What needs to happen for Georgia to make the SEC Championship game?

Georgia football sits in a position in the SEC standings that they aren't used to being in. The Bulldogs have quite a bit of work to do just to make it into the SEC Championship game, and that includes needing some help from other teams as well.

With the SEC no longer having divisions, the two participants in the championship game each season go to the two teams at the top of the SEC standings at the end of the regular season. And as it stands now, Georgia is on the outside looking in.

Texas, Texas A&M and Tennessee all only have one loss in conference play, and Ole Miss, Alabama, Missouri and LSU are all tied with Georgia with two losses. So any of these teams are still alive in the hunt to make it to Atlanta to play for an SEC Championship.

While it may seem like a long shot for Georgia to get there, it is still possible. So what does Georgia need to do to make it there?

Beat Tennessee

The easy part of this equation is that Kirby Smart and Georgia need to beat Tennessee. Failing to do so would make it impossible for the Bulldogs to make it to Atlanta. So a win over Tennessee is required, which would give UGA the tiebreaker over Tennessee in the SEC standings.

Alabama and LSU need to lose

With so many teams tied in the SEC with two losses, the conference would have to move far down their list of tiebreakers to see who would make it through in any scenario. But the simplest scenario is both Alabama and LSU losing one more game.

The Tide currently hold the tiebreaker over Georgia since they beat the Bulldogs earlier this season, so a third loss for Alabama is needed. Alabama's final two SEC games are against Oklahoma and Auburn, so unfortunately it seems likely that the Tide will win both games. But anything is possible, so hopefully one of those teams is able to pull out a win.

LSU is the second team that Gerogia needs to lose another game, and they have three more opportunities to do so. The Tigers play at Florida this weekend then finish their season against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. LSU likely will be favored in all three games, but the Tigers haven't looked that great recently so there is a good chance they lose at least one of these games.

How do the tiebreakers play out now?

Based on these two teams losing and Georgia beating Tennessee, that would leave the SEC with only one team with one loss. That would be the winner of the season finale between Texas and Texas A&M.

So now there would be a traffic jam of two loss teams including Georgia, the loser of the game between the Texas schools, Ole Miss and Tennessee who would all be looking to get the final spot in the SEC Championship game.

This is where it becomes difficult to break the tie as the SEC would have to move to tiebreaker rule No. 4 to begin separating these teams. This tiebreaker looks at the win percentage of each team's SEC opponents, and this tiebreaker would eliminate Ole Miss and Tennessee.

From there, if Georgia and Texas were the last two teams remaining, Georgia would advance to the championship game because of their head-to-head win earlier this season. But if Texas A&M is the team tied with Georgia instead, the SEC would have to go to tiebreaker No. 2 to separate these teams. This tiebreaker looks at the team's records against common opponents. Georgia and A&M will play four of the same teams this year, with both beating three of the four. But Georgia's win against Texas (and A&M's loss in the season finale) would give the edge to Georgia.

So at the end of the day, this is all very complicated, but it all comes down to just three results needed for Georgia to advance to Atlanta. The Bulldogs first need to handle their business and beat Tennessee and then hope Alabama and LSU both lose one more game.

Sure this may seem unlikely, but crazier things have happened. But even if Georgia doesn't make it to the SEC Championship game, they will still make the College Football Playoff as long as they win their final three games. And most Georgia fans would probably be fine with that outcome considering winning a national championship is more important than winning the SEC.