Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Southeastern Conference logo
Established	1932
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	16
Sports fielded	21 (men's: 9; women's: 12)
Region	Southern United States
Headquarters	Birmingham, Alabama
Commissioner	Greg Sankey (since 2015)
Website	secdigitalnetwork.com
Locations
Southeastern Conference locations Southeastern Conference locations

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in athletic competitions; for football, it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A. The conference is one of the most successful financially, consistently leading most conferences in revenue distribution to its members, including an SEC record $220.0 million for the 2010–2011 fiscal year.

The SEC was established in 1932 by 13 members of the Southern Conference. Three charter members left by the late 1960s, but additions in 1990 and 2012 grew the conference to 14 member institutions. The conference expanded to 16 members with the addition of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas in 2024.

In 1992, the SEC was the first NCAA Division I conference to have a championship game for football and was one of the founding member conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The conference sponsors team championships in nine men's sports and 13 women's sports. The conference distributed $721.8 million to its 14 schools in 2022.

Teams

Team	Location	Stadium
Alabama Crimson Tide	Tuscaloosa, AL	Bryant-Denny Stadium
Arkansas Razorbacks	Fayetteville, AR	Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
Auburn Tigers	Auburn, AL	Jordan-Hare Stadium
Florida Gators	Gainesville, FL	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Georgia Bulldogs	Athens, GA	Sanford Stadium
Kentucky Wildcats	Lexington, KY	Commonwealth Stadium
LSU Tigers	Baton Rouge, LA	Tiger Stadium
Mississippi Rebels	Oxford, MS	Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Mississippi State Bulldogs	Starkville, MS	Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field
Missouri Tigers	Columbia, MO	Faurot Field
Oklahoma Sooners	Norman, OK	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
South Carolina Gamecocks	Columbia, SC	Williams-Brice Stadium
Tennessee Volunteers	Knoxville, TN	Neyland Stadium
Texas Longhorns	Austin , TX	Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
Texas A&M Aggies	College Station, TX	Kyle Field
Vanderbilt Commodores	Nashville, TN	Vanderbilt Stadium

Former members

Three schools have left the SEC, all charter members:

• The University of the South ("Sewanee") developed an elite college football program around the turn of the 20th century, with some observers opining that the 1899 "Iron Tigers" were the most dominant squad in history. However, after helping to establish the SEC in the early 1930s, it became clear that the small private institution's athletic teams could no longer compete with those from large state universities. Sewanee Tigers football squads never won a conference game, going 0–36 in league play over eight seasons while enjoying much more success against non-conference foes from comparably-sized institutions. As such, Sewanee opted to leave the SEC after the 1940 season and transitioned its athletic programs to the lower divisions of intercollegiate play. The school is currently a member of the Southern Athletic Association.
• Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1964 due to controversy over the conference's regulation of recruiting and scholarships. Georgia Tech athletic director and head football coach Bobby Dodd had lobbied the league to establish rules prohibiting several practices, particularly the oversigning of players by Alabama coach Bear Bryant and others. When league members voted against tightening the rules, Dodd withdrew the Yellow Jackets from the SEC. The school played as an independent for several years, and in 1978, Georgia Tech joined another Southern Conference offshoot, the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Tulane left the SEC in 1966. The school's athletic squads were competitive in the early days of the conference, but much like Sewanee, the private institution's programs found it difficult to compete against large state universities. This was particularly true in football; the Green Wave were SEC champs in 1949 but never again posted a winning record in conference play. Tulane left the SEC in 1966 and subsequently considered dropping to lower levels of NCAA competition or even ending its football program altogether to focus on academics. However, the school has remained in Division I and joined the American Athletic Conference in 2014.

Institution	Location	Esta- blished	Joined SEC	Left SEC	Type	Nickname	Colors	Current conf
Sewanee	Sewanee, TN	1857	1932	1940	Private	Tigers		SAA
Georgia Tech	Atlanta, GA	1885	1932	1964	Public	Yellow Jackets		ACC
Tulane	New Orleans, LA	1834	1932	1966	Private	Green Wave		The American

Scheduling

Before expansion, each SEC school played six conference games. Five of these games were against permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the sixth game rotated around the other four members of the conference.

From 1992 through 2001, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia — two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time — while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the permanent opponents to only one per team.

Under the current format, each school plays a total of eight conference games, consisting of the other five teams in its division, two schools from the other division on a rotating basis, and one school from the other division that it plays each year. All permanent inter-divisional games, with the exception of Arkansas vs. South Carolina, were played annually before SEC expansion in 1992.

1990 expansion

Further information: Southwest Conference

In 1990, the SEC expanded from ten to twelve member universities with the addition of the Arkansas Razorbacks and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The two new members began SEC competition with the 1991–1992 basketball season.

At the same time, the SEC organized competition for some sports into two divisions. The Western Division comprised six of the seven member schools in the Central Time Zone, while the Eastern Division comprised the five member schools in the Eastern Time Zone plus Vanderbilt, which is in the Central Time Zone but was placed in the Eastern Division to preserve its rivalry with Tennessee. Initially, the divisional format was used in football, baseball, and men's basketball. The divisional format was dropped for men's basketball following the 2011–2012 season.

Following expansion, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annual football championship game that did not count against NCAA limits on regular-season contests, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions. The 1992 and 1993 championship games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, and all championship games from 1994 onward have been held in Atlanta—first at the Georgia Dome until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season, and since 2017 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

2012 expansion

See also: 2010–12 Southeastern Conference realignment

On September 25, 2011, the SEC Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced that Texas A&M University would join the SEC effective July 1, 2012, to begin competition in nineteen of the twenty sports sponsored by the SEC during the 2012–13 academic year. On November 6, 2011, the SEC commissioner announced that the University of Missouri would also join the SEC on July 1, 2012. For football, Texas A&M was scheduled to compete in the Western Division, and Missouri in the Eastern Division. Texas A&M and Missouri both left the Big 12 Conference.

2024 expansion

See also: 2021–2026 NCAA conference realignment

On July 27, 2021, Oklahoma and Texas formally notified the SEC they were seeking "an invitation for membership". In a joint letter, Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote, "We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC." On July 29, 2021, the presidents of the current 14 schools of the SEC voted unanimously to extend an offer of admission to Oklahoma and Texas. The boards of regents for both institutions on July 30, 2021, accepted conference membership, and the schools were tentatively scheduled to join the league in 2025.

On February 9, 2023, the Big 12, Texas, and Oklahoma announced they had reached a buyout agreement that allowed the schools to join the SEC in 2024. The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners athletic teams thus began league play during the 2024–25 academic year.

Championship Game

The SEC Championship Game pits the SEC Western Division representative against the Eastern Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. As of 2009, eight of the twelve SEC members have played in the Championship. Ole Miss is the only team from the SEC West to have not played in the SEC Championship Game, and Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and South Carolina have failed to play in the game from the SEC East.

The first two SEC Championship football games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. From 1994 till 2017, the game was played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The team designated as the "home" team alternates between division champions; the designation goes to the Eastern champion in even-numbered years and the Western champion in odd-numbered years. As of 2012, the Eastern division of the SEC leads the Western division in overall wins in the championship game 11 to 10.

In 2017 the game moved to Mercedes Benz-Stadium across the street from the original Georgia Dome.

Rivalries

The SEC members have long histories. Some of the football rivalries involving SEC teams include:

Intra-conference football rivalries

The members of the SEC have longstanding rivalries with each other, especially on the football field. The following is a list of active rivalries in the Southeastern Conference with totals & records through the completion of the 2023 season.

Teams		Rivalry name	Trophy	Meetings	Record	Series leader	Current streak
Alabama	Auburn	Iron Bowl	Foy, V-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy	88	50–37–1	Alabama	Alabama won 4
	Florida	Alabama–Florida rivalry	None	42	27–14	Alabama	Alabama won 8
	Georgia	Alabama–Georgia rivalry		74	44–26–4	Alabama	Alabama won 2
	LSU	First Saturday in November		88	56–27–5	Alabama	Alabama won 1
	Mississippi State	Alabama–Mississippi State rivalry		108	86–18–3	Alabama	Alabama won 16
	Ole Miss	Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry		71	55–10–2	Alabama	Alabama won 8
	Tennessee	Third Saturday in October		106	59–39–7	Alabama	Tennessee won 1
Arkansas	LSU	Arkansas–LSU rivalry	Golden Boot	69	23–44–2	LSU	LSU won 2
	Missouri	Battle Line Rivalry	Battle Line Trophy	15	4–11	Missouri	Missouri won 2
	Ole Miss	Arkansas–Ole Miss rivalry	None	70	38–30–1	Arkansas	Ole Miss won 1
	Texas	Arkansas–Texas rivalry		79	23–56	Texas	Arkansas won 2
	Texas A&M	Arkansas–Texas A&M rivalry	Southwest Classic Trophy	80	42–35–3	Arkansas	Texas A&M won 2
Auburn	Alabama	Iron Bowl	Foy, V-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy	88	37–50–1	Alabama	Alabama won 4
	Florida	Auburn–Florida rivalry	None	84	43–39–2	Auburn	Florida won 1
	Georgia	Deep South's Oldest Rivalry		128	56–64–8	Georgia	Georgia won 7
	LSU	Auburn–LSU rivalry		58	24–30–1	LSU	LSU won 2
	Ole Miss	Auburn–Ole Miss rivalry		47	35–12	Auburn	Ole Miss won 2
	Tennessee	Auburn–Tennessee rivalry		54	29–22–3	Auburn	Auburn won 1
Florida	Alabama	Alabama–Florida rivalry		42	14–27	Alabama	Alabama won 8
	Auburn	Auburn–Florida rivalry		84	39–43–2	Auburn	Florida won 1
	Georgia	Florida–Georgia rivalry	Okefenokee Oar	101	44–55–2	Georgia	Georgia won 3
	Kentucky	Florida–Kentucky rivalry	None	74	53–21	Florida	Kentucky won 3
	LSU	Florida–LSU rivalry		70	33–31–3	Florida	LSU won 5
	Tennessee	Florida–Tennessee rivalry		53	32–21	Florida	Florida won 1
Georgia	Alabama	Alabama–Georgia rivalry		73	26–43–4	Alabama	Alabama won 1
	Auburn	Deep South's Oldest Rivalry		128	64–56–8	Georgia	Georgia won 7
	Florida	Florida–Georgia rivalry	Okefenokee Oar	101	55–44–2	Georgia	Georgia won 3
	South Carolina	Georgia–South Carolina rivalry	None	76	55–19–2	Georgia	Georgia won 4
	Tennessee	Georgia–Tennessee rivalry		53	28–23–2	Georgia	Georgia won 7
	Vanderbilt	Georgia–Vanderbilt rivalry		83	61–20–2	Georgia	Georgia won 6
Kentucky	Florida	Florida–Kentucky rivalry		74	21–53	Florida	Kentucky won 3
	Tennessee	Kentucky–Tennessee rivalry	Beer Barrel	119	26–82–9	Tennessee	Tennessee won 3
	Vanderbilt	Kentucky–Vanderbilt rivalry		96	48–43–4	Kentucky	Kentucky won 1
LSU	Alabama	First Saturday in November	88	27–56–5	Alabama	Alabama won 1
	Arkansas	Arkansas–LSU rivalry	Golden Boot	69	42–23–2	LSU	LSU won 2
	Auburn	Auburn–LSU rivalry	None	58	30–24–1	LSU	LSU won 2
	Florida	Florida–LSU rivalry		70	31–33–3	Florida	LSU won 5
	Mississippi State	LSU–Mississippi State rivalry		117	75–36–3	LSU	LSU won 3
	Ole Miss	Magnolia Bowl	Magnolia Bowl Trophy	112	63–42–4	LSU	Ole Miss won 1
	Texas A&M	LSU–Texas A&M rivalry	None	62	32–23–3	LSU	LSU won 1
Mississippi State	Alabama	Alabama–Mississippi State rivalry		108	18–86–3	Alabama	Alabama won 16
	LSU	LSU–Mississippi State rivalry		117	36–74–3	LSU	LSU won 3
	Ole Miss	Egg Bowl	Golden Egg	120	46–65–6	Ole Miss	Ole MIss won 1
Missouri	Arkansas	Battle Line Rivalry	Battle Line Trophy	15	10–4	Missouri	Missouri won 2
	Oklahoma	Missouri–Oklahoma rivalry	Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe	96	67–24–5	Oklahoma	Oklahoma won 1
	South Carolina	Battle for Columbia	Mayor's Cup	14	9–5	Missouri	Missouri won 5
Oklahoma	Missouri	Missouri–Oklahoma rivalry	Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe	96	67–24–5	Oklahoma	Oklahoma won 1
	Texas	Red River Rivalry	Golden Hat	119	51–63–5	Texas	Oklahoma won 1
Ole Miss	Alabama	Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry	None	71	55–9–2	Alabama	Alabama won 8
	Arkansas	Arkansas–Ole Miss rivalry		70	30–37–1	Arkansas	Ole Miss won 1
	Auburn	Auburn–Ole Miss rivalry		48	12–35	Auburn	Ole Miss won 2
	LSU	Magnolia Bowl	Magnolia Bowl Trophy	112	42–63–4	LSU	Ole Miss won 1
	Mississippi State	Egg Bowl	Golden Egg	120	46–65–6	Ole Miss	Ole Miss won 1
	Vanderbilt	Ole Miss–Vanderbilt rivalry	None	98	54–40–2	Ole Miss	Ole Miss won 5
South Carolina	Georgia	Georgia–South Carolina rivalry		76	19–55–2	Georgia	Georgia won 4
	Missouri	Battle for Columbia	Mayor's Cup	14	5–9	Missouri	Missouri won 5
	Tennessee	South Carolina–Tennessee rivalry	None	42	27–11–2	Tennessee	Tennessee won 1
Tennessee	Alabama	Third Saturday in October	None	106	39–59–7	Alabama	Alabama won 1
	Auburn	Auburn–Tennessee rivalry		54	22–29–3	Auburn	Auburn won 1
	Florida	Florida–Tennessee rivalry		53	21–32	Florida	Florida won 1
	Georgia	Georgia–Tennessee rivalry		53	23–28–2	Georgia	Georgia won 7
	Kentucky	Kentucky–Tennessee rivalry	Beer Barrel	119	82–26–9	Tennessee	Tennessee won 3
	South Carolina	South Carolina–Tennessee rivalry	None	41	27–11–2	Tennessee	Tennessee won 1
	Vanderbilt	Tennessee–Vanderbilt rivalry		118	78–33–5	Tennessee	Tennessee won 5
Texas	Arkansas	Arkansas–Texas rivalry		79	56–23	Texas	Arkansas won 2
	Oklahoma	Red River Rivalry	Golden Hat	119	63–51–5	Texas	Oklahoma won 1
	Texas A&M	Texas–Texas A&M rivalry	None	118	76–37–5	Texas	Texas won 1
Texas A&M	Arkansas	Arkansas–Texas A&M rivalry	Southwest Classic Trophy	80	35–42–3	Arkansas	Texas A&M won 2
	LSU	LSU–Texas A&M rivalry	None	62	23–32–3	LSU	LSU won 1
	Texas	Texas–Texas A&M rivalry		118	76–37–5	Texas	Texas won 1
Vanderbilt	Georgia	Georgia–Vanderbilt rivalry		83	20–61–2	Georgia	Georgia won 6
	Kentucky	Kentucky–Vanderbilt rivalry		96	43–49–4	Kentucky	Kentucky won 1
	Ole Miss	Ole Miss–Vanderbilt rivalry		98	40–54–2	Ole Miss	Ole Miss won 5
	Tennessee	Tennessee–Vanderbilt rivalry		118	33–78–5	Tennessee	Tennessee won 5

Player awards

Each year, the conference selects various individual awards. In 1994, the conference began honoring former players from each school annually with the SEC Football Legends program.

50th anniversary All-Time SEC Team

In 1982, the SEC Skywriters, a group of media covering the Southeastern Conference, selected members of their All-Time SEC Team for the first 50 years (1933–82) of the SEC.

Coach: Paul Bryant

Offense QB Archie Manning, Ole Miss 1968-70 HB Charley Trippi, Georgia 1942,45-46 HB Billy Cannon, LSU 1957-59 HB Herschel Walker, Georgia 1980-82 WR Don Hutson, Alabama 1932-34 WR Terry Beasley, Auburn 1969-71 TE Ozzie Newsome, Alabama 1974-77 OL John Hannah, Alabama 1970-72 OL Bruiser Kinard, Ole Miss 1935-37 OC Dwight Stephenson, Alabama 1977-79 OL Bob Suffridge, Tennessee 1938-40 OL Billy Neighbors, Alabama 1959-61 PK Fuad Reveiz, Tennessee 1981-84

Defense DL Doug Atkins, Tennessee 1950-52 DL Bill Stanfill, Georgia 1966-68 DL Jack Youngblood, Florida 1968-70 DL Lou Michaels, Kentucky 1955-57 DL Gaynell Tinsley, LSU 1934-36 LB Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama 1960-62 LB Jack Reynolds, Tennessee 1967-69 LB D.D. Lewis, Miss. State 1965-67 DB Tucker Frederickson, Auburn 1962-64 DB Jake Scott, Georgia 1967-68 DB Tommy Casanova, LSU 1969-71 DB Don McNeal, Alabama 1977-79 DB Jimmy Patton, Ole Miss 1953-55 P Craig Colquitt, Tennessee 1975-77