Ole Miss fined $350,000 after fans stormed the field to celebrate Georgia’s victory
The SEC fined Ole Miss $350,000 after fans stormed the field during their win against Georgia. If they storm the field again, they will be fined $500,000.
There are still countless college football teams competing for the 2024 SEC championship.
And with the conference moving away from divisions after Oklahoma and Texas joined the league in 2024, finding the two teams that will face each other for the conference title game has become a bit tricky.
Texas A&M, Tennessee and Texas are all tied in the SEC standings with one conference loss each, while Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri are tied with two losses each.
There’s still plenty to figure out between now and December 7, when the game is held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, as several of the teams still competing have yet to play this season. And how the conference standings change could have huge implications for the College Football Playoff, with the conference champion getting a virtual lock to claim a first-round bye.
Here are the tiebreaker scenarios for the SEC standings, including which teams are likely to reach the SEC Championship Game this season:
Tiebreakers in the SEC standings
There are six ways to break a tiebreaker in the SEC’s current tiebreaker rules, which were announced in August.
There is a list of ways to break a tie, and the procedures are performed in descending order to decide who deserves the higher spot or spots between teams.
Here is the full list of tiebreakers, according to the SEC:
- A. Head-to-head competition against the tied teams
- b. Record against all regular conference opponents
- c. Record against the highest (best) ranked common conference opponent in the conference standings, and ongoing conference standings among tied teams
- D. Cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents among tied teams
- E. Capped relative aggregate scoring margin against all conference opponents among tied teams
- F. Random drawing of tied teams
In the event that two teams tie for first place in the SEC standings, both teams will qualify for the SEC Championship Game. The tiebreaker process would then be used to determine home/away seeding.
SEC tiebreaker scenarios
There are a plethora of teams still fighting for a spot in the SEC Championship. Here are the easiest paths into the game for each of the remaining teams in the battle:
- Tennessee: Beat Georgia AND Vanderbilt
- Texas A&M: Beat Auburn AND Texas
- Texas: Beat Arkansas, Kentucky AND Texas A&M
- Alabama: Defeat Oklahoma AND Auburn | Georgia OR Vanderbilt beats Tennessee | Missouri wins at least two of the three remaining SEC games vs. South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas
Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas each control their own fate for a spot in the SEC championship game. If Tennessee wins and Texas A&M and Texas don’t lose until the regular season finale, the Vols will face the winner of a revived interstate rivalry. That’s the easiest scenario.
Alabama also has a relatively easy path to the SEC title game, even if its own destiny is not in its control.
The Crimson Tide must win, Tennessee must drop one of its remaining games to Georgia or Vanderbilt and have Missouri win two of its three remaining games against South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas. At that point, Alabama would finish above Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M in conference opponent winning percentage (.500) and ahead of LSU due to head-to-head results.
The tiebreaker scenarios will be risky for the remaining teams in contention in Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU, as they will need total chaos to get into the game.
Speaking of chaos, there is a scenario in which the SEC ends up with an eight-way tie for first place in the league. What about the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff? Some programs will probably be scratching their heads in that case.
Here’s what needs to happen for an SEC Armageddon:
- Georgia beats Tennessee
- The winner between Texas and Texas A&M will lose before their season finale
- Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri win
This scenario would put eight teams at two losses and result in a strength of schedule tiebreaker.
In that scenario, Alabama would finish first ahead of Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M, based on its conference opponent’s winning percentage (51.56%). LSU would finish second behind the Crimson Tide and ahead of the aforementioned teams with a conference opponent winning percentage of 48.44%.
Best Odds to Win the SEC Championship Game
Here’s a look at which SEC teams have the best chance to win the SEC Championship, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. The FPI takes into account the chances of qualifying for the conference championship.
- Texas (36.7%)
- Alabama (32.2%)
- Tennessee (12.7%)
- Georgia (7.7%)
- Texas A&M (6.4%)
- LSU (3.4%)
- Ole Miss (0.9%)
- Missouri (0.1%)
Missouri is the last team not yet eliminated from SEC championship contention, as Auburn, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and South Carolina are mathematically unable to get into the game.
SEC standings after week 11
Here are the current SEC standings after Week 11 of the college football season:
- T-1. Tennessee (5-1)
- T-1. Texas A&M (5-1)
- 3. Texel (4-1)
- 4. Georgia (5-2)
- T-5. Alabama (4-2)
- T-5. Ole Miss (4-2)
- T-7. LSU (3-2)
- T-7. Missouri (3-2)
- 9. South Carolina (4-3)
- T-10. Arkansas (3-3)
- T-10. Vanderbilt (3-3)
- 12. Florida (2-4)
- T-13. Chestnut brown (1-5)
- T-13. Oklahoma (1-5)
- 15. Kentucky (1-6)
- 16. Mississippi State (0-6)
