Bama, Georgia could give SEC rare matchup

ATLANTA — Top-ranked Alabama and No. 3 Georgia have been so dominant that the real drama behind the race to the SEC championship game may be the push for both to arrive in Atlanta undefeated.

It would be a rare accomplishment.

Since the Southeastern Conference began divisional play in 1992, only once has undefeated teams played in the championship game. In 2009, the No. 2 Crimson Tide beat No. 1 Florida.

The Bulldogs and Tide have compiled lists of lopsided SEC wins that make the “any given Saturday” cliche seem laughable in the conference.

Real tests to the drive for undefeated regular seasons could come in the teams’ next games. Georgia plays Florida, which has won 21 of 27 and three straight in the rivalry, on Saturday. Alabama, off this Saturday, plays No. 23 LSU in two weeks.

Alabama (8-0, 5-0 SEC) has outscored its SEC opponents 238-38. Georgia (7-0, 4-0) has a similarly lopsided 170-31 margin.

“I think they’re both very good football teams,” said Tennessee coach Butch Jones. The Vols were beaten by Georgia 41-0 and by Alabama 45-7 . “... Both teams are playing at a very high level and I think that’s evidenced by where they’re ranked right now.”

League coaches traditionally brag about the top-to-bottom depth in the SEC. This year, with LSU and No. 19 Auburn the only other ranked teams, the conference looks unusually topheavy.

Alabama coach Nick Saban and his former longtime defensive coordinator, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, want no part of looking ahead to Atlanta.

“I expect every game to be a four-quarter battle, to go to the wire,” Smart said Tuesday. “That’s what the SEC is. We’re no cut above the SEC, I can promise you that. We’re just fighting our tails off to play each week the best we can.”

If Georgia beats Florida , the Bulldogs would practically lock up the Eastern Division race with SEC games remaining against South Carolina, Auburn and Kentucky. Every other team in the East has at least two conference losses.

The race is tighter in the West, where Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M have only one conference loss.