NCAA Football: The SEC Championship is set to be even better than expected

A few weeks ago, I published an article that stemmed from an idea given to me when I wrote for another site about the highly anticipated Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship game.

At the time, the Alabama Crimson Tide were ranked #1 in the nation and the Georgia Bulldogs were ranked #2. Both teams were unbeaten and on a crash course to meet in the SEC Championship game, with Alabama representing the SEC West and Georgia representing the SEC East.

That won't happen, and for that, we should be glad. The SEC Championship game we will get instead is an even better matchup with far more weight on it, as it opens up tons of options for the College Football Playoff selection committee depending on what happens in it.

And I'll admit it; I was wrong. Why? Because I picked against my conscience, which I won't be doing again, especially in the case of the Auburn Tigers, whose "Kick Six" I still watch frequently over four years later, and I still admire the team greatly for it. However, I did make up for it with this article a little bit later, as it was clear that Auburn was still alive, albeit needing everything to go their way to remain so.

Auburn, who had just lost their second game of the season after blowing a 20-point lead to the underdog Louisiana State (LSU) Tigers, looked to be down and out. But although they had two losses, one of those losses came in a non-conference game on the road against the Clemson Tigers.

So Auburn still had just one loss within the SEC, meaning if they could beat the odds and run the table by beating Georgia, Alabama and more, they would instead represent the SEC West in the SEC Championship game instead of Alabama.

They ended up crushing then-#1-ranked Georgia by a score of 40-17 and then handling then-#1-ranked Alabama by a score of 26-14 to secure a spot in the SEC Championship game in a rematch against the Bulldogs. The Tigers accounted for 100% of the losses endured by the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs, as both teams end the regular season at 11-1. Auburn ended the regular season at 10-2 with two wins against #1-ranked teams.

So here we are. Auburn is set to match up against Georgia in the SEC Championship game, and the winner is no doubt going to be headed to the CFP. But this game carries with it a whole lot more than a spot in college football's semifinals.

Georgia will definitely be out for revenge. The Tigers slaughtered them two weeks ago and dropped them from the ranks of the unbeaten, causing them to drop from #1 to #7 in the CFP rankings. This game ending in a blowout fashion like the one two weeks ago would be shocking. This is truly a great matchup.

This will also be the first SEC Championship game between the two teams in the history of the game. The last time Georgia was there was in the 2012 season when they lost to Alabama, and the last time Auburn was there was in the 2013 season, the season of the "Kick Six", when they beat the Missouri Tigers en route to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game, which they ended up losing in the closing seconds to the Florida State Seminoles.

The game will also have heavy CFP implications riding on it. First off, the winner will be in. There is no doubt about it. If Auburn wins, they will become the first two-loss team to get into the CFP. In that case, how would the selection committee judge other potential two-loss Power Five conference champions?

Possible two-loss Power Five conference champions include the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Texas Christian (TCU) Horned Frogs and the Southern California (USC) Trojans.

Would those teams get in over one-loss non-conference champion Alabama, or would the Crimson Tide get in without even qualifying for their conference title game like Ohio State did last season? Could we see two teams from the same conference, in this case the SEC, get into the CFP, something that has never happened before?

If Georgia wins, they will get into the CFP as a one-loss conference champion. In that case, would the selection committee be more hesitant to select a potential two-loss conference champion or champions from another conference, thus making them more eager to put one-loss non-conference champion Alabama into the CFP for the fourth time in its four-year existence?

This would also result in two teams from the same conference getting into the CFP for the first time ever, and it would also result in a one-loss non-conference champion getting in like we saw with Ohio State last season, as referenced above.

Regardless of what goes down in Atlanta, Georgia next Saturday between the Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs in the battle for SEC supremacy, one thing is certain: The CFP selection committee is going to have a lot of material that they will need to factor in to their CFP selections the following day to determine which four college football teams will battle to become national champions in January.