SEC Football: Atlanta becoming a familiar setting for Alabama and Florida

Were are 9 days away from the college football season, and today we focus on the most important game of every SEC football season, the SEC Championship game.

The SEC football season is a long journey and all roads lead to Atlanta. But for the first time since 1993, the SEC title game will not be played in the Georgia Dome, and no it’s not going back to Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. either.

The Atlanta Falcons have opened their new Mercedes Benz Stadium and it will be the new home to the annual East vs. West showdown to decide the  Southeastern Conference champion. Alabama and Florida State will play the inaugural game inside the new stadium, but it’s a different team from the Sunshine State that we’re used to seeing in the A-T-L.

The Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide have made the trip to Atlanta for each of the last two SEC title games, and that leads us to no. 9 on the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.

Alabama and Florida have played each other 9 times in the SEC Championship game

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Their nine matchups in the title game are the most of any other matchup. Georgia and LSU have faced each other three times, while Auburn/Tennessee, LSU/Tennessee, and Florida/Arkansas have faced each other twice in Atlanta.

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When SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer elected to start the SEC Championship game, it was beginning to look like the Crimson Tide and Gators were the only ones invited. They played in four of the first five SEC title games, including the first two in Birmingham. Alabama won the first SEC football championship game, then Florida won the next four.

The Gators’ four straight conference titles from 1993-96 are still the most since the SEC went to the championship game format, but with Alabama coming off three straight SEC titles, that record could be in jeopardy.

Alabama owns the all-time record 5-4 over Florida in SEC title games, including winning each of their last three contests in 2009, 20015, and 2016 by a total score of 115-44.

Next: Five SEC players named Preseason All-Americans

Most experts are picking Georgia to come out of the SEC East this season, but don’t sleep on the Gators. Atlanta is becoming a familiar setting for their almost-annual matchup with Crimson Tide.