What is Alabama’s path to the SEC Championship Game after loss to Oklahoma?

There’s no denying it was a tough homecoming week for Alabama fans.

The Crimson Tide saw its men’s basketball team lose to No. 2 Purdue at home then watched as Oklahoma took down the Alabama football team inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.

But it’s not all doom and gloom though as there are two pieces of good news. The first: those two losses were sandwiched around an NCAA Tournament win by the women’s soccer team which now plays in the second round this Friday.

The second bit of good news is still about the Tide’s football team.

Despite its second loss of the season, Alabama still controls its own destiny when it comes to the SEC + the College Football Playoff… things just got a little bit more dire moving forward.

SEC tiebreakers

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Before Alabama’s loss Saturday, it seemed like the Tide was destined to meet Texas A&M in the SEC Championship Game as the two were the final teams with unbeaten conference records.

The Aggies managed to survive a scare from South Carolina to keep their undefeated record intact but even they could end up on the outside looking in.

As it stands, Texas A&M sits alone on top of the conference standings with three other teams having just one SEC loss. The teams who could still make the SEC Championship Game include:

• Texas A&M
• Georgia
• Alabama
• Ole Miss

Georgia has already wrapped up their conference schedule while the other three teams finish with big rivalry games in Week 14. And each one will be crucial to determining who plays in Atlanta on Dec. 6.

Here’s how we could get each possible matchup:

• Alabama vs. Texas A&M
  • Texas A&M beats Texas
  • PLUS Alabama beats Auburn
  • PLUS Any Ole Miss-Mississippi State result
• Alabama vs. Georgia
  • Texas beats Texas A&M
  • PLUS Alabama beats Auburn
  • PLUS Any Ole Miss-Mississippi State result
• Georgia vs. Texas A&M
  • Texas A&M beats Texas
  • PLUS Auburn beats Alabama
  • PLUS Any Ole Miss-Mississippi State result
  • OR Texas, Auburn + Mississippi State all win
• Ole Miss vs. Georgia
  • Texas beats Texas A&M
  • PLUS Auburn beats Alabama
  • PLUS Ole Miss beats Mississippi State

The only way Alabama would miss the title game is by losing the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Crimson Tide will know exactly what’s a stake when the Iron Bowl rolls around on Saturday, Nov. 29 as the other two games are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 28. The Iron Bowl kickoff time is expected to be announced this week.

The official SEC tiebreakers are broken down like this:

• A. Head-to-head competition among the tied teams
• B. Record versus all common Conference opponents among the tied teams
• C. Record against highest (best) placed common Conference opponent in the Conference standings, and proceeding through the Conference standings among the tied teams
• D. Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents among the tied teams
• E. Capped relative total scoring margin (see Appendix A) per SportSource Analytics versus all Conference opponents among the tied teams
• F. Random draw of the tied teams

The four teams have not faced each other but Alabama does have a win over Georgia while Georgia has a win over Ole Miss. Texas A&M is the only team to not play any of the other three teams in the regular season.

That means in the scenario of a 3- or 4-way tie, it would come down to tiebreaker D, which is essentially strength of conference schedule… something that currently favors the Crimson Tide.

Who do you think plays in the SEC Championship Game? Let us know by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn.