SEC turmoil sends UGA back to league title game

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterNov 24, 2024, 12:41 AM ET

Close

College football press reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.A wild day in the SEC produced just one postseason assurance: Georgia is headed back to the conference championship game for a fourth successive season.The league verified Georgia’s area in the Dec. 7 title game in Atlanta soon after No. 15 Texas A&M’s 43-41 loss at Auburn in four overtimes. The Aggies was among 3 top-15 SEC groups to lose to unranked foes on the road Saturday, as No. 7 Alabama lost 24-3 at Oklahoma and No. 9 Ole Miss fell at Florida 24-17. No. 10 Georgia will face the winner of next week’s game in between No. 3 Texas and Texas A&M in College Station. The Longhorns and Aggies have not met since 2011, when they were both members of the Huge 12. Texas beat going to Kentucky 31-14 on Saturday and stay the only one-loss team in the SEC.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Georgia, which has lost to Alabama and Ole Miss on the road but owns wins against Texas and No. 11 Tennessee, beat UMass 59-21 on Saturday at Sanford Stadium.The Crimson Tide went into the day requiring to beat Oklahoma then Auburn and for No. 23 Missouri to win once in its last 2 league games to punch their ticket to Atlanta.

(Missouri dominated 39-20 at Mississippi State on Saturday.)Georgia lost to Alabama in the 2023 SEC title game, costing the Bulldogs an area in the last four-team College Football Playoff.Asked about Georgia’s path to the SEC title game after the UMass game, Bulldogs coach Kirby

Smart said he was believing entirely about next week’s regular-season ending versus checking out Georgia Tech.Georgia won the SEC title game in 2017 and 2022, while falling

in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.