Week 12 of the College Football season nearly blew the race for the SEC Championship Game wide open. Alabama's loss to Oklahoma creates a 4 team race to Atlanta, and if Texas A&M didn't storm back to beat South Carolina these final two weeks would've been absolute chaos with teams trying to get to Atlanta.
Heading into the final two weeks of the season, there are 4 contenders for the SEC Championship, but rivalry week could prove to be the weekend that makes or breaks several teams. As we head into the final two weeks of the season, here's what's still in play in the race for the SEC.
SEC Championship Game scenarios and tiebreakers
Texas A&M Aggies:
The Texas A&M Aggies have the easiest path to break down as they need to bear Texas to secure their place in the SEC Championship Game. If the Aggies lose, they still have an outside chance at the conference championship which would require Alabama losing to Auburn and Ole Miss losing to Mississippi State which would send the Aggies to Atlanta to face Georgia.
Alabama Crimson Tide:
If there's a 3-way tie between teams with just 1 SEC loss, record of opponents starts to come into play as Ole Miss and Alabama didn't play. Alabama will go to Atlanta if they beat Auburn with Texas beating Texas A&M or Mississippi State beating Ole Miss, if not the Crimson Tide will need to win the opponent winning percentage tiebreaker which is too early to call.
Georgia Bulldogs:
Georgia has already wrapped up SEC play meaning they're now waiting to see if they'll get any help to get to Atlanta. Auburn beating Alabama would send Kirby Smart to Atlanta as would Texas beating Texas A&M, if not, the Bulldogs will need to hope their opponent winning percentage is the best.
Ole Miss:
The path for Ole Miss is certainly the hardest if Lane Kiffin's team is going to make it to the SEC Championship Game. Ole Miss needs to win the Egg Bowl before needing Texas to beat Texas A&M, and Alabama to lose the Iron Bowl.
SEC Football Tiebreakers:
According to the SEC, the following procedures are to be used in order to break a tie.
A. Head-to-head competition among the tied teams
B. Record versus all common Conference opponents among the tied teams
C. Record against highest (best) placed common Conference opponent in the
Conference standings, and proceeding through the Conference standings among
the tied teams
D. Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents among
the tied teams
E. Capped relative total scoring margin (see Appendix A) per SportSource Analytics
versus all Conference opponents among the tied teams
F. Random draw of the tied teams