SEC Championship Game 2023: Georgia vs. Alabama schedule, series history

What you need to know as Georgia and Alabama clinch bids for the SEC Championship Game

History shows winning the SEC Championship Game is pretty important. Since the 2014 season, every winner of this game has advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinal. 

Sometimes, even not winning the SEC title can help you make the playoff, too.

Given the SEC's recent domination over the national championship picture, being the conference's champion is as much of a sure thing as there is in the sport when it comes to making the four-team national semifinal.

This season's matchup is set as East Division champion Georgia will face surprise West Division champ Alabama in Atlanta.

Let's take a look at how you can watch the game this year, and which teams have dominated the matchup.

SEC Championship Game

SEC Championship Game, Schedule updates / USA Today Images

How to watch, stream SEC Championship

When: Sat., Dec. 2
Time: 4 p.m. Eastern
TV: CBS network
Stream live: fuboTV (Try for free)

It's important to win this game

Usually in recent years, the SEC championship is a direct play-in event for the national championship.

The winner of the SEC Championship Game plays in the Sugar Bowl unless the College Football Playoff selects it to play in a semifinal game instead, or if the Sugar Bowl is a semifinal game.

In the SEC title game era since 1992, 14 of the game's winners went on to win the national championship, and SEC teams overall won the national title in seven straight seasons (2006-2012).

Since 2014, the winner of every SEC Championship Game appeared in the College Football Playoff, going 8-1 in the semifinal stage and 4-4 in the CFP national championship, but with two of those losses coming against other SEC teams.

Dating back to the BCS era, an SEC champion advanced to a national championship game but lost to another SEC team in that game: in 2011, SEC champion LSU lost to conference runner-up Alabama, 2017 SEC champion Georgia lost to Alabama (which didn't play in the SEC title game at all) in the CFP final, and in 2021, SEC champion Alabama lost to conference runner-up Georgia in the national championship game.

SEC champions that won it all

Here's a list of SEC champions that went on to win the national championship in the same season.

Since 1992, rankings reflect AP Top 25

1992 No. 2 Alabama
1996 No. 3 Florida
1998 No. 1 Tennessee
2003 No. 3 LSU
2006 No. 2 Florida
2007 No. 2 LSU
2008 No. 2 Florida
2009 No. 1 Alabama
2010 No. 1 Auburn
2012 No. 2 Alabama
2015 No. 2 Alabama
2019 No. 1 LSU
2020 No. 1 Alabama
2022 No. 1 Georgia

SEC champions since 1992

Let's take a look at each score from every SEC Championship Game dating back to the first head-to-head matchup between division champions in 1992.

1992 Alabama 28, Florida 21
1993 Florida 28, Alabama 13
1994 Florida 24, Alabama 23
1995 Florida 24, Arkansas 3
1996 Florida 45, Alabama 30
1997 Tennessee 30, Auburn 29
1998 Tennessee 24, Miss. State 14
1999 Alabama 34, Florida 7

2000 Florida 28, Auburn 6
2001 LSU 31, Tennessee 20
2002 Georgia 30, Arkansas 3
2003 LSU 34, Georgia 13
2004 Auburn 38, Tennessee 28
2005 Georgia 34, LSU 14
2006 Florida 38, Arkansas 28
2007 LSU 21, Tennessee 14
2008 Florida 31, Alabama 20
2009 Florida 32, Alabama 13

2010 Auburn 56, South Carolina 17
2011 LSU 42, Georgia 10
2012 Alabama 32, Georgia 28
2013 Auburn 59, Missouri 42
2014 Alabama 42, Missouri 13
2015 Alabama 29, Florida 15
2016 Alabama 54, Florida 16
2017 Georgia 28, Auburn 7
2018 Alabama 35, Georgia 28
2019 LSU 37, Georgia 10

2020 Alabama 52, Florida 46
2021 Alabama 41, Georgia 24
2022 Georgia 50, LSU 30

SEC championships by school

Alabama, 29
Georgia, 14
Tennessee, 13
LSU, 12
Florida, 8 (1 vacated)
Auburn, 8
Ole Miss, 6
Kentucky, 1
Mississippi State, 1

Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt have not won an SEC football championship. 

Arkansas has won four divisional titles, Missouri has won two, and South Carolina one. Texas A&M and Vanderbilt have not won a division championship.

SEC champions before 1992

1933: Alabama
1934: Alabama, Tulane
1935: LSU
1936: LSU
1937: Alabama
1938: Tennessee
1939: Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Tulane

1940: Tennessee
1941: Mississippi State
1942: Georgia
1943: Georgia Tech
1944: Georgia Tech
1945: Alabama
1946: Georgia, Tennessee
1947: Ole Miss
1948: Georgia
1949: Tulane

1950: Kentucky
1951: Georgia Tech, Tennessee
1952: Georgia Tech
1953: Alabama
1954: Ole Miss
1955: Ole Miss
1956: Tennessee
1957: Auburn
1958: LSU
1959: Georgia

1960: Ole Miss
1961: Alabama, LSU
1962: Ole Miss
1963: Ole Miss
1964: Alabama
1965: Alabama
1966: Alabama, Georgia
1967: Tennessee
1968: Georgia
1969: Tennessee

1970: LSU
1971: Alabama
1972: Alabama
1973: Alabama
1974: Alabama
1975: Alabama
1976: Georgia, Kentucky
1977: Alabama
1978: Alabama
1979: Alabama

1980: Georgia
1981: Alabama, Georgia
1982: Georgia
1983: Auburn
1984: Florida (vacated)
1985: Tennessee
1986: LSU
1987: Auburn
1988: Auburn, LSU
1989: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee

1990: Tennessee
1991: Florida

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