The SEC Championship Game is a bit different in 2024 with the conference no longer having divisions in football. In many seasons, the game’s matchup would be determined by Week 11, or even earlier. This year, however, the race for Atlanta is wide open with 3 weeks to go in the regular season.

Three teams have only 1 SEC loss: Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M. Five more squads have 2 conference losses: Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Mizzou. Technically, 3-loss squads (South Carolina, Arkansas, Vanderbilt) are not yet eliminated, but the 8 teams with 1 or 2 losses are much more likely to be playing in Atlanta on Dec. 7.

Just how messy could things get? An 8-way tie for first place is possible, as noted by Seth Emerson of The Athletic. It would take Georgia defeating Tennessee, the Texas-Texas A&M winner dropping a conference game before the rivalry clash and Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri all winning out.

Whether we’re talking about an 8-team tie for first or just a couple of teams for second place, these are the tie-breaking steps that will be used by the SEC:

A. Head-to-head competition among the tied teams
B. Record versus all common Conference opponents among the tied teams
C. Record against highest (best) placed common Conference opponent in the Conference standings, and proceeding through the Conference standings among the tied teams
D. Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents among the tied teams
E. Capped relative total scoring margin versus all Conference opponents among the tied teams
F. Random draw of the tied teams

We’ll see just how complicated things get over the final 3 weeks of the regular season.