The SEC Forum at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

In 1979, UGA lost four nonconference games but was 5-0 in conference play going into a game with Auburn.  Had they won that, they would have been picked for the Sugar Bowl with possibly a 7-4 record.  They lost to four ACC teams, three of them in Athens.

Alabama was undefeated but would not have been selected because they had been the previous year.

HUH!? The SEC has never had a "no repeat" rule. 1979 Bama played in the Sugar Bowl. As did 1978 Bama. As did 1977 Bama.

And 1980 Bama would have played UGA in the Sugar Bowl had they beaten ND. Sugar Bowl committee was at their game in Birmingham to extend an invitation to the winner. ND won 7-0.

My recollection is they would have been eligible and preferred over Bama because of the repeat thing, not that there was some no repeat rule per se.

It was a topic of discussion before the Auburn game as to whether UGA would have been picked, or forced to be picked, because they would have been 6-0 in conference play.

About Them Dawgs! Blawg: Win Over Rebs Stopped Bleeding (patrickgarbin.blogspot.com)

A week later, Georgia upset touchdown-favorite LSU in Athens and, only a month later, the Bulldogs found themselves where they had been a year before during their banner season: just one game shy of an SEC championship and a trip to the Sugar Bowl.

The "rule" was in case of a tie, the team selected would have been selected longer in the past than the other.  I recall discussion that UGA should turn it down with a 7-4 record anyway.