With a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks and a Kentucky Wildcats’ loss to the Ole Miss Rebels, the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs have clinched the SEC East.
For the first time since the 2012 college football season, the Georgia Bulldogs have won the SEC East. The No. 1 Bulldogs improved to 9-0 (6-0) on the season by beating the division rival South Carolina Gamecocks at home 24-10 in Week 10.
Georgia needed to see another divisional foe in the Kentucky Wildcats lose to clinch the East. Dawg Nation got their wishes by seeing Big Blue Nation fall to the Ole Miss Rebels about an hour later. Georgia will meet the winner of the SEC West in the 2017 SEC Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 2.
The Bulldogs emerged as the No. 1 team in the nation in the initial College Football Playoff rankings on Halloween night. Georgia bested the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide for the top spot due to having a superior strength of schedule. The Bulldogs had wins over two ranked teams in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the road and at home over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
2017 will be the first time the Dawgs will play for the SEC Championship since the infamous 2012 game at the Georgia Dome. Georgia would lose on the final play from scrimmage on a tipped pass that wide receiver Chris Conley caught from quarterback Aaron Murray as time expired.
That game was essentially the national championship game, as the winner would have routed Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship either way. Alabama did so thanks to that win in Atlanta on that early December evening in 2012.
It seems that Georgia and Alabama are on a collision course to meet again in the SEC Championship. Georgia still has two SEC games left on the slate in the ranked Auburn Tigers and Kentucky, plus a non-conference foe in the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Alabama has four more games, including three in SEC play: LSU, Mississippi State and arch-rival Auburn.
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Congratulations to the Bulldogs and Dawg Nation. This team has certainly come to life under second-year head coach Kirby Smart. Replacing Mark Richt was a difficult task, but Smart seems to have his alma mater’s program humming. Can Georgia make it to Mercedes-Benz Stadium unscathed? We’ll see.