Conference championship week arrives with way more College Football Playoff contenders than available spots. Two of the Power Five title games pit top-10 teams against one another, which should help sort things out before the committee finalizes its top four Sunday.
No. 1 Georgia is favored to beat No. 8 Alabama in the SEC Championship on Saturday in Atlanta, something it has never done before. A win puts the Bulldogs back in the CFP, where they’ve won the last two titles, but a loss opens the door for the SEC to potentially be left out of the playoff entirely for the first time since its inception.
No. 5 Oregon gets another crack at No. 3 Washington in the last-ever Pac-12 Championship. This is more of a win-and-in situation for the Ducks and Huskies, each of whom have made an appearance in the CFP before.
Keep an eye on the games going on in Charlotte, Indianapolis and Arlington this weekend as well, but the two that command our attention are being played in Atlanta and Las Vegas.
SEC Championship: No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 8 Alabama
Spread: Georgia -6.5 (-110) | Alabama +6.5 (-110)
Moneyline: UGA (-210) | ALA (+172)
Total: 54.5 – Over (-115) | Under (-105)
Game Info: Saturday, Dec. 2 | 4 p.m. ET | CBS
Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, GA
The last time Georgia lost was when these two powerhouses met on this same stage in 2021. Since Alabama beat the Bulldogs in Atlanta, UGA has won 29 games in a row, including the last two national championships, one at the expense of the Crimson Tide. Nick Saban’s team returns to the conference championship game riding a winning streak of its own — ’Bama has won 10 straight and the committee would be hard-pressed to keep the Tide out of the playoff if they upset the two-time defending champs to take back the SEC title.
Georgia (12–0, 8–0 SEC) and Alabama (11–1, 8–0 SEC) survived rivalry week scares. The Bulldogs held off a Georgia Tech comeback effort to win 31–23 without tight end Brock Bowers and receiver Ladd McConkey. The Crimson Tide had a much closer call. It took a Jalen Milroe touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line to win 27–24 at Auburn, which lost at home to New Mexico State the week before.
UGA is a top-10 team nationally in scoring offense (39.6 points per game) and defense (15.8). Quarterback Carson Beck is 10th in the FBS in passing yards (3,495) even though Bowers and McConkey, two of his top targets, have missed large chunks of the season. The Bulldogs also get it done on the ground as Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton each have double-digit rushing touchdowns.
Kirby Smart’s team has had some close calls this season — a 27–20 win at Auburn, a 30–21 victory over Missouri and last week’s game against Georgia Tech — but Georgia has been unbeatable for the better part of three years. Still, the Bulldogs are 0–3 all-time against the Tide in the SEC Championship.
Were it not for Milroe’s clutch touchdown, Alabama would be playing for pride this weekend as a second loss would have knocked the team out of playoff contention. Instead, the Tide have a shot at returning to the CFP, where they’ve made a record seven appearances. Saban’s team is top 20 in scoring offense (35.8) and defense (17.9) and has only gotten better as the season progresses.
The same team that lost to Texas by 10 at home and followed that up with an ugly 14-point win over USF beat Ole Miss, LSU and Tennessee by two scores apiece. Milroe has made great strides as a passer, establishing a reliable connection with Jermaine Burton, and still makes plenty of plays with his legs — he leads the team with 12 rushing touchdowns.
Georgia will be able to keep Milroe in check as a passer and force Alabama to attempt to move the ball on the ground against its front seven. The Bulldogs simply have more options on offense than the Crimson Tide, especially if Bowers is back. Saban’s team has been better against the spread (8–4) than Smart’s (4–7–1) but many of those UGA losses for bettors were big spreads. As a favorite of 14 points or fewer, the Bulldogs are 3–2 and they’ve covered their last two in that position. They’ll make it three in a row just down the road in Atlanta and return to the CFP as the No. 1 seed.
Best Bet: Georgia -6.5 (-110)
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