SEC Championship Game scenarios: Alabama is biggest winner of Tennessee loss to UGA

All roads in college football lead back to Tuscaloosa eventually, don't they?

After Georgia's 14-point win over Tennessee on Saturday, Alabama is in great position to make the SEC Championship Game. All the Crimson Tide need in the next two weeks is to win out versus Auburn and Oklahoma, and for Missouri to win at least one of its final two games. If those very likely scenarios come to fruition, the Tide will be playing for the conference championship.

Does Alabama want to make the SEC Championship Game?

This is a whole different conversation altogether. In year's past — when the College Football Playoff consisted of just four teams — whether a team "wanted" to make a conference championship game wasn't even a question.

But in the expanded Playoff format, there are far more wrinkles. Alabama already has two losses — but its resume is certainly strong enough to earn an at-large spot in the field if it wins out. And if Alabama makes and wins the SEC Championship Game, it would earn a top-four seed and a bye in the CFP.

But what if Alabama wins out in the regular season, makes the SEC Championship Game... and loses? At that point, not only would Alabama not be a conference champion — it would also have three losses. How will the Selection Committee value a team that made the SEC Championship but also ended the season with three losses? Is that a playoff team? Because Alabama is Alabama and plays in the mighty SEC... probably

Still, there's a realistic scenario where Alabama misses out on the CFP with three losses — even if one of those losses comes in the SEC Championship. Is making the championship game and potentially getting a bye in the CFP worth the risk of not making the playoff at all? Depends on who you ask. Personally, I think yes; Alabama very well could win the SEC Championship Game, plus we're already being primed for the Selection Committee to put a three-loss SEC team anyway.