What’s at stake for Georgia, Texas in the SEC championship? More than you might think

For all the chaos roiling the rest of college football right now, all the questions of who will make the College Football Playoff and who will rage from the sidelines, the SEC championship seems fairly stable. After the crab pot that was the SEC’s regular season, it’s a little surprising to see the top two teams at the beginning of the season end up as the top two at the end.

When Georgia and Texas kick off on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (where the Longhorns are a 3-point favorite), there won’t be the drama of, say, the Mountain West, ACC or Big 12 championships, where the winner will join the CFP field and the loser will be out. (Potentially out, in the ACC’s case.)

Both Georgia and Texas are almost certainly in the field already, so there’s not quite the do-or-die incentive looming over this game. (We say “almost certainly” because you can’t ever fully know the CFP’s thinking … more on that in a bit.) But there’s still plenty to play for, starting with the first-round bye.

The top four conference championship winners get a pass directly into the quarterfinals, and unlike the NFL, this isn’t just an extra week off. Thanks to the holidays, the winner of Saturday’s SEC championship won’t play again until the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. That’s three-and-a-half weeks of rest and preparation, invaluable at this time of year.

Plus, let’s not forget bragging rights; there’s significant cachet in being able to declare yourself an SEC champion.

“An SEC title is a significant marker to your season,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said earlier this week. “Also it gets you a bye and it gets you an opportunity to rest and recover while others play formidable opponents, tough opponents. It removes you from that. You’re playing for an opportunity to rest, possibly.”

The…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-06 17:09:00

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