| Southeastern Conference (SEC) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1932 |
| Association | NCAA |
| Division | Division I FBS |
| Members | 14 |
| Sports fielded | 21[1] (men's: 9; women's: 12) |
| Region | Southern United States |
| Headquarters | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Commissioner | Michael Slive (since 2002) |
| Website | secdigitalnetwork.com |
| 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.[2]
The SEC was also the first NCAA Division I conference to hold a championship game (and award a subsequent title) for college football, and was one of the founding members of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The current SEC commissioner is Michael Slive.[3] The conference sponsors team championships in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports.
Teams[]
| Team | Location | Stadium |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama Crimson Tide | Tuscaloosa, Alabama | Bryant-Denny Stadium |
| Arkansas Razorbacks | Fayetteville, Arkansas | Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium |
| Auburn Tigers | Auburn, Alabama | Jordan-Hare Stadium |
| Florida Gators | Gainesville, Florida | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium |
| Georgia Bulldogs | Athens, Georgia | Sanford Stadium |
| Kentucky Wildcats | Lexington, Kentucky | Commonwealth Stadium |
| LSU Tigers | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Tiger Stadium |
| Mississippi Rebels | Oxford, Mississippi | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| Mississippi State Bulldogs | Starkville, Mississippi | Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field |
| Missouri Tigers | Columbia, Missouri | Faurot Field |
| South Carolina Gamecocks | Columbia, South Carolina | Williams-Brice Stadium |
| Tennessee Volunteers | Knoxville, Tennessee | Neyland Stadium |
| Texas A&M Aggies | College Station, Texas | Kyle Field |
| Vanderbilt Commodores | Nashville, Tennessee | Vanderbilt Stadium |
Seasons[]
- 2011 season
- 2012 season
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.[18]
Records[]
The following table shows the permanent inter-divisional opponent for each school listed by total number of games played (records through the completion of the 2009 season with Western Division wins listed first)[19]:
| Western Division | Eastern Division | Series Record |
|---|---|---|
| Auburn | Georgia | 54–54–8[20] |
| Alabama | Tennessee | 49–38–7[21] |
| Ole Miss | Vanderbilt | 47–38–2[22] |
| LSU | Florida | 25–31–3[23] |
| Mississippi State | Kentucky | 20–20[24] |
| Arkansas | South Carolina | 13–8[25] |
| Texas A&M | Missouri | 8–5[26] |
| Overall Inter-Divisional Record | 216–194–21[27] | |
Other league athletic directors have advocated discarding the current format and adopting the one used by the Big 12 Conference, where teams play three teams from the opposite division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then switch and play the other three teams from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home. However, the potential loss of such heated (and profitable, as the games are often shown on national TV) long-standing rivalries as Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee, and LSU-Florida have scuttled such plans on the drawing board. The loss of the annual rivalry between Nebraska and Oklahoma had led some Big 12 athletic directors to make a push to adopt the SEC format for the Big 12 prior to the loss of Nebraska to the Big 10 Conference. The Atlantic Coast Conference followed the SEC's lead and went one step further, adopting the permanent rival format for both football and basketball (in the latter sport each school is designated two rivals).
Interestingly, before the institution of divisional play, many of Auburn's yearly rivalries were with teams in the East (Florida, Georgia and Tennessee), while Tennessee's yearly rivalries were with teams in the West (Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss).
All-time school records
Records updated as of December 31, 2013.
| # | SEC | Records | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 838–322–43 | .714 |
| 2 | Tennessee | 804–361–53 | .682 |
| 3 | LSU | 753–396–47 | .649 |
| 4 | Georgia | 767–406–54 | .647 |
| 5 | Auburn | 726–415–47 | .631 |
| 6 | Florida | 684–395–40 | .629 |
| 7 | Texas A&M | 702-456-48 | .602 |
| 8 | Arkansas | 683–471–40 | .589 |
| 9 | Mississippi | 639–499–35 | .560 |
| 10 | Missouri | 648–531–53 | .547 |
| 11 | South Carolina | 576–546–44 | .513 |
| 12 | Vanderbilt | 582–582–50 | .500 |
| 13 | Kentucky | 582–592–44 | .496 |
| 14 | Mississippi State | 522–555–39 | .485 |
[27]
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. Since 1994, the game has been 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.
Bowl games[]
The post-season bowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2012 season are:[28]
| Pick | Name | Location | Opposing Conference | Opposing Pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sugar Bowl | New Orleans, Louisiana | Big 12 | 1 |
| 2 | Miami Gardens, Florida | ACC | 1 | |
| 3 | Orlando, Florida | Big Ten or ACC | 3/4/5 or 2 | |
| 4/5/6/7/8/9 | Outback Bowl | Tampa, Florida | Big Ten | 3/4/5 |
| 4/5/6/7/8/9 | Belk Bowl | Charlotte, North Carolina | ACC | 3/4/5/6/7 |
| 4/5/6/7/8/9 | Texas Bowl | Houston, Texas | Big 12 | 4 |
| 4/5/6/7/8/9 | Liberty Bowl | Memphis, Tennessee | Big 12 | 5 |
| 4/5/6/7/8/9 | TaxSlayer Bowl | Jacksonville, Florida | Big Ten or ACC | 6/7/8 or 3/4/5/6/7 |
| 4/5/6/7/8/9 | Music City Bowl | Nashville, Tennessee | Big Ten or ACC | 6/7/8 or 3/4/5/6/7 |
| 10 | Birmingham Bowl | Birmingham, Alabama | American | 5 |
| 11 | Independence Bowl | Shreveport, Louisiana | ACC | 8/9/10 |
Bowl selection procedures[]
If the SEC champion is selected to participate in the BCS National Championship Game, the Sugar Bowl is not required to pick the SEC runner-up but may select any eligible BCS team. However, since the BCS title game was moved to a standalone basis in 2007, the Sugar Bowl has selected an SEC team, and since 2008 has chosen the SEC runner-up (the 2007 Sugar Bowl featured LSU, who was not the SEC runner-up but was an eligible BCS team). However, since 2006, the Sugar Bowl has selected either a division runner-up (2006 LSU, 2007 Georgia) or conference runner-up (2008 Alabama, 2009 Florida), which has been the second highest ranked SEC team in the BCS standings.
Under SEC guidelines, unless the Sugar Bowl selects the SEC runner-up, the Capital One Bowl must then pick the SEC runner-up if that team has won two or more games than the next team in the selection order. The SEC runner-up has not played in the Capital One Bowl since Arkansas following the 2006 season.
After those selections, the Outback Bowl has the first choice of the remaining teams in the SEC East, and the Cotton Bowl Classic has the first choice of those left in the SEC West.
The Chick-fil-A Bowl and Gator Bowl pick afterward.
The Liberty Bowl and Music City Bowl work together, along with the SEC office, to determine the seventh and eighth picks.
The Birmingham Bowl picks last. In the case that the SEC does not have nine bowl-eligible teams, a team from the Sun Belt will be selected instead.
At this point, the SEC is second in BCS Bowl appearances, with nineteen appearances, and first in all-time wins and winning percentage, with fourteen wins and a .722 winning percentage. The BCS Bowls include the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, and the BCS National Championship Game.
Since the advent of the BCS National Championship Game format, the SEC is a perfect 6–0 in those games. The SEC was 2–0 in the games where the National Championship Game was played as part of the traditional New Year's Day bowls, and since 2007 (when the game was moved to a separate contest one week later) the SEC has participated in all four games and has won all four. Interestingly, the SEC team was ranked #1 only twice going into the game (the first contest featuring Tennessee in 1998 and the most recent featuring Alabama in 2009); the other four times the SEC team (LSU twice and Florida twice) was ranked #2.
Rivalries[]
The SEC members have long histories. Some of the football rivalries involving SEC teams include:
| Teams | Rivalry Name | Trophy | Meetings[29] | Record[29] | Series leader | Current Streak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Auburn | Iron Bowl | James E. Foy, V-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy | 79[30] | 43-35-1[30] | Alabama | Alabama Won 1[30] |
| LSU | Alabama-LSU rivalry/The Saban Bowl | — | 79[31] | 49-25-5[31] | Alabama | Alabama Won 4[31] | |
| Ole Miss | Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry | — | 59[32] | 47-10-2[32] | Alabama | Ole Miss Won 1[32] | |
| Tennessee | Third Saturday in October | — | 96[21] | 51-38-7[21] | Alabama | Alabama Won 8[21] | |
| Arkansas | LSU | The Battle for the Golden Boot | The Golden Boot[11] | 60[33] | 21-37-2[33] | LSU | Arkansas Won 1[33] |
| Texas[12] | The Big Shootout | — | 77[34] | 21-56[34] | Texas | Texas Won 2[34] | |
| Texas A&M | The Southwest Classic[13] | — | 66[35] | 39-24-3[35] | Arkansas | Arkansas Won 1[35] | |
| Auburn | Georgia | The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry | — | 113[20] | 53-52-8[20] | Auburn | Georgia Won 4[20] |
| LSU | The Tiger Bowl[14] | — | 43[36] | 19-23-1[36] | LSU | LSU Won 2[36] | |
| Florida | Florida State | Florida–Florida State rivalry | The Governor's Cup | 53[37] | 32-19-2[37] | Florida | Florida Won 5[37] |
| Miami | Battle for the Seminole War Canoe | The War Canoe Trophy[15] | 54[38] | 26-28[38] | Miami | Florida Won 1[38] | |
| Georgia | The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party[16] | Okefenokee Oar | 87[39] | 39-46-2[39] | Georgia | Florida Won 2[39] | |
| Tennessee | Third Saturday in September | — | 39[40] | 20-19[40] | Florida | Florida Won 5[40] | |
| Georgia | Georgia Tech | Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate | The Governor's Cup | 104[41] | 60-39-5[41] | Georgia | Georgia Won 1[41] |
| Kentucky | Indiana | Kentucky–Indiana rivalry | —[17] | 36[42] | 17-18-1[42] | Indiana | Indiana Won 1[42] |
| Louisville | Battle for the Governor's Cup | The Governor's Cup | 22[43] | 13-9[43] | Kentucky | Kentucky Won 3[43] | |
| LSU | Tulane | The Battle for the Rag | The Tiger Rag[18] | 97[44] | 66-22-7[44] | LSU | LSU Won 17[44] |
| Ole Miss | The Magnolia Bowl | The Magnolia Bowl Trophy | 96[45] | 55-38-4[45] | LSU | Ole Miss Won 2[45] | |
| Mississippi State | Ole Miss | The Egg Bowl | The Golden Egg Trophy | 106[46] | 42-58-6[46] | Ole Miss | Mississippi State Won 1[46] |
| Ole Miss | Arkansas | Nutt Bowl | — | 55[47] | 25-29-1[47] | Arkansas | Ole Miss Won 2[47] |
| South Carolina | Clemson | The Palmetto Bowl | The Hardee's Trophy | 107[48] | 38-65-4[48] | Clemson | South Carolina Won 1[48] |
| Georgia | The Border Bash | — | 61[49] | 14-45-2[49] | Georgia | Georgia Won 2[49] | |
| Tennessee | The Halloween Game[19] | — | 27[50] | 4-22-2[50] | Tennessee | Tennessee Won 1[50] | |
| Tennessee | Kentucky | The Border Battle | 104[51] | 72-23-9[51] | Tennessee | Tennessee Won 25[51] | |
| Vanderbilt | Tennessee | Tennessee–Vanderbilt rivalry | — | 103[52] | 28-70-5[52] | Tennessee | Tennessee Won 3[52] |
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 |
References[]
- ↑ Official Site of the Southeastern Conference. Secsports.com.
- ↑ 2010–2011 SEC Revenue Distribution. Southeastern Conference (June 5, 2010). Retrieved on June 6, 2010.
- ↑ Slive Named Southeastern Conference Commissioner. SEC (July 2, 2002). Retrieved on November 5, 2008. [dead link]