ATLANTA — It's officially SEC Championship day.
As Saturday has rolled around, Georgia will be looking to do something they have never done in school history -- beat Alabama in the SEC title game.
After the matchup was solidified a little over a week ago, UGA opened up as a 3.5-point favorite against the Crimson Tide. As of Sunday night, Georgia moved up a point following Alabama's close win over Auburn. UGA currently sits as a 4.5-point favorite over Alabama, according to Vegas Insider and Bet MGM.
Despite the Dawgs being favored in the 2021 SEC Championship Game, they lost to Alabama by a final of 41-24. They were also favorites over Alabama in the ensuing CFP title game in Indianapolis, for which the Bulldogs won 33-18.
Here's a brief history of the two teams in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta:
- 2012: Alabama def. Georgia 35-28
- A blocked field goal return by Alec Ogletree sparked the Dawgs, but a late touchdown from A.J. McCarron to Amari Cooper gave Alabama the lead -- before a late Aaron Murray almost-accidental completion to Chris Conely caused the game to run out of time in the Crimson Tide red zone.
- 2018: Alabama def. Georgia 35-28
- Roughly one year after Alabama true freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench in relief of Jalen Hurts at halftime to beat Georgia in the 2021 CFP title game, Hurts returned the performance to the Dawgs in a complete role reversal. Hurts came off the bench for Tagovailoa and was nearly perfect down the stretch -- throwing a 10-yard touchdown to Jerry Jeudy to tie it in the 4th quarter before rushing it in from 15 yards out with just over a minute left to win it.
- 2021: Alabama def. Georgia 41-24
- In the first SEC title game the Dawgs were favored in, they went up 10-0 quickly behind the arm of Stetson Bennett. The Tide answered with 24 points in the second quarter, including 17 unanswered, to lead 24-17 at the break. They would shut the Dawgs' offense down in the second half and go on to win 41-24.
As the week goes on, we will continue to monitor how much the line moves for the Georgia-Alabama game.