentage. Given Georgia played Ole Miss and Texas A&M, the Bulldogs get a big boost over those teams in that metric.
As it stands right now, Georgia has the highest combined conference opponent winning percentage at .481. Alabama is at .471, with Ole Miss at .345 and Texas A&M a distance fourth at .229. But those will all change over the next two weeks. Record-wise, Georgia’s conference foes are 26-28 in SEC games, while Alabama’s are 25-28.
Results to watch that could help Georgia in the tiebreaker this week would be a Florida win over Tennessee and a Kentucky win over Vanderbilt.
Smart knows there’s nothing his team can do to help their chances to play in the SEC championship game, something it has done four years in a row.
If there is a fifth straight time — something that has only happened one other time in SEC history — Smart and his team will do everything in their power to win the SEC championship game again.
“I want to win every game that we possibly play,” Smart said. “So what does that mean? Again, my objective is to win every game that we play, so where does that put us? That puts us in that game. So there would be no way I would ever look at not playing in that game. Can’t do that. You’ve gotta look at the opportunity to go play and win a conference championship that has eluded more programs and has been as rare to win, in some cases, as a national championship.”
SEC championship game tiebreakers
- Head-to-head competition among the tied teams
- Record vs. all common conference opponents among the tied teams
- Record against highest (best) placed common conference opponent in the conference standings, and proceeding through the conference standings among the tied teams
- Cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents among the tied teams
- Capped relative total scoring margin versus all conference opponents among the tied teams
- Random draw of the tied teams
SEC standings
- Texas A&M 7-0
- Alabama 6-1
- Georgia 6-1
- Ole Miss 6-1
- Texas 4-2
- Vanderbilt 4-2
- Oklahoma 4-2
- Tennessee 3-3
- Missouri 3-3
- LSU 3-4
- Florida 2-5
- Kentucky 2-5
- Mississippi State 1-6
- Auburn 1-6
- South Carolina 1-7
- Arkansas 0-6
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
