ATHENS — There’s a lot of football left to be played, but there’s a scenario where Georgia could finish ranked No. 1 in the CFP rankings and not play in the SEC Championship Game or be seeded in the top four of the College Football Playoffs.

If Georgia, LSU, Texas and Texas A&M finish in a four-way tie atop the SEC — each with one conference loss — there’s a scenario where the Tigers and Aggies would be the two teams to play in the SEC title game.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 2 in the nation in the AP 25 and Coaches’ polls, are perhaps one Oregon loss away from being ranked No. 1 in the nation.

And yet, without a trip (and win) in the SEC title game, the Bulldogs would be relegated to no higher than a No. 5 seed and a first-round home game in the new 12-team College Football Playoffs.

The winner of the SEC Championship Game is automatically seeded in the top four of the College Football Playoffs and receives a valuable first-round bye.

The four-way tiebreak scenario that would elevate LSU and Texas A&M over Georgia and Texas is the SEC’s fourth tiebreaker, which stipulates the tied teams be separated by “cumulative conference winning percentage of opponents.”

The SEC could — and should — insert the CFP rankings as the fourth tiebreaker because teams don’t control their league schedule or how their opponents play.

But teams do control how they play, and that is reflected by the CFP rankings.

Currently, the cumulative conference winning percentage of LSU opponents’ is .540 (20-17), while Texas is (.461) 18-21 and Texas A&M’s is .444 (16-20) and Georgia’s is 15-22 (.405).

But the four-way tie scenario would involve Texas beating Texas A&M, thereby shifting the Longhorns’ and Aggies’ opponents’ cumulative winning percentages by one game, which would be enough to give Texas A&M the upper hand over Texas.

Here’s a look at how the scenario with LSU, Texas A&M, Texas and Georgia all finishing with one loss would go through the tiebreaks

Tiebreaker One: Head-to-head matchups

Georgia beat Texas, Texas A&M beat LSU, and Texas would have a win over Texas A&M.

But LSU doesn’t play Georgia or Texas, and Texas A&M doesn’t play Georgia.

Tiebreaker Two: Record against common opponents

Florida is the only common opponent of the four teams, and all of them would have beaten them for this scenario to play out.

Tiebreaker Three: Record against the highest-finishing common opponent.

In this scenario, Florida is once again the only team the four teams have played, so this tiebreaker does not do anything to decide the race.

Tiebreaker Four: Cumulative conference win percentage of teams’ opponents

Texas A&M and LSU would advance to the SEC Championship due to their opponents’ combined win percentage being better than Texas’ and Georgia’s.

Here’s a look at the four teams’ conference schedules, and the current records of the teams they have played:

LSU SEC schedule

(opponents current SEC records)

* indicates opponent not yet played

South Carolina 2-3

Ole Miss 2-2

Arkansas 3-2

Texas A&M 5-0

*vs. Alabama 3-2

*at Florida 2-2

*vs. Vanderbilt 2-2

*vs. Oklahoma 1-4

Current opponents’ cumulative (20-17)

Texas A&M SEC schedule

Florida 2-2

Arkansas 3-2

Ole Miss 2-2

Mississippi State 0-5

LSU 3-1

* at South Carolina 2-3

*at Auburn 1-4

*vs. Texas 3-1

Current opponents’ cumulative (16-20)

Texas SEC schedule

Mississippi State 0-5

Oklahoma 1-4

Georgia 4-1

Vanderbilt 2-2

*vs. Florida 2-2

*at Arkansas 3-2

*vs. Kentucky 1-5

*at Texas A&M 5-0

Current opponents’ cumulative (16-20)

Georgia SEC schedule

Kentucky 1-5

Alabama 3-2

Auburn 1-4

Mississippi State 0-5

Texas 3-1

*vs. Florida 2-2

*at Ole Miss 2-2

*vs. Tennessee 3-1

Current opponents’ cumulative (15-22)