2008 Southeastern Conference football season | |
---|---|
League | NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision |
Sport | Football |
Duration | September 4, 2008 through January 2009 |
Number of teams | 12 |
TV partner(s) | CBS, CBSSN, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ABC, Raycom |
2009 NFL Draft | |
Top draft pick | Matthew Stafford (Georgia) |
Picked by | Detroit Lions, 1st overall |
Regular season | |
East Division champions | Florida |
East Division runners-up | Georgia |
West Division champions | Alabama |
West Division runners-up | Ole Miss |
Championship Game | |
Champions | Florida |
Runners-up | Alabama |
The 2008 Southeastern Conference football season was the 76th season of Southeastern Conference (SEC) football, taking place during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on September 13, 2008 and ended with the 2008 SEC Championship Game on December 6, 2008.
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eastern Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 1 Florida x$# | 7 | – | 1 | 13 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 13 Georgia | 6 | – | 2 | 10 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vanderbilt | 4 | – | 4 | 7 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South Carolina | 4 | – | 4 | 7 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tennessee | 3 | – | 5 | 5 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kentucky | 2 | – | 6 | 7 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 6 Alabama x% | 8 | – | 0 | 12 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 14 Ole Miss | 5 | – | 3 | 9 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LSU | 3 | – | 5 | 8 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arkansas | 2 | – | 6 | 5 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Auburn | 2 | – | 6 | 5 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mississippi State | 2 | – | 6 | 4 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Championship: Florida 31, Alabama 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(Pre) | Sept. 3 | Sept. 10 | Sept. 17 | Sept. 24 | Oct. 1 | Oct. 8 | Oct. 15 | Oct. 22 | Oct. 29 | Nov. 5 | Nov. 12 | Nov. 19 | Nov. 26 | Dec. 3 | Final | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alabama | AP | 24 | |||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Arkansas | AP | ||||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Auburn | AP | 10 | |||||||||||||||
C | 11 | ||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Florida | AP | 5 | |||||||||||||||
C | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Georgia | AP | 1 | |||||||||||||||
C | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Kentucky | AP | ||||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
LSU | AP | 7 | |||||||||||||||
C | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Mississippi State | AP | ||||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Ole Miss | AP | ||||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
South Carolina | AP | ||||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Tennessee | AP | 18 | |||||||||||||||
C | 18 | ||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released | ||||||||||||||||
Vanderbilt | AP | ||||||||||||||||
C | |||||||||||||||||
BCS | Not released |
School | Coach | Year |
---|---|---|
Alabama | Nick Saban | 2nd |
Arkansas | Bobby Petrino | 1st |
Auburn | Tommy Tuberville | 10th |
Florida | Urban Meyer | 4th |
Georgia | Mark Richt | 8th |
Kentucky | Rich Brooks | 6th |
LSU | Les Miles | 4th |
Mississippi State | Sylvester Croom | 5th |
Ole Miss | Houston Nutt | 1st |
South Carolina | Steve Spurrier | 4th |
Tennessee | Phillip Fulmer | 16th |
Vanderbilt | Bobby Johnson | 7th |
Date | Time | Visiting team | Home team | Site | TV | Result | Attendance | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
December 6 | 4:00 p.m. | No. 1 Alabama | No. 2 Florida | Georgia Dome • Atlanta, GA | CBS | FLA 31-20 | 75,892 | |
#Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Central Time. |
SEC Bowl Games | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Game | Date | Location/Time* | Television | Winner+ | Score | Loser+ | Score | Attendance | Payout |
Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl | December 31, 2008 | LP Field Nashville, Tennessee 2:30 p.m. | ESPN | Vanderbilt | 16 | Boston College | 14 | 54,250 | $1,700,000 |
Chick-fil-A Bowl | December 31, 2008 | Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia 6:30 p.m. | ESPN | LSU | 38 | Georgia Tech (#14) | 3 | 71,423 | $3,000,000 |
Outback Bowl | January 1, 2009 | Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida 10:00 a.m. | ESPN | Iowa | 31 | South Carolina | 10 | 55,117 | $3,200,000 |
Capital One Bowl | January 1, 2009 | Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida 12:00 p.m. | ABC | Georgia (#16) | 24 | Michigan State (#19) | 12 | 59,681 | $4,250,000 |
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic | January 2, 2009 | Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas 1:00 p.m. | FOX | Ole Miss (#20) | 47 | Texas Tech (#8) | 34 | 88,175 | $3,000,000 |
Autozone Liberty Bowl | January 2, 2009 | Liberty Bowl Memphis, Tennessee 4:00 p.m. | ESPN | Kentucky | 25 | East Carolina | 19 | 56,125 | $1,800,000 |
Allstate Sugar Bowl | January 2, 2009 | Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana 7:00 p.m. | FOX | Utah (#7) | 31 | Alabama (#4) | 17 | 71,872 | $17,500,000 |
FedEx BCS National Championship Game | January 8, 2009 | Dolphin Stadium Miami, Florida 7:00 p.m. | FOX | Florida (#1) | 24 | Oklahoma (#2) | 14 | 78,468 | $17,500,000 |
Rankings are from AP Poll. All times Central Time Zone.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members include the flagship public universities of 12 states, three additional public land-grant universities, and one private research university. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in sports competitions. In football, it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A.
The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as the "Gator Nation." The Gators compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and are consistently ranked among the top college sports programs in the United States. The University of Florida currently fields teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports.
The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams, 14 of which compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Vanderbilt's women's lacrosse team plays in the American Athletic Conference. The bowling team plays in Conference USA (C-USA), which absorbed Vanderbilt's former bowling home of the Southland Bowling League after the 2022–23 season. The University of Tennessee Volunteers are Vanderbilt's primary athletic rival, and the only other SEC team in Tennessee.
The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regular season champion. With the SEC eliminating football divisions after the 2023 season, future games will feature the top two teams in the conference standings. The game is regularly played on the first Saturday of December, and the game has been held in Atlanta since 1994, first at the Georgia Dome, and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2017.
The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events for broadcast across the ESPN family of networks, including, most prominently, a group of college football bowl games and in-season college basketball tournaments.
The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I.
The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) They play their home games on Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville campus.
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The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The Arkansas–Texas A&M football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies, which started in 1903. Between 1992 and 2008, the schools did not play each other when Arkansas left the Southwest Conference to join the Southeastern Conference. The rivalry was renewed as a neutral-site out-of-conference contest in 2009; in 2012 it once again became a conference rivalry when Texas A&M also joined the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas leads the series 42–36–3.
The 2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl was the 75th annual edition of the annual college football bowl game that is part of the 2008–09 bowl season of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was played on Friday, January 2, 2009, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana between the Utah Utes, champions of the Mountain West Conference, and the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference.
SEC TV was a syndicated package featuring live broadcasts of college football and basketball events from the Southeastern Conference. It was owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television and shown in more than 50 percent of households in the United States, mostly Southeastern United States markets. SEC TV's football games typically aired in the noon eastern slot that was former home to the Jefferson-Pilot/Raycom Sports SEC game of the week. Games were shown locally on broadcast stations, regional sports networks, as well as on ESPN GamePlan, ESPN Full Court, and WatchESPN.
The 2009 Southeastern Conference football season started on Thursday, September 3 as conference member South Carolina visited North Carolina State. The conference's other 11 teams began their respective 2009 season of NCAA Division I FBS competition on Saturday, September 5. All teams started their season at home except Kentucky, who started their season on neutral turf at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio against Miami (OH), Georgia, who traveled to Oklahoma State, and Alabama, who traveled to the Georgia Dome to face Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff for the second straight year.
The Arkansas–Texas football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas Longhorns.
The 2010 South Carolina Gamecocks football team represented the University of South Carolina in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head coach was Steve Spurrier, who was in his sixth season at USC. The Gamecocks played their home games at Williams–Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina and were members of the East Division of the Southeastern Conference. The Gamecocks finished the season 9–5, 5–3 in SEC play to win the East Division for the first and only time in program history.
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The 2020 SEC Championship Game presented by Dr. Pepper was a college football game played on Saturday, December 19, 2020, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game determined the 2020 champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game, the 29th SEC Championship, featured the Florida Gators, champions of the East division, and the Alabama Crimson Tide, champions of the West division.