ATLANTA – Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will host the 2024 SEC Championship between No. 5 Georgia (10-2) and No. 2 Texas (11-1) on Saturday.
Picked to finish first and second in the SEC preseason poll, Texas and Georgia finished the season 1-2 in the SEC and will now play for the conference title.
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Here are things to know:
- Back in July, Georgia was predicted to win the 2024 SEC Championship and finish the regular season first, according to a preseason poll of media covering SEC Football Media Days. So far, Texas has flipped the switch to finish the regular season first in SEC play at 7-1, with Georgia pulling up at 6-2. The Horns' only loss this season was to Georgia, 30-15, back in October in Austin.
- The winner of the SEC Championship will earn a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. That team will advance straight to the quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. The loser will likely host a CFP first-round playoff game at its home stadium on either Dec. 20 or 21. Winning the SEC Championship and getting three and a half weeks to recover and prepare for the next game is a huge incentive. Texas is ranked No. 2 in the CFP. Georgia is No. 5.
- Texas mascot Bevo will miss the Longhorns' debut in the SEC Championship game. SEC officials cited space constraints on Mercedes-Benz Stadium sidelines as the reason why. “We can’t jeopardize the safety of Bevo or the game participants,” the SEC said. “With the narrow sidelines, and location of multiple sets for television and camera carts, there is not enough space. While we want to honor tradition across the conference, the space limitation is a reality.” The bull weighs more than 1,700 pounds and has a horn that is 58 inches. Georgia’s mascot, Uga XI, will be at the game. Back at the 2019 Sugar Bowl, Bevo and XI’s dad, Que, nearly came face to face when it appeared Bevo charged at the pure white English Bulldog during a pregame meet-and-greet.
- Texas is seeking its second straight conference title after winning the 2023 Big 12 Championship, 49-21, against Oklahoma State before joining the SEC. Advancing to the SEC Championship in their first year in the SEC, widely considered the toughest conference in college football, is quite the feat for Texas. This will mark Georgia’s 12th appearance in the last 23 seasons in the SEC Championship and the seventh time in nine seasons under head coach Kirby Smart.
- The Bulldogs will likely have home-field advantage playing in Atlanta as Georgia’s Sanford Stadium is less than 75 miles from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Austin is some 950 miles away from Atlanta. The Bulldogs are 4-7 in title games played in Atlanta, and Georgia is 6-5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since the venue opened in 2017. Four of those losses happened in the SEC Championship game.
Texas and Georgia will square off on Saturday, Dec. 7, in Atlanta at 3 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast live on KSAT 12.