Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Established: 1933

NCAA Division I FBS
Members 12
Sports fielded 17 (men's: 8; women's: 9)
Region Southern United States
Headquarters Birmingham, AL
Commissioner Michael Slive (since 2002)
Website http://www.secsports.com/
Locations
Southeastern Conference locations

The Southeastern Conference (commonly abbreviated, SEC) is a college athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I in athletic competitions; for football, it is part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), where lately it has been regarded as one the strongest conferences in the country.[1] The conference is one of the most successful both on the field and financially, averaging more than six national championships per year since 1990 and consistently leading all conferences in revenue distribution to its members including a record $127.2 million for the 2007–2008 fiscal year.[2]

The Southeastern Conference was also the first 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 commissioner of the Southeastern Conference is Michael Slive.[3] The current president of the Southeastern Conference is Michael F. Adams, current University of Georgia President.

Contents

History

Locations of SEC members within the southeast

The SEC was established in December 1932, when the 13 members of the Southern Conference located west and south of the Appalachian Mountains left to form their own conference.[4][5] Ten of the thirteen charter members have remained in the conference since its inception: the University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), Mississippi State University, University of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University.

The other charter members were:

1991 Expansion

In 1991, the SEC expanded from 10 to 12 members with the addition of:

In 1992, the SEC adopted the divisional setup that exists today. Also in 1992, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to conduct an annual championship game in football, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions.[6] The 1992 and 1993 SEC Championships were held at Birmingham's Legion Field, and at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in all championship games thereafter.[6]

2008 Television contract

During the 2007–2008 fiscal year review meeting, there was discussion among SEC leadership about the possibility of starting a TV network dedicated to its conference, much in the same way the Big Ten Conference has done with the Big Ten Network. A decision was made to postpone the decision until at least the following year. [7]

In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This will continue the relationship the SEC already has with CBS, which puts the SEC in the unique position as the only conference to have its own exclusive national television network of the big three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) to display the SEC's events.[6] In the same month, the league also announced another landmark television contract with ESPN worth $2.25 billion or $150 million a year for the life of the contract, which is for 15 years. It is the longest and wealthiest contract among all television deals among the major conferences. With these contracts, the SEC has the richest television deals in the country and will make the SEC the most nationally televised and visible conference in the country with the coverage that is provided by these contracts.[6][6]

SEC Commissioners

The office of Commissioner was created in 1940[8]

Years Commissioners
1940–1946 Martin S. Conner
1946 N.W. Dougherty (Acting Commissioner)
1948–1966 Bernie Moore
1966–1972 A. M. (Tonto) Coleman
1972–1986 Dr. H. Boyd McWhorter
1986–1989 Dr. Harvey W. Schiller
1990–2002 Roy F. Kramer
2002–present Michael Slive

Current members

The SEC currently has twelve member institutions in nine Southeastern states.[9] The geographic domain of the conference stretches from Arkansas to South Carolina (west to east) and from Kentucky to Florida (north to south). One or both of the flagship universities in each state in the geographic domain of the SEC is a member of the conference, along with one of the preeminent private universities in the nation.

The conference is divided into two geographic divisions: the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The twelve current members of the Southeastern Conference are:

Institution Location
(Population)		 Founded Affiliation Enrollment Year Joined Nickname Mascot
Eastern Division
University of Florida Gainesville, Florida
(108,655)		 1853 Public 51,913 1932 Gators Albert and Alberta
University of Georgia Athens, Georgia
(111,580)		 1785 Public 33,831 1932 Bulldogs Hairy Dawg, Uga
University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky
(270,789)		 1865 Public 27,209 1932 Wildcats The Wildcat, Scratch, Blue
University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina
(119,961)		 1801 Public 27,272 1991 Gamecocks Cocky, Sir Big Spur
University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee
(173,890)		 1794 Public 26,400 1932 Volunteers, Lady Volunteers Smokey
Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee
(607,413)		 1873 Private / Non-sectarian 11,607 1932 Commodores Mr. C
Western Division
University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(83,057)		 1831 Public 27,052 1932 Crimson Tide Big Al
University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas
(67,158)		 1871 Public 18,647 1991 Razorbacks, Ladybacks Big Red, Boss Hog, Sooie, Pork Chop, Tusk
Auburn University Auburn, Alabama
(54,348)		 1856 Public 24,137 1932 Tigers Aubie, War Eagle VII
Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
(224,097)		 1860 Public 33,587 1932 Tigers, Lady Tigers Mike the Tiger
University of Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi
(14,051)		 1848 Public 17,323 1932 Rebels Colonel Reb
Mississippi State University Starkville, Mississippi
(22,638)		 1878 Public 17,824 1932 Bulldogs Bully the Bulldog

Sports

The Southeastern Conference sponsors championships in many different sports.

Under SEC conference rules reflecting the large number of (male) scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide two more women's varsity sports than men's. The equivalent rule was recently adopted by the NCAA for all of Division I.[10]

While South Carolina and Kentucky field men's soccer teams, the conference does not sponsor the sport; both schools in 2005 joined Conference USA for the sport.[11]

Conference sports facilities

School Football stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity Baseball stadium Capacity
Eastern Division
Florida Ben Hill Griffin Stadium 88,548 Stephen C. O'Connell Center 12,000 McKethan Stadium 7,000
Georgia Sanford Stadium 92,746 Stegeman Coliseum 11,000 Foley Field 3,291
Kentucky Commonwealth Stadium 67,530 Rupp Arena (men and women)[1]
Memorial Coliseum (women only)		 23,000
8,500		 Cliff Hagan Stadium 3,000
South Carolina Williams-Brice Stadium 80,250 Colonial Center 18,000 Sarge Frye Field[2] 6,000
Tennessee Neyland Stadium 104,079 Thompson-Boling Arena 21,000 Lindsey Nelson Stadium 4,000
Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Stadium 39,790 Memorial Gymnasium 14,168 Hawkins Field 2,027
Western Division
Alabama Bryant-Denny Stadium 92,138 Coleman Coliseum 15,043 Sewell-Thomas Stadium 6,118
Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (primary)
War Memorial Stadium (secondary)[3]		 76,000
53,727		 Bud Walton Arena 19,200 Baum Stadium 10,737
Auburn Jordan-Hare Stadium 87,451 Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum[4] 10,500 Plainsman Park 4,096
LSU Tiger Stadium 92,400 Pete Maravich Assembly Center 14,164 Alex Box Stadium[5] 7,760
Ole Miss Vaught-Hemingway Stadium 60,850 Tad Smith Coliseum 8,700 Swayze Field 3,500
Mississippi State Davis Wade Stadium (Scott Field) 55,082 Humphrey Coliseum 10,500 Dudy Noble Field 15,515

Football

Before expansion, each SEC school played 6 conference games. Five of these games were against permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the 6th game rotated around the other 4 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 relatively weaker 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.[13]

The following table shows the permanent inter-divisional opponent for each school listed by total number of games played (records through 2007 with Western Division wins listed first)[14]:

Western Division Eastern Division Series Record
Auburn Georgia 53-50-8
Alabama Tennessee 45-37-8
Ole Miss Vanderbilt 46-34-2
LSU Florida 23-28-3
Mississippi State Kentucky 16-19
Arkansas South Carolina 10-6
Overall Inter-Divisional Record 193-174-21[15]

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 has led some Big 12 athletic directors to make a push to adopt the SEC format for the Big 12.

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).

SEC All Time Records

# SEC Records
1 Alabama 793-314-43
2 Tennessee 771-320-53
3 Georgia 702-379-54
4 LSU 670-374-47
5 Auburn 667-384-47
6 Arkansas 639-430-39
7 Florida 618-368-40
8 Mississippi 594-451-35
9 Kentucky 545-541-44
10 Vanderbilt 537-527-50
11 South Carolina 515-514-44
12 Mississippi State 473-514-39
Total 7518-5108-535

Television and radio contracts

The SEC televises football games across various networks during the fall. The primary networks for SEC coverage are CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, and Raycom (formerly Lincoln Financial and Jefferson Pilot). Games scheduled for airing are generally picked two weeks before they occur, with a few matches that are selected by CBS and ESPN prior to the season. CBS has the first pick for a game and selects the highest-profile game to broadcast to a national, over-the-air audience. The CBS game is usually broadcast at 3:30 ET. CBS also has the rights for the SEC Championship Game. The next selection goes to ESPN, which will usually broadcast an SEC game at 7:45 ET. Raycom offers regional coverage for an SEC game of the week at 12:30 ET, and each school plays at least one game at this time. For those outside of the SEC media market, this game is offered on the ESPN Game Plan package. After the three networks make their selections, ESPN has an option to select another game to broadcast on one of its networks. ESPN also has the option to select additional SEC games for ESPN2, or occasionally will broadcast some games on Thursday night. [16]

ESPN reported paying $2.25 Billion for broadcast rights of SEC football games beginning in the 2009 season and running through the fiscal year 2025.[17]

For games not selected by any broadcast provider, certain schools offer regional pay-per-view.

As of 2008, all SEC schools are affiliated with XM Radio, offering their radio broadcasts to an audience on XM. According to SiriusXM, the Southeastern Conference will not be included as part of the "Best of XM" package deal for Sirius customers.

Championship Game

Main article: SEC 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. The SEC was the first conference in the NCAA to hold a championship game in football, which was made possible by the conference's expansion to twelve members with the addition of the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina in 1991. (The first championship game was during the 1992 season.) As of 2007, eight of the twelve SEC members have played in the Championship.

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. The Eastern division of the SEC leads the Western division in overall wins in the championship game 10 to 6.

Bowl tie-ins

The post-season bowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2007 season were:

  1. Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA (vs. BCS) – has hosted all SEC teams but Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt
  2. Capital One Bowl in Orlando, FL (vs. Big Ten)
  3. Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL (vs. Big Ten)
  4. Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX (vs. Big 12)
  5. Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, GA (vs. ACC)
  6. Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN (vs. Conference USA)
  7. Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN (vs. ACC)
  8. Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA (vs. Big 12)
  9. PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL (vs. Big East) [18]

The Outback, Cotton, and Chick-fil-A Bowls each pick in the same tier and base their selections on regional differences. For example, the Cotton Bowl has preference on teams from the Western Division while the Outback Bowl has preference over teams in the Eastern Division.

Under SEC guidelines, the Capital One Bowl must pick the SEC Championship game loser if that team has won two or more games than the next team in the selection order. The SEC Championship game loser has not played in the Capital One Bowl since Arkansas following the 2006 season.

At this point, the SEC is 2nd in BCS Bowl appearances, with 15 appearances, and 1st in all-time wins and winning percentage(only including teams with 2 or more appearances), with 11 wins and a .733 winning percentage. The BCS Bowls include the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, and the BCS National Championship Bowl.

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

Teams Rivalry Name Trophy Meetings[6]
Alabama Auburn Iron Bowl James E. Foy, V-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy 72
LSU Alabama–LSU rivalry — 71
Ole Miss Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry — 55
Tennessee Third Saturday in October — 90
Arkansas LSU The Battle for the Golden Boot The Golden Boot[7] 53
Texas[8] Arkansas–Texas rivalry — 76
Texas A&M Arkansas–Texas A&M rivalry[9] — 65
Auburn Georgia The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry — 111
LSU The Tiger Bowl[10] — 42
Florida Florida State Battle for the Governor's Cup — 52
Miami Battle for the Seminole War Canoe The War Canoe Trophy[11] 53
Georgia The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party[12] — 85
Tennessee Third Saturday in September — 37
Georgia Georgia Tech Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate The Governor's Cup 102
Kentucky Indiana Kentucky–Indiana rivalry —[13] 36
Louisville Battle for the Governor's Cup The Governor's Cup 20
LSU Tulane The Battle for the Rag The Tiger Rag[14] 96
Ole Miss The Magnolia Bowl The Magnolia Bowl Trophy 95
Mississippi State Ole Miss The Egg Bowl The Golden Egg Trophy 104
Ole Miss Arkansas Arkansas–Ole Miss rivalry — 54
South Carolina Clemson The Palmetto Bowl Hardee's Trophy 105
Georgia The Border Bash — 60
Tennessee The Halloween Game[15] — 26
Tennessee Kentucky The Border Battle The Beer Barrel[16] 103
Vanderbilt Tennessee Tennessee–Vanderbilt rivalry — 102

Player Awards

Each year, the conference selects various Players of the Year – Offensive, Defensive, Special Teams, Freshman. 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 Bear 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 1958-60

Men's basketball

Teams play a 16-game conference schedule, facing each team from its own division twice and each team from the opposite division once. Before expansion, teams played a double round-robin, leading to an exhausting 18-game conference schedule. Not surprisingly, no team ever ran the table when the conference schedule featured 18 games; three teams went 17-1 (Kentucky in 1970 and 1986, LSU in 1981). Since the league slate was trimmed to 16 games, Kentucky has gone undefeated in SEC play in 1996 and 2003.

Basketball tournament

Main article: SEC Men's Basketball Tournament

The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC Tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The tournament is most often held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, though sometimes takes place at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana or Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Rivalries

Several men's basketball rivalries have developed in the SEC:

The dominance of these two teams in the '90s over everyone else in the SEC led to quite a rivalry, mostly by default, being the best two teams in the conference. The rivalry cooled in the following years as the Razorbacks have slipped toward the middle of the pack in the SEC West. With the recent success of new Razorback head coach and former Kentucky player, John Pelphrey, the series has once again risen in prominence.
This conference matchup has become a major rivalry in recent years with the rise of the Florida basketball program under Billy Donovan (a former Kentucky assistant). While Kentucky holds an 84-30 advantage in the series due to decades of domination, the margin has narrowed since Donnovan became the Gators' head coach.
A "border war" between two of the sport's historic giants. This rivalry is traditionally played at neutral sites, the RCA Dome (Lucas Oil Stadium beginning in 2009) in Indianapolis and Freedom Hall in Louisville, rather than in Bloomington and Lexington. The all-time record in this rivalry is 28-22 in Kentucky's favor.
What had been a recent football rivalry has become a basketball rivalry as well, as the Volunteers under Bruce Pearl (and even previously under Buzz Peterson) have had recent success against Florida.
This rivalry, nicknamed the Battle for Bluegrass, is unlike most that involve SEC schools in that it is relatively recent. For nearly 60 years, UK refused to schedule UofL in the regular season in either basketball or football. After a UofL victory over UK in the Mideast Regional final in the 1983 NCAA basketball tournament, pressure mounted on UK to schedule UofL; Cardinals supporters went so far as to propose a law mandating that the two schools schedule one another. The bill was never introduced, as a basketball series began in the 1983-84 season. The rivalry added a new edge in 2001 when the Cardinals hired former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino (although he was not hired directly from UK). Former UK head coach Tubby Smith is a former UK assistant under Pitino, and reportedly recommended Pitino to Louisville. The Wildcats hold a 26-12 lead in the all-time series.
This rivalry is also a "border war" and the schools are located just three hours apart on Interstate 75. The two teams have played over 200 times in their history. When the two teams play at Knoxville, Thompson-Boling Arena is almost always sold out. Kentucky leads the rivalry 139-64.
Not only are these two schools the closest to one another geographically within the SEC – a mere 95 miles separate them – but their respective head coaches, Mark Gottfried and Rick Stansbury, often battle each other for the same recruits.
The in-state rivalry between these two teams in men's basketball dates back to the early 1900s. The two teams have played against each other more than 230 times in the SEC's most-played rivalry. Mississippi State leads 133-103 in 236 all time games.

Awards

The SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year is awarded to the player who has proven himself, throughout the season, to be the most exceptional talent in the Southeastern Conference. Various other awards, such as the best tournament player in the SEC Tournament and all conference honors are given out throughout the year.

Other Sports

Besides football and men's basketball, there are a number of other sports in which the Southeastern conference actively competes.

Rivalries

The Lady Vols have historically been the nation's dominant program in that sport. Starting in the mid-1990s, UConn has emerged as Tennessee's main rival for national prominence. The Huskies won four national titles between 2000 and 2004; in three of those years, their victim in the NCAA final was Tennessee. Connecticut also defeated Tennessee in the 1995 Championship game, the Huskies' first-ever title. For more information, see UConn-Tennessee rivalry.
These two storied programs have often butted heads for not only SEC titles, but NCAA titles, as well. Georgia has won nine national championships to Alabama's four.
Historically these schools are arch-rivals, but following Tulane's decades long deemphasis of sports, this is the only sport in which the two schools are more evenly matched. On several occasions matchups between the two have drawn national record-setting attendances. Tulane reached its first College World Series in 2001 by defeating LSU in three games in the super regional at Zephyr Field.
Before the arrival of Skip Bertman as LSU's baseball coach in 1984, Mississippi State had long dominated the conference in baseball, with most of that success coming under legendary coach Ron Polk (who returned to coach the Bulldogs in 2002 after retiring following the 1997 season), who coached future MLB stars such as Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark and Jeff Brantley. But when Bertman arrived in Baton Rouge, LSU's long-dormant program took off, winning 11 SEC championships and five College World Series championships in 18 seasons from 1984 through 2001. This success in Omaha has been a constant source of irritation to the State faithful, who still are waiting for their first national championship trophy in Starkville.
One of the youngest rivalries featuring an SEC team, the Tigers and Texas Longhorns are the two most successful swimming and diving programs in the country. The two have combined for 16 National Titles since 1981 (9 for Texas, 7 for Auburn) and between 1999 and 2007 won every national title. The two regularly face off in a meet during the regular season, Auburn owns an 11-8 record over the Longhorns. Texas was the only team to beat Auburn between 2001 and 2008.

Southeastern Conference Schools Ranked by Endowment

University Endowment as of 2008[19]
Vanderbilt University $3.48 billion
University of Florida $1.21 billion
University of Alabama System $1.00 billion[20]
University of Tennessee System $1.00 billion
University of Arkansas $876 million
University of Kentucky $831 million
Louisiana State University System $593 million
University of Georgia $572 million
University of Mississippi $495 million
University of South Carolina $438 million
Auburn University $378 million
Mississippi State University $297 million

National Championships

Main article: List of SEC National Champions

Since its founding in 1932, and the first full academic year of competition in 1933, SEC members have won a total of 161 team national championships.[21]

Conference Champions

Main article: List of SEC Conference Champions

The Southeastern Conference sponsors eight men's sports and ten women's sports, and awards a conference championship in every one of them.

See also

Notes

  • ^ A. One men's home game per year played at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
  • ^ B. New stadium scheduled to open for 2009 season.
  • ^ C. Two games played each year at Little Rock, one non-conference game and one SEC game.
  • ^ D. New arena scheduled to open for 2010-11 season.
  • ^ E. New Alex Box Stadium scheduled to open for 2009 season.
  • ^ F. Though Mississippi State's Dudy Noble Field official seating capacity is 7,200, its total capacity is 15,500, which includes privately owned seating in Left Field Lounge. Mississippi State holds the all-time NCAA on-campus record for one day attendance at 14,991.[22]
  • ^ G. Following the 2007 season.[14]
  • ^ H. Trophy first awarded in 1996.
  • ^ I. Series was annual rivalry when Arkansas and Texas were both in the Southwest Conference. Teams have played only twice in regular season since Arkansas joined the SEC. Will play again in 2008 & 2014.
  • ^ J. Series was annual rivalry when Arkansas and Texas A&M were both in the Southwest Conference. Teams will begin playing annually in the Dallas Cowboys New Stadium again in 2009.
  • ^ K. The series doesn't have a nickname, but due to the close margin most years, some individual games do. Not an annual rivalry until Auburn and LSU were placed in SEC West division in 1992.
  • ^ L. Series has only been played twice in regular season since 1987.
  • ^ M. Played in Jacksonville. Now officially referred to as the "Florida-Georgia/Georgia-Florida Game" due to sensitivity about consumption of alcohol by college students.
  • ^ N. For decades the trophy of this game was a red, white, and blue bourbon barrel, but this practice was discontinued in 1999 following a DUI accident that killed two Kentucky football players.
  • ^ O. Whereabouts of the original rag are unknown; a new rag was presented to LSU after victories in 2001 and 2006. Series was only contested twice from 1995 through 2005, but a 10-year contract began in 2006.
  • ^ P. Since joining the SEC this game has been played on or around Halloween every year, accordingly many students dress in costume for this game. The contrasting team colors are also typical Halloween colors.
  • ^ Q. For 74 years the trophy of this game was the Beer Barrel: an orange, white, and blue beer keg. However, this practice was discontinued in 1999 following the aforementioned DUI accident.

References

  1. ↑ "Certified greatness:Mighty SEC holds down top spot prior to bowl season". Sports Illustrated (2007-12-12). Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
  2. ↑ "2007–2008 SEC Revenue Distribution". Southeastern Conference (2008-06-01). Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  3. ↑ "Slive Named Southeastern Conference Commissioner". SEC (2002-07-02). Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
  4. ↑ Sec Tournament Tickets College Basketball Ticket - Buy Cheap Sec Tournament Tickets
  5. ↑ FSU and the SEC
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 About the Southeastern Conference
  7. ↑ SEC considering starting own TV network | TideSports.com
  8. ↑ Stories of Character :: Celebrating 75 Years
  9. ↑ www.secsports.com - SEC Members
  10. ↑ "Title IX rules related to SEC participation". The Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-07-16.
  11. ↑ Conference USA Official Athletic Site
  12. ↑ Mississippi State Alumnus:Fall 1999
  13. ↑ www.secsports.com - SEC Football Scheduling Format
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 mcubed.net : NCAA Football : Series records
  15. ↑ Through 2007, the West leads the East 193 games to 174, with 21 ties.
  16. ↑ SEC TV: The Future of Southeastern Conference Television Coverage | Bleacher Report
  17. ↑ Sports Business Journal "ESPN pays $2.25B for SEC rights", Michael Smith and John Urand, August 25, 2008
  18. ↑ PapaJohns.com Bowl receives tie-in with SEC - NCAA Football - SI.com
  19. ↑ "The College Sustainability Report Card". Sustainable Endowments Institute (2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
  20. ↑ "2007 NACUBO Endowment Study". National Association of College and University Business Officers (2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
  21. ↑ "National Titles Held by the SEC". Southeastern Conference. Retrieved on 2007-07-16.
  22. ↑ Mississippi State Alumnus:Fall 1999

External links

NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Conferences

Atlantic Coast Conference * • Big 12 Conference * • Big East Conference * • Big Ten Conference * • Conference USA • Mid-American Conference • Mountain West Conference • Pacific-10 Conference * • Southeastern Conference * • Sun Belt Conference • Western Athletic Conference • Independents
* Conference champion receives an automatic BCS bid
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Eastern Division

Florida (Gators) • Georgia (Bulldogs) • Kentucky (Wildcats) • South Carolina (Gamecocks) • Tennessee (Volunteers & Lady Vols) • Vanderbilt (Commodores)
Western Division

Alabama (Crimson Tide) • Arkansas (Razorbacks & Lady'Backs) • Auburn (Tigers) • LSU (Tigers) • Ole Miss (Rebels) • Mississippi State (Bulldogs)