SEC Championship Game

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This article is about SEC championship football game. For other uses, see SEC Tournament.

The SEC Championship Game refers to the game determining the Southeastern Conference's football season champion. The championship game pits the SEC Western Division representative versus 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 1991 expansion to twelve members with the addition of the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina in 1991. 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, but since 1994, the game has been played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.


Contents

[edit] Selection criteria

Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. Often, two or more teams tie for the best record in their division and each team is recognized as a divisional co-champion. However, tiebreakers are used to determine who will represent the division in the championship game.

[edit] Two-team tie-breaker procedure

  1. Head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.
  2. Records of the tied teams within the division.
  3. Head-to-head competition vs. the team within the division with the best overall record (divisional and non-divisional) Conference record and proceeding through the division. Multiple ties within the division will be broken from first to last.
  4. Overall record vs. all common non-divisional opponents.
  5. Combined record vs. all common non-divisional teams.
  6. Record vs. common non-divisional team with the best overall Conference (divisional and non-divisional) record and proceeding through other common non-divisional teams based on their order of finish within their division.
  7. The tied team with the highest ranking in the Bowl Championship Series Standings following the last weekend of regular-season games shall be the divisional representative in the SEC Championship Game.

[edit] Three or more-team procedure

  1. (Once the tie has been reduced to two teams, go to the two-team tie-breaker format.)
  2. Combined head-to-head record among the tied teams.
  3. Record of the tied teams within the division.
  4. Head-to-head competition vs. the team within the division with the best overall (divisional and non-divisional) Conference record and proceeding through the division. Multiple ties within the division will be broken from first to last.
  5. Overall record vs. non-division teams.
  6. Combined record vs. all common non-divisional teams.
  7. Record vs. common non-divisional team with the best overall Conference (divisional and non-divisional) record and proceeding through other common non-divisional teams based on their order of finish within their division.
  8. The tied team with the highest ranking in the Bowl Championship Series Standings following the last weekend of regular-season games shall be the divisional representative in the SEC Championship Game, unless the second of the tied teams is ranked within five-or-fewer places of the highest ranked tied team. In this case, the head-to-head results of the top two ranked tied teams shall determine the representative in the SEC Championship Game.

[edit] Results

Rankings are from the AP Poll, winner in bold italics

Year Eastern Division Score Western Division Venue Attendance MVP
1992 #12 Florida[1] 21-28 #2 Alabama Legion Field (Birmingham, AL) 83,091 CB Antonio Langham, Alabama
1993 #9 Florida 28-13 #16 Alabama[2] Legion Field 76,345 QB Terry Dean, Florida
1994 #6 Florida 24-23 #3 Alabama Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA) 74,751 DT Ellis Johnson, Florida
1995 #2 Florida 34-3 #23 Arkansas Georgia Dome 71,325 QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida
1996 #4 Florida 45-30 #11 Alabama[3] Georgia Dome 74,132 QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida
1997 #3 Tennessee 30-29 #11 Auburn[4] Georgia Dome 74,896 QB Peyton Manning, Tennessee
1998 #1 Tennessee 24-14 #23 Miss. State[5] Georgia Dome 74,795 WR Peerless Price, Tennessee
1999 #5 Florida 7-34 #7 Alabama Georgia Dome 71,500 WR Freddie Milons, Alabama
2000 #7 Florida 28-6 #18 Auburn Georgia Dome 73,427 QB Rex Grossman, Florida
2001 #2 Tennessee 20-31 #21 LSU[6] Georgia Dome 74,843 QB Matt Mauck, LSU
2002 #4 Georgia 30-3 #22 Arkansas[7] Georgia Dome 75,835 QB David Greene, Georgia
2003 #5 Georgia[8] 13-34 #3 LSU Georgia Dome 74,913 RB Justin Vincent, LSU
2004 #15 Tennessee 28-38 #3 Auburn Georgia Dome 74,892 QB Jason Campbell, Auburn
2005 #13 Georgia 34-14 #3 LSU Georgia Dome 73,717 QB D.J. Shockley, Georgia
2006 #4 Florida 38-28 #8 Arkansas[9] Georgia Dome 73,374 WR Percy Harvin, Florida
2007 #14 Tennessee[10] 14-21 #5 LSU Georgia Dome 73,832 QB Ryan Perrilloux, LSU
2008 UF, UGA, UK, USC, UTK or VU AL, AR, AU, LSU, MSU or UM Georgia Dome

The SEC East Leads the series 10-6 and has outscored the SEC West 418-349.

[edit] Results by team

Appearances School W L Pct Notes
8 Florida 6 2 .750
5 Alabama 2 3 .400
5 Tennessee 2 3 .400
4 LSU 3 1 .750
3 Georgia 2 1 .666
3 Auburn 1 2 .333
3 Arkansas 0 3 .000
1 Mississippi St. 0 1 .000
0 Kentucky 0 0 N/A
0 Ole Miss 0 0 N/A
0 South Carolina 0 0 N/A
0 Vanderbilt 0 0 N/A

[edit] SEC Championship winner's bowl performance

Seven winners of the SEC Championship game have gone on to play for the national title. Rankings are from the AP Poll.

Season SEC Champ Result Opponent Conference[11] Bowl Game NCAA Champion
1992 #2 Alabama W 34-13 #1 Miami Big East 1993 Sugar Bowl Alabama
1993 #8 Florida W 41-7 #3 West Virginia Big East 1994 Sugar Bowl Florida State
1994 #5 Florida L 17-23 #7 Florida State ACC 1995 Sugar Bowl Nebraska
1995 #2 Florida L 24-62 #1 Nebraska Big 8 1996 Fiesta Bowl[12] Nebraska
1996 #3 Florida W 52-20 #1 Florida State ACC 1997 Sugar Bowl Florida
1997 #3 Tennessee L 17-42 #2 Nebraska Big 12 1998 Orange Bowl Nebraska, Michigan[13]
1998 #1 Tennessee W 23-16 #2 Florida State ACC 1999 Fiesta Bowl[14] Tennessee
1999 #5 Alabama L 34-35 OT #8 Michigan Big Ten 2000 Orange Bowl[15] Florida State
2000 #7 Florida L 20-37 #2 Miami Big East 2001 Sugar Bowl Oklahoma
2001 #12 LSU W 47-34 #7 Illinois Big Ten 2002 Sugar Bowl Miami
2002 #4 Georgia W 26-13 #16 Florida State ACC 2003 Sugar Bowl Ohio State
2003 #3 LSU W 21-14 #2 Oklahoma Big 12 2004 Sugar Bowl[16] LSU, Southern California[17]
2004 #3 Auburn[18] W 16-13 #9 Virginia Tech ACC 2005 Sugar Bowl Southern California
2005 #8 Georgia L 35-38 #13 West Virginia Big East 2006 Sugar Bowl[19] Texas
2006 #2 Florida W 41-14 #1 Ohio State Big Ten 2007 BCS Champ. Game[20] Florida
2007 #2 LSU W 38-24 #1 Ohio State Big Ten 2008 BCS Champ. Game LSU

[edit] Championship Game Logos

2006 Championship Game Logo
2006 Championship Game Logo
2007 Championship Game Logo
2007 Championship Game Logo

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ #12 Florida (8-3) won a tie-break for the SEC East in 1992 over #8 Georgia (9-2), by virture of a head-to-head record of (1-0) 26-24.
  2. ^ #16 Alabama (8-2-1) finished second in the SEC West in 1993 but played in the SEC Championship Game since #4 Auburn (11-0), the first-place finisher in the SEC West, was prohibited from post-season play because of NCAA violations. Alabama was later forced to forfeit its eight victories and one tie during the regular season due when it was found cornerback Antonio Langham had received improper benefits from an agent prior to the season.
  3. ^ Alabama won the SEC West on a tie-breaker by defeating LSU (9-2) 26-0.
  4. ^ Auburn won the SEC West on a tie-breaker by defeating LSU (8-3) 31-28.
  5. ^ #23 Mississippi State (8-3) won a tie-break for the SEC West in 1998 over #11 Arkansas(9-2), 22-21.
  6. ^ LSU (SEC 5-3) won a tiebreaker for the SEC West by defeating Auburn that season 27-14.
  7. ^ #22 Arkansas (9-3) tied for second in the SEC West in 2002 but played in the SEC Championship Game since #14 Alabama (10-3), the first-place finisher in the SEC West, was prohibited from post-season play because of recruiting violations. Arkansas won a tie-break over #20 Auburn (8-4) and #25 LSU (8-4) by virtue of their wins over both teams.
  8. ^ #5 Georgia (10-2) won a tie-breakerfor the SEC East over Florida and Tennessee (all 6-2 in conference play).
  9. ^ Although #8 Arkansas (10-2) was the first-place finisher in the SEC West in 2006, they were the second-highest ranked team in the SEC West behind #4 LSU (10-2), which Arkansas had lost to the previous week. Arkansas went 7-1 in the conference, while LSU had a 6-2 mark.
  10. ^ Tennessee and Georgia finished the season as Co-Divisional Champions at 6-2. Tennessee won the tie-breaker due to a 35-14 win over Georgia earlier in the season.
  11. ^ Since the creation of the Pac-10 in 1978, the Pac-10 Champion has never played the SEC Champion
  12. ^ first year of the Bowl Alliance, which matched the two highest-ranked teams not in the Big Ten or Pac-10 in a national championship game. The Big Ten and Pac-10 champions were still contractually bound to the Rose Bowl, which was not part of the Bowl Alliance. This was also the first year since 1974 that the SEC champion did not play in the Sugar Bowl.
  13. ^ Nebraska shared the 1997 NCAA title with Michigan
  14. ^ first year of the BCS. The Fiesta Bowl was the national championship game. Under BCS rules, the SEC champion plays in the Sugar Bowl unless the Sugar Bowl hosts the national championship game or the SEC champion plays in the national championship game.
  15. ^ Alabama took the spot of ACC champion Florida State in the Orange Bowl, as the Seminoles were selected to play in the BCS national championship game in the Sugar Bowl.
  16. ^ the Sugar Bowl was the BCS national championship game for the 2003 season.
  17. ^ LSU won the official BCS Championship game. USC was named champions by the AP poll.
  18. ^ Auburn finished the season with a 13-0 record, but finished #2 behind one of two other undefeated teams that year, Southern California (13-0)
  19. ^ Game played at Georgia Dome in Atlanta after damage caused to the Louisiana Superdome by Hurricane Katrina.
  20. ^ at University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona.

[edit] See also

Other Conference Championship Games

[edit] External links

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Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Eastern Division
Western Division