Entering Week 13 of the 2024 college football season, none of the Power Four conference championship games on Dec. 7 have been set in stone. That’s especially true for the SEC title game.
Contrast this to a year ago when the Alabama Crimson Tide clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game with a 49-21 rout of the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field (Commonwealth Stadium) in Lexington on Nov. 11. The Georgia Bulldogs, who were in the midst of a third consecutive unbeaten regular season, clinched their spot in the SEC title game that same day.
Things are a lot different this year with expanded leagues that no longer feature divisions. In the summer of 2023, the SEC and Big Ten announced within a week of one another that they would both do away with the division format beginning in 2024. The ACC abandoned division play beginning last year.
Now, as Alabama (8-2 overall, 4-2 SEC) prepares to face the Oklahoma Sooners (5-5, 1-5) in prime time Saturday night, as many as five SEC teams still have a path to Atlanta. Those five teams are the Crimson Tide, the Texas Longhorns (5-1 SEC), the Texas A&M Aggies (5-1), Georgia (6-2), and the Ole Miss Rebels (4-2).
Some teams have simpler paths than others, though, and on Friday USA TODAY Sports columnist Paul Myerberg laid out the path to reach Atlanta for each of the five SEC title game contenders.
Alabama football has clear path to SEC Championship Game
Alabama has appeared in the SEC Championship Game more times than any other team since the game’s inception in 1992. The Crimson Tide have a slight lead over the Florida Gators in that category with 15 trips to Atlanta — and previously Birmingham’s Legion Field — to the Gators’ 13.
Getting to a record 16th SEC title game will happen if the Crimson Tide don’t slip up against either Oklahoma this week or in the Iron Bowl against the Auburn Tigers next Saturday.
Per Myerberg:
“Alabama is the winner in the case of a four-way tie for second involving teams with two league losses. Should A&M finish 7-1, the Crimson Tide would advance to meet the Aggies by virtue of owning the best conference opponent winning percentage in conference play. Heading into Saturday, Alabama’s opponents are a combined 27-26 in the SEC, ahead of the Bulldogs (23-28), Volunteers (23-28), Rebels (22-33) and Longhorns (21-32).”
How Alabama could squander SEC title game, put CFP hopes in jeopardy
What happens if Alabama does slip up against either the Sooners or Auburn in the final two weeks? The short answer: nothing good.
Georgia has already wrapped up SEC play with its 31-17 win over Tennessee last Saturday. A third SEC loss by Alabama would spell doom for the Tide’s SEC title hopes, as well as put a big dent in their CFP hopes with three losses, as well.
Myerberg explains:
“One loss would eliminate the Tide. In that case, Georgia would meet the winner of Texas and A&M. That’s because the Bulldogs would have a better record against common opponents than Ole Miss and would have head-to-head tiebreakers against Tennessee and Texas.”
There’s been a lot of talk and confusion about tiebreakers this year, what with the new wrinkles of conference realignment/expansion and abandoning the division format, but the bottom line is that Alabama just needs to keep winning. The rest will take care of itself.
Kickoff for Alabama vs. Oklahoma is set for 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday. The game will be televised on ABC.
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