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SEC tiebreaker scenarios after Georgia tops Tennessee: Texas, Alabama in good shape

The most likely scenario is the SEC standings ending with five teams tied for second-place with two conference losses. Here's what happens if that scenario comes to fruition over the next couple of weekends:

Texas Longhorns (9-1, 5-1) — Steve Sarkisian's team goes to the SEC Championship if they beat Kentucky and Texas A&M to finish 7-1 in conference play. The lone loss came to Georgia.

Texas A&M Aggies (8-2, 5-1) — The Aggies recovered since their 24-point setback at South Carolina and are wins over Auburn and Texas away from punching their first ticket to the SEC Championship. Of the six SEC teams in playoff contention, Texas A&M's situation would be the most sticky if the Aggies lose one of their next two games.

Georgia Bulldogs (8-2, 6-2) — The Bulldogs beat Texas and Tennessee, but lost to Ole Miss and Alabama. No team faced a tougher schedule than the Bulldogs.

Tennessee Volunteers (8-2, 5-2) — Tennessee could made things much easier on the SEC office had the Vols beat Georgia. Instead, Tennessee hangs on to its win over Alabama as a statement victory that could be enough to push the Vols into the playoff. Atlanta, however, is unlikely.

Alabama Crimson Tide (8-2, 4-2) — Sifting through various SEC tiebreakers, Alabama's wins over Georgia and LSU means the Crimson Tide win most, but the loss at Tennessee does stand out. Like Georgia, Alabama has played an extremely competitive schedule. If Texas beats Texas A&M and it leaves five teams with two losses in conference play, the winning percentage of the Crimson Tide's common opponents with others in the mix should get Alabama to Atlanta.

Ole Miss Rebels (8-2, 4-2) — Losses to Kentucky and LSU means the Rebels don't hold any tiebreaker scenarios unless they were to finish in a single-team tie with Georgia after beating the Bulldogs head to head this month. Ole Miss is likely a playoff team at 10-2, but getting to Atlanta is too far in the weeds.

That didn't age very well. Some upsets yesterday.

I have no clue which Dawg team shows up Saturdays either.  They may well lose to Tech on Friday (!!!!!) and then beat Texas again.

I think it's going to be a really REALLY hard-fought game, and it'll be close.  The ags are a different team at home.  Nobody I know on the UT side is expecting anything other than a war.

Our primary problem, in my opinion, is that our defense plays terrible in the 1st and 2nd quarter. We spotted Auburn 21 points, including letting them score on their first two drives. Offense played well enough to win. Plus, we had them on the ropes with 2 minutes left, but defense couldn’t stop them. And lets be real, this is not a good Auburn. 

Shout out to Florida and Billy Napier for finally finding traction in year three of what has been a highly criticized and middling coaching tenure. Two straight wins, first over LSU and yesterday over Ole Miss, and suddenly Florida's 6-5 record looks much better. Beat a 2-9 Florida State next Saturday, win the bowl, and it'll be smooth sailing into the offseason with a lot of talent returning next year and hopefully the schedule lightening up a bit. Keep in mind, between ugly starts to the season by both Florida and FSU, Napier was under more fire than Norvell. It says a lot that Florida coaching staff can get the season back on the tracks. Good job to the Gators for pulling through.

What the last few strings of posts have described is the late season scramble...

Teams that are a lot better than they have played let it all out- play it to the bone... while other teams are playing not to lose... or, most likely, there is a variant of the above with one not exactly desperate and the other not exactly confident...

OU played it to the bone from start to finish.
Florida played it the same.
Auburn hung their hat on that one game, last night, to retain their man cards.
LSU, without the media hype, is not different than arky- dangerous but hapless more than not.
Tennessee needed style points and got them, though that wee UTEP team dusted off and emptied the trick play bucket making it interesting to watch even though it wasn't a competition.
USCe is a spooky outfit..

Texas is a tall order for anyone right now... it reminds me of that old quote about Marines: 
"Marines(Texas) believes they are the finest fighting force on the planet and to the point of arrogance, and the humorous thing about it is they're right."

I don't have a prediction for the game.  OU has had some bad stretches and LSU has more talent than the fans want to admit.  OU also just showed they can play with 2.5x more intensity than our team has shown at any point in the season, and when they get punched in the mouth....it's not that they fold....they're not quitters....they're just soft and hapless. 

That's not the worst trait that a team can have, but it's a disappointing one. You're always waiting for something to go wrong.