Georgia Opens As Favorite in SEC Championship Game Matchup With Alabama
With Missouri's 36-7 defeat of Tennessee on Saturday, Georgia clinched its third-consecutive SEC Eastern Division title and secured its spot in Atlanta where it will face Alabama who clinched a spot of its own in the 2023 SEC Championship Game with its 49-21 road victory over Kentucky on Saturday.
On Monday, ActionNetwork College Football Insider Brett McMurphy revealed that Georgia has opened as a 3-point favorite in the highly-anticipated matchup between the two SEC titans. The Bulldogs currently hold the No. 2 ranking and a 10-0 record, while the Crimson Tide came in at No. 8 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings with a 9-1 record, its only loss coming to No. 7 Texas in week two.
The two programs have developed quite the postseason history of late as the 2023 SEC Championship game will mark the sixth postseason meeting between the two programs, and will be the fifth time the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide have squared off in the postseason in the last seven seasons, four of which will have been played inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Georgia running back Zamir White (3) during Georgia’s game against Alabama in the 2021 SEC Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Photo by Tony Walsh)
UGAA/Tony Walsh
Alabama defeated Georgia in overtime to win the 2018 National Championship Game in Atlanta and engineered a late comeback the following season to overcome a 14-point 3rd quarter deficit and defeat the Bulldogs 35-28 in the 2018 SEC Championship Game. It would be three seasons before the two programs would face each other again in the postseason when they squared off in a No.1 vs No.2 matchup in the 2021 SEC Championship game. That day, the No.2 Crimson Tide downed the top-ranked Bulldogs 41-24 to win its second-consecutive SEC title. However, in a twist of fate, a month later Georgia found redemption for its postseason failures against the Crimson Tide in the form of a 33-18 victory over Alabama in the 2022 College Football National Championship Game in Indianapolis, Indiana, delivering the program its first national championship since 1980.
While the stakes will likely once again be extremely high when Georgia and Alabama renew their series in Atlanta on Dec. 2, both teams still have work to do in the regular season to ensure that the game will hold the weight it currently projects to in the race for the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs face a challenging road test this weekend as they travel to Knoxville to take on the 7-3 Tennessee Volunteers before wrapping up the regular season with a short trip to Atlanta to play in-state rival Georgia Tech at 7:30 PM ET on Nov. 25. Alabama hosts FCS Chattanooga this weekend before its annual Iron Bowl matchup with in-state rival Auburn at 3:30 PM ET on Nov. 25.
Other Georgia News:
- Georgia Clinches the SEC East for Third Straight Season
- WATCH: Kendall Milton Talks to Media After Impressive Performance Against Ole Miss
- What You Need to Know About the Ole Miss Offense
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