One ticket to the SEC Championship Game was punched on Saturday despite the fact that a full month remains in the 2021 season. No. 1 Georgia topped rival Florida 34-7 on Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville and No. 12 Kentucky fell on the road to unranked Mississippi State 31-17 Saturday night to earn the Bulldogs the SEC East crown.
Georgia’s win pushes its conference record to 6-0 and Kentucky’s loss drops the Wildcats to 4-2 in SEC play. The Bulldogs have two conference games remaining (Missouri and Tennessee), and have the head-to-head tiebreaker with Kentucky by virtue of the Bulldogs’ 30-13 win over the Wildcats on Oct. 16. It is tied for the earliest that a division title has been clinched in league history (Auburn in 2004 and Alabama in 1993).
It’s the fourth division title in five years for coach Kirby Smart’s squad. The top-ranked Bulldogs won the SEC title game over Auburn in 2017 but lost to Alabama and LSU in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Florida won the division title last year and lost to Alabama before the Crimson Tide went on to win the national title.
Georgia is 3-5 in the conference title game since its inception in 1992. The 2021 SEC Championship Game will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on CBS.
