The SEC Championship will return to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the 2019 season, when the SEC East and West champions will square off on December 7.

Georgia clinched the SEC East in Week 12 with a win over Auburn. LSU holds a half-game leads over Alabama in the SEC West through Week 12.

Last season, Alabama defeated Georgia 35-28 to win the SEC Championship, overcoming a 14-point deficit in the third quarter to advance to its fifth consecutive College Football Playoff appearance.

The 2019 SEC preseason media poll predicted a rematch of last year’s SEC Championship this winter.

The Crimson Tide were picked to win the SEC West and the Bulldogs were picked to win the SEC East.

Alabama received 203 votes to win the SEC, while Georgia received 49 and LSU received three. Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee received one vote apiece.

The SEC Championship is one of the most important games of the entire season as it relates to the College Football Playoff because the winner has gone to the playoff every year. The 2017 season showed the respect the conference can receive from the selection committee because the SEC sent two teams to the playoff – SEC champion Georgia and Alabama, which finished the regular season 11-1 after losing to SEC West champion Auburn.

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