THE GAME: Alabama makes its eighth appearance in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, December 1, against the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. It will be the first meeting between the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs since 2008 and the first in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama’s eight SEC Championship Game appearances is the most of any Western Division team, while UGA is making its fifth appearance. The Tide leads the series 36-25-4 after a 41-30 victory in Athens on Sept. 27, 2008. Saturday’s game will be televised nationally on CBS with kickoff set for 3 p.m. CST (4 p.m. EST in Atlanta).

GEORGIA: Georgia is 11-1 on the season with a 7-1 mark playing in the SEC’s Eastern Division. Alabama and Georgia have played five common opponents this season (Florida Atlantic, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Auburn) and both recorded 5-0 records in those games. Alabama’s margin of victory against those five common opponents was 32.8 points per game while Georgia’s was 25.8 points.

BEATING THE BEST: Alabama is 21-7 against The Associated Press top 25 over the past five seasons and 12-4 against AP top 10 teams. The Crimson Tide is 3-1 against the AP top 25 in 2012.

ALABAMA LEADS FOR MOST WINS SINCE 2008: Alabama has won 59 games dating back to the start of the 2008 season, which is the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

THE ALABAMA-GEORGIA SERIES: Alabama holds a 36-25-4 lead with Georgia in a series that dates back to 1895. The teams will meet for the 66th time this Saturday in the 2012 SEC Championship Game inside the Georgia Dome. Alabama won the last meeting between the two teams in 2008 in Athens, defeating the third-ranked Bulldogs, 41-30. Alabama’s longest winning streak over Georgia is five games from 1949-53 and 1960-64. From 1949-54, Alabama had a six-game unbeaten streak, which included a scoreless tie in 1954. The Tide owns a 14-12 series lead in games played in Georgia. Alabama and Georgia have played five previous games in Atlanta, with UGA holding a 3-2 edge (1909, 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1942).

CLASH OF THE TITANS: From 1971-82, Alabama and Georgia won every Southeastern Conference championship, totaling 12 SEC titles. The two teams were co-champions in 1981. Alabama won SEC titles in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981. Georgia won SEC titles in 1976, 1980, 1981 and 1982. Since 1982, Alabama and Georgia have won six SEC Championships, with four titles belonging to Alabama (1989, 1992, 1999 and 2009) and two to Georgia (2002 and 2005).

GEORGIA NATIVES: Alabama has 20 players on its football from the state of Georgia, including Jonathan Atchison (Atlanta), Dakota Ball (Lindale), Josh Dickerson (Evans), Xzavier Dickson (Griffin), Kenyan Drake (Powder Springs), LaMichael Fanning (Hamilton), Kurt Freitag (Buford), Brandon Greene (Ellenwood), Adam Griffith (Calhoun), Adrian Hubbard (Lawrenceville), Dillon Lee (Buford), Parker Philpot (Alpharetta), Polk (Lithonia), Austin Shepherd (Buford), Blake Sims (Gainesville), Geno Smith (Atlanta), Dalvin Tomlinson (McDonough), Brian Vogler (Columbus), Chance Warmack (Atlanta), Kellen Williams (Lawrenceville).

BROTHERS TO MEET IN GEORGIA DOME: Alabama freshman linebacker Dillon Lee and brother Dallas Lee, a junior offensive lineman for Georgia, will square off on opposite sides of the field on Saturday in the SEC Championship. Dillon has played in eight games as a true freshman, primarily on kickoff coverage, while Dallas has started in all 12 games for the Bulldogs, with 10 of those starts coming at left guard and the other two at right guard. (Pretty cool that someone in that family is going to be playing for a NC)

More Bama stuff here (pdf file)

Only Two Have Won At Least a Dozen
There have been only two teams in Bulldog history to register at least 12 wins in a season. Vince Dooley’s 1980 national champions went 12-0, capped by a 17-10 win over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Richt’s 2002 SEC championship squad finished 13-1 after defeating Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

This matchup will be only the second time Alabama and Georgia have met, with both teams ranked in the top three. The previous time was Oct. 31, 1942, which resulted in #2 Georgia defeating #3 Alabama 21-10 in Atlanta (Tech's Grant Field).

With the 42-10 victory over Georgia Tech, Georgia set a school record for points in a season with 456. The old mark was 450 by the 2002 team in 14 games.

More Ga stuff here (pdf file)