Georgia Needs One Win for Atlanta. Texas' Escape at LSU Leaves Tennessee Needing Help for the Other Spot
Georgia clinches a place in the final SEC Championship Game by winning at South Carolina. Alabama, Texas and Tennessee are all 2-loss teams chasing the second spot, and Kentucky's loss to Florida nearly knocked it out.
Birmingham, Ala. Georgia is one win from Atlanta. Behind the Bulldogs, three teams with two SEC losses are chasing one spot in the last SEC Championship Game, and Saturday night's finish in Baton Rouge made the path harder for Tennessee.
No. 8 Texas beat No. 24 LSU 22-21 on Arch Manning's 4-yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds left, the AP reported. The Longhorns are 5-2 in the league, level with Tennessee, and they own the head-to-head win over the Vols from their 20-17 game at Neyland in September.
The standings that matter
SEC title race, through Nov. 14
| Team | SEC | Overall | CFP (Nov. 10) | SEC games left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 7-1 | 9-1 | 1 | at South Carolina (Nov. 21) |
| Alabama | 6-2 | 8-2 | 3 | Auburn (Nov. 28) |
| Texas | 5-2 | 8-2 | 6 | Arkansas (Nov. 21), at Texas A&M (Nov. 28) |
| Tennessee | 5-2 | 8-2 | 8 | LSU (Nov. 21), at Vanderbilt (Nov. 28) |
| Kentucky | 5-3 | 7-3 | 11 | at Missouri (Nov. 21) |
Records and remaining games are from ESPN's schedules. CFP ranks are from the committee's Nov. 10 release; the next rankings come out Tuesday night.
Georgia: win and in
Georgia rolled past Missouri 48-21 after Raylen Wilson intercepted the first pass of the game, and it plays its last conference game at South Carolina on Saturday, the AP reported. At 7-1, a win puts the Bulldogs at 8-1, a record nobody else can reach. The AP said that game gives Georgia a chance to clinch the outright league title.
Georgia's one SEC loss was to Auburn in October. A loss in Columbia would drop it to 7-2 and could create a crowded tie at the top, which the conference's multi-team tiebreakers would have to sort out.
Second place: three teams, one spot
Before Saturday's games, USA Today's Jordan Mendoza laid out the simplest path for each contender:
- Tennessee: win out and have Texas lose to LSU, Arkansas or Texas A&M.
- Texas: win out and have Georgia win out.
- Alabama: win out and have Tennessee lose to Texas A&M, LSU or Vanderbilt.
Saturday trimmed both lists. Texas got past LSU, and Tennessee beat Texas A&M 22-7. That leaves Tennessee fans watching Arkansas at Texas on Saturday and Texas at Texas A&M on Nov. 28. It leaves Alabama fans watching LSU at Neyland and Tennessee at Vanderbilt.
Head-to-head results explain why. Texas beat Tennessee. Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10 in October. Alabama and Texas did not play. Alabama is also done with its league schedule except for the Iron Bowl, after a 21-6 win at Vanderbilt that the AP described as sloppy. It hosts Chattanooga on Saturday.
Pro Football Network gave Tennessee an 18.7% chance to reach the title game before Saturday, behind Georgia (92.1%), Alabama (51.0%) and Texas (25.7%). Those odds came before Texas' escape.
Kentucky's door nearly closed
No. 13 Kentucky led Florida 14-10 in the third quarter and lost 21-14 at home, with Aaron Philo running for 102 yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 9:08 left, according to ESPN's game summary. The Wildcats are 5-3 with one league game left, at Missouri. They can finish no better than 6-3, so they would need Alabama, Texas and Tennessee all to lose again.
A rare Sunday in the SEC
One league game is still to be played this weekend. No. 19 Ole Miss (6-3) plays at Oklahoma (5-4) today at noon CT on SEC Network, according to ESPN. The SEC moved it from Saturday after a nationwide FAA ground stop kept the Rebels from leaving Oxford on Friday night, the AP reported, and Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny objected publicly.
Put simply, this decision isn't fair to our athletes, our institution or to Sooner nation.Roger Denny, via the AP
At 4-3 and 3-3 in league play, neither team can finish better than 6-3, so the result matters more for the CFP rankings than for Atlanta.
What's next
The CFP's third rankings arrive Tuesday. Saturday's slate starts the final two weeks with Georgia at South Carolina, Arkansas at Texas and LSU at Tennessee. Whatever happens, the Dec. 5 game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be the 35th and last SEC Championship Game before the playoff expands to 24 teams next season.
Sources: ESPN (AP), Arch Manning leads No. 8 Texas to a late score and a 22-21 win over No. 24 LSU; ESPN (AP), Georgia marks return to No. 1 by routing Missouri 48-21; ESPN (AP), No. 9 Tennessee pulls away late to beat Texas A&M 22-7; ESPN (AP), No. 7 Alabama survives a sloppy 21-6 win over Vanderbilt; ESPN, Florida vs. Kentucky game summary; ESPN, Georgia 2026 schedule; ESPN, Alabama 2026 schedule; ESPN, Texas 2026 schedule; ESPN, Tennessee 2026 schedule; ESPN, Kentucky 2026 schedule; USA Today via Yahoo Sports, SEC football live standings, Week 11 race for conference title game; Pro Football Network, conference championship clinching scenarios, Week 11; WRAL (AP), SEC moves No. 19 Ole Miss-Oklahoma game to Sunday; ESPN, SEC scoreboard, Nov. 15; College Football Playoff, second rankings of 2026
