By Jay A. Fernandez

SAG Award nominations came out this morning, and I’m a little confused.

“Up in the Air” nabbed individual nods for its main three stars, George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. You’d think this would put the cast in pretty good contention for outstanding performance by a cast, as well. And yet, the SAG voters left it off the list.

Instead, the casts of “Precious,” “An Education,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “The Hurt Locker” and “Nine” filled those slots.

Number of individual nominations for each of these films:

“Locker”: one, Jeremy Renner, lead role

“Precious”: two, Gabourey Sidibe, lead role; Mo’Nique, supporting role

“Education”: one, Carey Mulligan, lead role

“Basterds”: two, Christoph Waltz, supporting role; Diane Kruger, supporting role

“Nine”: one, Penelope Cruz, supporting role

OK, so does anyone else see something fishy about the math here? No offense to any of the nominated films and actors, but huh? That makes less sense than the slapstick Susan Sarandon montage stuck in the middle of “The Lovely Bones.”

To recap: “Up in the Air” gets three — count ‘em — three nominations for cast members — more than any other film this year. But it does not rate in the ensemble cast category.

Bogus.

“An Education” is a fine film with fine acting. But its notices have been centered in their entirety on Carey Mulligan’s endearing turn — and justly so. So how does that film get more group-cast votes than the high-flying troika of “Up in the Air,” all of whom brought a unique and entertaining characterization to their splendidly meshed interactions?

Throw in Jason Bateman and J.K. Simmons and it’s no contest.

Anybody have an answer?