Will Alabama And Georgia Meet Again For The CFP National Championship?

The SEC placed two teams in the CFP and a record 13 teams in bowl games.

College football’s Selection Sunday was a pretty good one for the Southeastern Conference:

**--The SEC placed teams in two of the four spots of the College Football Playoffs.

Alabama (12-1) earned the No. 1 seed in the CFP after beating previously-No. 1 Georgia 41-24 Saturday night in the SEC championship game. The defending national champions will face No. 4 and unbeaten Cincinnati (13-0), the champions of the American Athletic Conference. That national semifinal will be played on Dec. 31 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.

Despite the loss to Alabama, Georgia (12-1)  still made the CFP as the No. 3 seed. The Bulldogs will face No. 2 seed Michigan (12-1), the Big Ten champion, at the Orange Bowl, also on Dec. 31.

This marks the second time since 2017 that the SEC has placed two teams in the CFP. In that year Alabama beat Georgia 26-23 in overtime to win the national championship.

Now comes the possibility that Alabama and Georgia could meet again for the national championship on Jan. 10, 2022 in Indianapolis. The early lines released Sunday installed Georgia as a 7 ½-point favorite over Michigan and Alabama as a 13 ½-point favorite over Cincinnati.

Cincinnati became the first member of the Group of Five conferences to reach the CFP. The Bearcats finished undefeated last season but lost to Georgia on a 53-yard field goal with seconds left in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. So don't look for the Bearcats to be intimidated by Alabama.

Georgia has played Michigan only twice in history. The Bulldogs beat the Wolverines 15-7 in 1965 in Ann Arbor.

Sunday also marked the eighth straight season that the winner of the SEC championship game has advanced to the College Football Playoffs.

**--Ole Miss (10-2) will give the SEC another slot in a New Year’s Six Bowl as the Rebels will face Big 12 Champion Baylor (11-2) in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 in New Orleans. This is the 10th appearance for Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl and its first since 2016. It will be the final game as an Ole Miss player for quarterback Matt Corral.

This Ole Miss team posted the first 10-win regular season in school history.

“This is awesome to be in this position in our second year,” said Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin.

**--It was a banner year overall for the SEC as 13 of 14 teams—a conference record--will be going bowling. Only Vanderbilt (2-10) failed to qualify for the post season.

Here is a quick rundown of those games:

**--Kentucky (9-3) will have a chance to post the fourth 10-win season in school history when the Wildcats meet Iowa (10-2) in the Citrus Bowl at 1 p.m. on New Year’s Day. Kentucky got off to a 6-0 start this season and then went on a three-game losing streak to Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee. Then the Wildcats finished with three straight wins over Vanderbilt, New Mexico State, and Louisville. This will be the sixth straight bowl appearance for Kentucky under coach Mark Stoops, an Iowa graduate.

**--Mississippi State (7-5) will face Texas Tech (6-6) in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28 in Memphis. This is the Bulldogs’ 12th straight trip to a bowl and its second under coach Mike Leach. Mississippi State has one of the hottest quarterbacks in college football in Will Rogers.

**--Tennessee (7-5), in its first year under coach Josh Heupel, will face Big Ten giant-killer Purdue (8-4) in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 30. Purdue beat Iowa, which won the Big Ten West Division, and Michigan State, the only team to beat Michigan this season.

**--Texas A&M (8-4) is the only team to beat Alabama this season and the Aggies will have a chance for a ninth victory against Wake Forest (10-3) in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville on Dec. 31. Wake Forest won the ACC Atlantic and lost to Pittsburgh in the ACC championship game.

**--Arkansas (8-4) had a great second season under Coach Sam Pittman. The Hogs were rewarded with a trip to Tampa to play Penn State (7-5) in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1. Arkansas played one of the toughest schedules in the country. Its four losses were to Georgia (12-1), Ole Miss (10-2), Auburn (6-6), and Alabama (12-1).

**--After an up and down season LSU finished at 6-6. The Tigers, who knocked of Texas A&M in their final regular-season game, will face Kansas State (7-5) in the Texas Bowl in Houston on Jan. 4. LSU will be without Coach Ed Orgeron, who was relieved of his duties in October but coached the rest of the regular season. He will not coach in the bowl game.

**--Auburn (6-6) had a tough finish to the season, losing in four overtimes to Alabama 24-22. Tigers will face Houston (11-2), the AAC runner up, in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 28.

**--Florida (6-6) will play UCF (8-4) the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on Dec. 23 in Tampa. Florida will be playing with an interim coach in Greg Knox. Coach Dan Mullen was relieved us his duties in November.

**--South Carolina (6-6) is going bowling in its first season under coach Shane Beamer as the Gamecocks will play North Carolina (6-6) in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte on Dec. 30. It is South Carolina’s first bowl game in three years.

**--Missouri (6-6), in its second year under coach Eli Drinkwitz, will play Army (8-3) in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22 in Fort Worth, Tex.