Georgia won in every way possible on Black Friday.
A few hours after outlasting rival Georgia Tech in Atlanta to finish off an 11-1 regular season, 4th-ranked Georgia won again because No. 3 Texas A&M finally lost. Texas took down its rival in the Lone Star Showdown on Friday night in Austin, handing the Aggies their first loss of the season after 11 wins and also handing an SEC Championship Game berth to the Bulldogs.
After Georgia took care of its own business in the 3:30 p.m. ET slot, it watched in primetime as Texas A&M failed to complete a perfect 12-0 regular season. The Dawgs needed either an Aggies loss on Friday night or an Alabama loss on Saturday night against Auburn to punch yet another ticket to the SEC title game.
They didn’t have to wait until Saturday night, getting the help they needed on Friday night. Now, after beating Georgia Tech in a neutral-site showdown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia will return to the same stadium 8 days later to play for another SEC championship.
The Bulldogs don’t know their opponent yet though. With Texas A&M’s loss on Friday night, the Aggies were eliminated from SEC Championship Game contention. That leaves Alabama and Ole Miss as the possible foes for Georgia.
If the Crimson Tide beat Auburn on Saturday night in the Iron Bowl, then we would get another Alabama-Georgia showdown in Atlanta. But if the Tigers take down the Tide, then Ole Miss would head to Atlanta to play the Dawgs for that SEC trophy.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
