In 1992, the Southeastern Conference implemented a newfangled (and highly controversial) concept: a conference championship game.
Despite vocal criticisms from the league's most powerful voices, SEC commissioner Roy Kramer insisted the game be played, even at the risk of an SEC berth in the de facto championship game vs. No. 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl.
No. 2 Alabama won that game, a 28-21 barnburner vs. Florida and trash-talking Steve Spurrier, not only claiming the league's first SEC championship by way of a title game, but also setting in motion a radically changed college football landscape for decades to come.
It was about as perfect a debut as Kramer
(and the Crimson Tide) could have hoped for.
With the SEC Championship game ending after 2026, however, it is becoming increasingly unlikely Alabama will have a storybook ending as it relates to the most iconic conference title game in college football. Even with the Crimson Tide sitting in a tie for second place in the conference standings, Kalen DeBoer and Co. do not control their own destiny to reach Atlanta for a final time.
The Tide's biggest issues to reach the SEC title game are Texas and Tennessee, both of whom secured victories in Week 11 that diminished the Crimson Tide's chances of competing for one last SEC title. Here's a look at what needs to happen for Alabama to emerge from the scrum:
Alabama football SEC tiebreakers
- Alabama wins out AND
- Tennessee loses to LSU OR Vanderbilt AND
- Texas loses to Arkansas OR Texas A&M
Alabama has only one more game in SEC play, a Week 13 home game vs. Auburn in the always-dangerous Iron Bowl. If the Crimson Tide is to make it to Atlanta one last time, it must beat Alex Golesh and the Tigers in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
From there, Alabama's postseason fate is entirely out of its hands.
Alabama has known since Week 8 it needs one of Georgia or Tennessee (the team's only losses thus far this season) to drop three conference games if it wants to make the SEC title game. With Georgia sitting at 7-1 in SEC play and having only one more conference game left on the schedule — at South Carolina in Week 12 — the Tide now looks to Tennessee to drop that third SEC game.
Tennessee, like Alabama, is 6-2 in conference play, But the Volunteers hold a tiebreaker over the Crimson Tide with a head-to-head victory. For Alabama to make the title game, it needs the Vols to lose one of its two remaining games to LSU or Vanderbilt.
But that's only part of the problem for Alabama.
Another issue for the Crimson Tide is Texas, which would break through in a tiebreaker scenario vs. Alabama thanks to the teams' record vs. common opponents. If both teams win out (the Longhorns finish vs. Arkansas and at Texas A&M) then Texas would advance with a 4-0 record vs. common opponents, as compared to the Crimson Tide's 3-1 record.
The Longhorns would advance with a pivotal Week 4 win over Tennessee.
While a scenario in which Texas and Tennessee both drop a game in their final two games is certainly not impossible, it appears DeBoer and Co. may be spending the first week of December preparing for a College Football Playoff game, as opposed to challenging for SEC supremacy.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alabama football SEC tiebreakers: Crimson Tide rooting guide to make conference title game
