The 2005 Dr. Pepper

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

was played on December 3, 2005 in the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. The game determined the 2005

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

champion of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

. The

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

, winners of the Eastern division of the SEC, defeated the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

, who won the Western division, by a score of 34-14. This was the second time the two teams have met in the conference championship game. The first time was in 2003 when LSU defeated Georgia by the score 34-13.

Selection process

The

matches up the winner of the ''Eastern'' and ''Western'' divisions of the

. The game was first played in 1992, when the conference expanded from 10 to 12 teams with the addition of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. The SEC was the first conference in college football to have a conference championship game. By 2005, four other conferences had conference championship games (Big 12, ACC, CUSA & MAC).

Regular season

SEC East

The battle for the SEC East was a three-way battle for the entire conference season among the Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, and South Carolina Gamecocks. The Georgia Bulldogs entered the season with high hopes and rattled off a 5-0 conference record (South Carolina, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas) before heading to Jacksonville for the annual battle with the Florida Gators. Georgia was ranked #4 in both polls, and a win would have sealed the SEC East crown. But, with starting quarterback D.J. Shockley sidelined with an injury suffered in the Homecoming victory against Arkansas, Joe Tereshinski, III the Gators prevailed, 14-10 and dealt the Bulldogs their first loss of the season. Brandon Coutu missed two field goals late in the game which proved the difference in the game. Again with the SEC East crown on the line, the Bulldogs played the Auburn Tigers at home in a series which traditionally favors the road-team. Auburn won the game on a John Vaughn 20 yard field goal with six seconds remaining, 31-30. On the third attempt to punch their ticket to Atlanta, the Bulldogs defeated Kentucky 45-13 on Senior Day. A loss to the Wildcats would have created a three-way tie (Florida and South Carolina) for the SEC East Crown. Georgia's win clinched their 5th SEC East crown, and 3rd trip to the title game.

SEC West

The SEC West race was decided in Baton Rouge on October 22 when the LSU Tigers defeated the Auburn Tigers 20-17 in overtime. LSU had one conference loss coming into the game (an overtime loss against Tennessee) and Auburn was unblemished. Both teams remained tied with one conference loss through the rest of the season. Auburn was awarded its 5th Divisional Title, LSU its 5th as well, and LSU represented the SEC West in the title game for the 3rd time.

Game summary

The Bulldogs' senior quarterback

D. J. Shockley Donald Eugene "D. J." Shockley (born March 23, 1983) is a sports anchor and former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft where he served as a backup quarterback for four a ...

threw for 112 yards and two touchdowns while also running for a score. After LSU QB

JaMarcus Russell JaMarcus Trenell Russell (born August 9, 1985) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Highly successful at LSU, where he was MVP of the 2007 Sugar ...

left the game in the third quarter with an injury, backup

Matt Flynn Matthew Clayton Flynn (born June 20, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He was a member of the Packers when they won Super Bowl XLV over the Pitts ...

threw an interception returned for the touchdown by

Tim Jennings Timothy DeShawn Jennings (born December 24, 1983) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Georgia, and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Jennings has also played ...

to seal Georgia's 34–14 victory.

Scoring summary

Game statistics

References

External links

2005 SEC Championship Game at SECSports.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:2005 SEC Championship Game

SEC Championship The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

SEC Championship Game LSU Tigers football games Georgia Bulldogs football games December 2005 sports events in the United States 2005 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state) 2005 in Atlanta