The 2022 SEC Championship Game was a

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game played on December 3, 2022, at

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) ...

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 ...

. It was the 31st edition of the

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 ...

and determined the 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 ...

(SEC) for the 2022 season. The game began at 4:00 p.m. EST on

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. The contest featured 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 ...

, the West Division champions and 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 ( ...

of the East Division.

Teams

LSU Tigers

The Tigers clinched a spot in the game following Alabama's defeat of Ole Miss on November 12. Earlier in the season, LSU had defeated both Alabama and Ole Miss. LSU's last appearance, and victory, in the game was in

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Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia began the season as the No. 3 ranked team in both the AP and Coaches Polls. In the

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, Georgia defeated No. 11 Oregon 49–3. The following week, after jumping to No. 2 in both polls, Georgia defeated No. 25-FCS-ranked Samford 33–0. Georgia would jump to No. 1 in the AP Poll before defeating

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 = ...

48–7 on the road. Georgia would return to

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as the No. 1 team in both polls. Georgia would go on to defeat

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

39–22. The following week at

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, Georgia would trail 12–22 in the fourth quarter. After 14 unanswered points, Georgia would win the game 26–22. Georgia would return home for a two game home stretch including victories over rivals

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

and Vanderbilt before a

bye week In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round. In Tournament#Knockout, knockout (elimination) tournaments the ...

. Following the bye week, Georgia would defeat

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

42–20. During the game,

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would tear a pectoral muscle, prematurely ending his season. Georgia would remain No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Polls, but was ranked No. 3 in the inaugural

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

rankings. In the game of the century, Georgia defeated

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

27–13. The following week, Georgia clinched a spot in the SEC Championship with a 45–19 victory over

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

Game summaries

Statistics

References

{{Georgia Bulldogs football navbox

Championship Game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

SEC Championship Game Georgia Bulldogs football games LSU Tigers football games