SEC chaos sends Georgia back to league title game

A wild day in the SEC produced only one postseason guarantee: Georgia is headed back to the league championship game for the fourth consecutive season.

The league confirmed Georgia’s spot in the Dec. 7 championship game in Atlanta shortly after No. 15 Texas A&M’s 43-41 loss to Auburn in fourth overtimes. The Aggies were one of three top-15 SEC teams to lose to unranked foes on the road Saturday, as No. 7 Alabama fell at Oklahoma and No. 9 Ole Miss lost at Florida.

No. 10 Georgia will face the winner of next week’s game 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 Big 12. Texas beat Kentucky on Saturday and remains the only 1-loss team in the SEC.

Georgia has lost to both 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. Alabama entered Saturday needing to beat Oklahoma and Auburn, and for Missouri to win once, in order to punch its ticket to Atlanta.

Georgia lost to Alabama in the 2023 SEC title game, costing it a spot in the final four-team College Football Playoff.

Asked about Georgia’s path to the SEC title game after the UMass game, coach Kirby Smart said he was thinking solely about next week’s regular-season finale against Georgia Tech.

Georgia won the SEC title game in 2017 and 2022, while falling in 2018, 2019 and 2021.