| Game Name: | SEC Championship Game |
| Subheader: | Conference Championship |
| Date Game Played: | December 1 |
| Year Game Played: | 2018 |
| Football Season: | 2018 |
| Stadium: | Mercedes-Benz Stadium |
| City: | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Visitor School: | University of Alabama |
| Visitor Name Short: | Alabama |
| Visitor Nickname: | Crimson Tide |
| Visitor Record: | 12–0 |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 1 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 1 |
| Visitor Rank Cfp: | 1 |
| Visitor Coach: | Nick Saban |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 14 |
| Home School: | University of Georgia |
| Home Name Short: | Georgia |
| Home Nickname: | Bulldogs |
| Home Record: | 11–1 |
| Home Rank Ap: | 4 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 4 |
| Home Rank Cfp: | 4 |
| Home Coach: | Kirby Smart |
| Home 1Q: | 7 |
| Home 2Q: | 14 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 0 |
| Mvp: | Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama |
| Odds: | Alabama by 14 |
| Referee: | Matt Loeffler |
| Attendance: | 77,141 |
| Us Network: | CBS, Westwood One, SEC Radio |
| Us Announcers: | Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, and Jamie Erdahl (CBS) Ryan Radtke, Derek Rackley and Ross Tucker (Westwood One) Dave Neal, David Archer and Stephen Hartzell (SEC Radio) |
The 2018 SEC Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, to determine the 2018 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the East Division champion Georgia against the West Division champion Alabama. Georgia, the East Division Champion, was the designated home team. The game was televised by CBS for the eighteenth straight year. Alabama came back from a 28–14 deficit in the third quarter to defeat Georgia, 35–28.
In the 2017 SEC Championship Game, the East champion Georgia defeated the West champion Auburn 28–7 in a rematch from three weeks prior where Auburn defeated Georgia 40–17. It was the first time since 2008 an East Division team won the SEC Championship.
Also on November 3, Alabama secured its spot in the title game by defeating LSU by a score of 29–0. This gave Alabama a two-game lead over LSU in the West Division, with the Crimson Tide holding the potential tiebreaker. LSU then lost 74-72 to Texas A&M in the final game of the regular season, thus meaning Alabama had won every possible tiebreaker.
Georgia won its November 3 game against Kentucky, securing the East Division. While Georgia could have finished in a tie for the division title with any combination of Kentucky and Florida, Georgia also defeated Florida during the season, giving the Bulldogs all possible divisional tiebreakers.[1] The Bulldogs ultimately won the East title by two games.
This match up was the 69th all time meeting against the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs. They last played each other last season for the College Football Playoff National Championship . Alabama defeated Georgia, in overtime, 26–23.[2] After the January 8, 2018 match up, Alabama leads the all time series 39–25–4. This match up was the first time since 2012, that the two teams face off in the conference title game.
| Statistics | Alabama | Georgia |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 21 | 23 |
| Total yards | 403 | 454 |
| Rushes–yards | 29–157 | 39–153 |
| Passing yards | 246 | 301 |
| Passing: Comp–Att–Int | 17–34–2 | 25–40–0 |
| Time of possession | 24:30 | 35:30 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Passing | Tua Tagovailoa | 10–25, 164 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs |
| Rushing | Josh Jacobs | 8 carries, 83 yards, 2 TDs | |
| Receiving | Jaylen Waddle | 4 receptions, 113 yards, 1 TD | |
| Georgia | Passing | Jake Fromm | 25–39, 301 yards, 3 TDs |
| Rushing | D'Andre Swift | 16 carries, 75 yards, 1 TD | |
| Receiving | Isaac Nauta | 4 receptions, 81 yards, 1 TD |
Note: 77,141 was the officially announced attendance figure; "turnstile count" subsequently reported as 69,614.[3]