The SEC will debut its long-awaited new look with the arrivals of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024 and with it had come a new set of rules.

For the first time in more than 30 years, the league will not have divisions to determine the two teams that play in the SEC Championship Game in December and the conference announced a tie-breaking process to help pick the representatives on Wednesday.

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The SEC will make the determination based on set of criteria in the event two teams up for one of the spots in the title game have the same record by the end of the regular season.

According to a press release from the conference, six factors could potentially be considered in the process:

A. Head-to-head competition among tied teams

B. Record vs. all common conference opponents among tied teams

C. Record against highest placed common conference opponent in the conference standing, and proceeding through the conference standings among the tied teams

D. Cumulative conference winning opponents among the tied teams

E. Capped relative total scoring margin vs. all conference opponents among the tied teams

F. Random draw of the tied teams

In the release, two notes were added to provide the parameters in deciding the home and away teams in the event of a tie breaker.

"If the regular season standings determine a clear conference champion and two or more teams are tied for second place, the conference champion will be the home team in the championship game and the tie-breaking procedures will be used to determine its opponent."

"If a tiebreaker step produces standings with two teams tied for first place in the conference, both will qualify for the championship game," the conference said in a press release. "To decide the seeding of the two teams, both will progress through the two-team tiebreaker procedures until the tie is broken, which will determine home/away designation for the SEC Championship Game."

Tennessee was picked to finish seventh in the league in the preseason media poll following SEC Media Days in Dallas last month.

The Vols, who haven't made it to the conference championship game since 2007, were ranked No. 15 in both the Associated Press and USA Today preseason polls and are considered by some a team that could potentially work their way into the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

Tennessee opens its season against Chattanooga on Aug. 31 (12:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium and play No. 24 N.C. State in a neutral site game and Kent State at home before opening SEC play at No. 16 Oklahoma on Sept. 21.

The Vols' conference road slate includes Arkansas on Oct. 5 and No. 1 Georgia on Nov. 16 with home games against Florida and No. 5 Alabama in back-to-back weeks, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt in their regular season finale.

The SEC Championship Game is set for Dec. 7 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

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