Alabama versus Georgia by the numbers: Tide playing for 27th SEC title - AL.com

No. 1 Alabama (12-0) vs. No. 4 Georgia (11-1)

3 p.m. CST Saturday (CBS)

Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta

0 Losses in 15 games against former assistant coaches for Nick Saban. Saban has three wins apiece over Derek Dooley and Jim McElwain, two each over Will Muschamp, Mark Dantonio and Jimbo Fisher and one apiece over Kirby Smart, Billy Napier and Jeremy Pruitt. Smart spent nine seasons on the Alabama staff with Saban before becoming Georgia's coach. After one season as the defensive-backs coach, Smart worked as the defensive coordinator from 2008 through 2015.

2 Previous SEC Championship Games have pitted an undefeated team against a team with one loss. In both cases, the team with the loss won and the undefeated team that lost was Alabama. Florida defeated Alabama 24-23 in 1994 and 31-20 in 2008.

2 Games in his 26 as a starter have featured two interceptions thrown by Georgia QB Jake Fromm -- and the Bulldogs lost both. Fromm, who has a 23-3 record as Georgia's starting quarterback, threw two interceptions in a 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama in last season's CFP national-title game and in a 36-13 to LSU on Oct. 13.

6 Previous appearances in the SEC Championship Game have been made by Georgia. The Bulldogs beat Arkansas 30-3 in 2002, lost to LSU 34-13 in 2003, beat LSU 34-14 in 2005, lost to LSU 42-10 in 2011, lost to Alabama 32-28 in 2012 and beat Auburn 28-7 in 2017. Georgia has a 3-3 record in the game.

11 Consecutive games in Atlanta have been won by Alabama since the Crimson Tide lost to Florida 31-20 on Dec. 6, 2008, in the SEC Championship Game. The victories include five in the SEC Championship Game, four in season-opening games, one in the Peach Bowl and one in the CFP title game. Alabama's most recent game in Atlanta is a 26-23 overtime victory against Georgia for the CFP national crown on Jan. 8.

11 Previous appearances in the SEC Championship Game have been made by Alabama. The Crimson Tide beat Florida 28-21 in 1992, lost to Florida 28-13 in 1993, lost to Florida 24-23 in 1994, lost to Florida 45-30 in 1996, beat Florida 34-7 in 1999, lost to Florida 31-20 in 2008, beat Florida 32-12 in 2009, beat Georgia 32-28 in 2012, beat Missouri 42-13 in 2014, beat Florida 29-15 in 2015 and beat Florida 54-16 in 2016. Alabama has a 7-4 record in the game.

12 Consecutive games have been won by Alabama with a margin of victory of at least 20 points. The Crimson Tide swept its regular-season schedule with the closest game a 45-23 victory over Texas A&M on Sept. 22. The Alabama run is the longest of 20-or-more-point victories in one season in NCAA FBS history by two games. Boise State defeated 10 consecutive opponents by at least 20 points during the 2002 season. The only other team in major-college football history to win 12 consecutive games in one season by at least 20 points is Yale in 1888. A 10-0 victory over Princeton in the season finale broke the streak.

13 SEC championships have been won by Georgia. In addition to their victories in the SEC Championship Game in 2002, 2005 and 2017, the Bulldogs won the conference crown in 1942, 1946, 1948, 1959, 1966, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1981 and 1982. Of those titles, Georgia shared the championship in 1946, 1966, 1976 and 1981. Alabama with 26 is the only school with more SEC titles than Georgia.

14 Of the 26 SEC Championship games have been won by the home team. Georgia is the home team on Saturday.

14 Victories for the Western Division representative and 12 victories for the Eastern Division representative in the SEC Championship Game. During the 2018 regular season, the East won the interdivision series with the West 9-5.

16 Consecutive first-half series have results in points for Georgia. Since losing a fumble after reaching the Kentucky 27-yard line on their final first-half possession in a 34-17 victory over the Wildcats on Nov. 3, the Bulldogs scored two touchdowns and two field goals in the first half of a 27-10 victory over Auburn on Nov. 10, six touchdowns in the first half of a 66-27 victory over Massachusetts on Nov. 17 and five touchdowns and a field goal in the first half of a 45-21 victory over Georgia Tech on Nov. 24. While that's boosted Georgia's scoring advantage over its opponents in the first half in 2018 to 285-86, Alabama has outscored its opponents in the first half 374-82 this season.

19 Victories in 26 SEC Championship games by the team ranked highest in The Associated Press poll. Alabama is No. 1 and Georgia No. 4 entering Saturday’s game.

21 Of the 26 SEC Championship games have been won by the team leading at halftime.

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22 Victories against teams ranked in the top five of the AP poll for teams coached by Nick Saban, four ahead of former West Virginia/Florida State coach Bobby Bowden at the top of the all-time list. Georgia is ranked fourth in this week's AP poll. Saban has a 16-6 record against top-five teams at Alabama. The victories came against No. 3 Georgia in 2008, No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Texas in 2009, No. 1 LSU in 2011, No. 5 LSU, No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Notre Dame in 2012; No. 1 Mississippi State in 2014, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 1 Clemson in 2015, No. 3 Washington in 2016, No. 3 Florida State, No. 1 Clemson and No. 3 Georgia in 2017 and No. 4 LSU in 2018. Overall, Saban has a 22-12 record against top-five opponents. Bowden’s record was 18-30-1.

23 Consecutive games against SEC East teams have been won by Alabama. The Crimson Tide hasn’t lost to an SEC East team since South Carolina scored a 35-21 victory over Alabama on Oct. 9, 2010.

25 Of the 26 winners in the SEC Championship Game have scored in the fourth quarter. The only title winner that didn't score in the last period was Florida when it defeated Auburn 28-6 in 2000.

25 Consecutive games have been won by Alabama when it has scored a touchdown on its opening offensive series, which the Crimson Tide has done in 10 of its 12 games this season. Alabama's most recent loss when it scored a TD on its opening possession came on Jan. 2, 2014, when Oklahoma posted a 45-31 victory over the Tide in the Sugar Bowl.

26 SEC championships have been won by Alabama. In addition to its victories in the SEC Championship Game in 1992, 1999, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Crimson Tide won the conference crown in 1933, 1934, 1937, 1945, 1953, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1989. Of those titles, Alabama shared the championship in 1934, 1961, 1966, 1981 and 1989.

39 Victories for Alabama, 25 for Georgia and four ties in the Crimson Tide-Bulldogs series. The teams squared off 25 times before the SEC’s first season in 1933, with the series knotted 11-11-3. Alabama leads the series 28-14-1 under the SEC banner. The schools met annually from 1944 through 1965. In the 52 intervening seasons, they’ve played 17 times, including a 32-28 victory by Alabama in the 2012 SEC title game. That’s one of their three previous meetings in Atlanta. The Bulldogs beat the Tide 22-0 on Nov. 19, 1921, in Georgia’s capital city, and Alabama beat Georgia 26-23 in the CFP national-championship game on Jan. 8.

41 Alabama touchdowns have been thrown for or scored by QB Tua Tagovailoa this season. That’s a TD-responsibility record for the Crimson Tide, breaking the mark of 36 established by Jalen Hurts in 2016. Tagovailoa has a school-record 36 passing touchdowns and five rushing TDs in 2018.

53 Victories for Alabama since the start of the 2015 season -- tied for the NCAA FBS record for most victories in a four-year period. The Crimson Tide also won 53 games from 2014 through 2017. Alabama won 14 games in 2015 and 2016, 13 games in 2017 and has won 12 in 2018. On its way to tying the record, Alabama became the first team in major-college football history with at least 11 victories in eight consecutive seasons and with at least 12 victories in five consecutive seasons. It had been tied with Southern Cal (2002-2008) at seven consecutive seasons with at least 11 victories and with Boise State (2008-2011) and Ohio State (2012-2015) at four consecutive seasons with at last 12 victories.

86 Victories and 12 losses for Alabama when playing as the No. 1 team in the AP poll. Georgia has a 1-4 record against the No. 1 team. The victory came on Nov. 9, 1985, when No. 17 Georgia upended top-ranked Florida 24-3. In their other games against the No. 1 team, the Bulldogs lost 27-3 to Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1977; 47-7 to Florida on Nov. 2, 1996; 41-17 to Florida on Oct. 31, 2009; and 42-10 to LSU on Dec. 3, 2011.

212.51 Is the passing-efficiency rating of Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa, the best in the nation. The passer rating is yielded by a formula based on the percentage of throws that result in completions, touchdowns and interceptions and the average gain per pass. Tagovailoa has completed 189-of-269 passes for 3,189 yards with 36 touchdowns and two interceptions.

239 Consecutive games have been played without being shut out by Alabama, a school record. Alabama’s most recent shutout loss came 9-0 to Auburn on Nov. 18, 2000.

302 Consecutive games have been played without being shut out by Georgia, a school record and the second-longest scoring streak in SEC history. Georgia’s most recent shutout loss came 31-0 to Alabama on Sept. 30, 1995.

588 Points have been scored by Alabama in 2018, the most in one season in school history. In 12 games, the current Crimson Tide broke the single-season mark of 582 points established by the 2016 team in 15 games. Georgia has given up 206 points this season.

3,985 Passing yards have been piled up by Alabama in 2018, the most in one season in school history. In 12 games, the current Crimson Tide broke the single-season mark of 3,890 passing yards established by the 2014 team in 14 games. With 299 passing yards against Georgia, Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa would break the individual single-season record set by Blake Sims with 3,487 in 2014. Tagovailoa has five 300-yard passing games this season. No other player in Alabama's history has had more than three in one campaign. Georgia has given up an average of 175.1 passing yards per game in 2018.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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