2009 Southeastern Conference football season

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 (Football Bowl Subdivision) competition on Saturday, September 5.^[1] 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.

2009 Southeastern Conference football season
League	NCAA Division I FBS
Sport	football
Duration	September 3, 2009 through January 7, 2010
Number of teams	12
TV partner(s)	CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, FSN, CSS
2010 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	Eric Berry (Tennessee)
Picked by	Kansas City Chiefs, 5th overall
Regular season
East champions	Florida Gators
West champions	Alabama Crimson Tide
SEC Championship Game
Champions	Alabama Crimson Tide
Finals MVP	Mark Ingram, Alabama

2009 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 3 Florida x%		8	–	0					13	–	1
Georgia		4	–	4					8	–	5
Tennessee		4	–	4					7	–	6
Kentucky		3	–	5					7	–	6
South Carolina		3	–	5					7	–	6
Vanderbilt		0	–	8					2	–	10
Western Division
No. 1 Alabama x$#		8	–	0					14	–	0
No. 17 LSU		5	–	3					9	–	4
No. 20 Ole Miss		4	–	4					9	–	4
Arkansas		3	–	5					8	–	5
Auburn		3	–	5					8	–	5
Mississippi State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Championship: Alabama 32, Florida 13
# – BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Bowl games

The SEC was the second conference to send 10 teams to bowl games in a given year. The ACC was the first to do so in 2008.

SEC Bowl Games
Game	Date	Location/Time*	Television	Winner+	Score	Loser+	Score	Attendance	Payout
Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl	December 27, 2009	LP Field Nashville, Tennessee 7:30 PM	ESPN	Clemson	21	Kentucky	13	37,209	$1,700,000
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl	December 28, 2009	Independence Stadium Shreveport, Louisiana 4:00 PM	ESPN2	Georgia	44	Texas A&M	20	49,653	$2,200,000
Chick-fil-A Bowl	December 31, 2009	Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia 6:30 PM	ESPN	Virginia Tech	37	Tennessee	14	73,777	$3,010,000
Outback Bowl	January 1, 2010	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida 10:00 AM	ESPN	Auburn	38	Northwestern	35	49,383	$3,300,000
Capital One Bowl	January 1, 2010	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida 12:00 PM	ABC	Penn State* (#11)	19	LSU (#13)	17	63,025	$4,250,000
Allstate Sugar Bowl	January 1, 2010	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana 7:30 PM	FOX	Florida (#5)	51	Cincinnati (#4)	24	65,207	$18,000,000
PapaJohns.com Bowl	January 2, 2010	Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama 1:00 PM	ESPN	UConn	20	South Carolina	7	45,254	$900,000
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic	January 2, 2010	Cowboys Stadium Arlington, Texas 1:00 PM	FOX	Ole Miss	21	Oklahoma State (#21)	7	77,928	$6,750,000
AutoZone Liberty Bowl	January 2, 2010	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, Tennessee 4:30 PM	ESPN	Arkansas	20	East Carolina	17	62,742	$1,700,00
Citi BCS National Championship Game	January 7, 2010	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California 7:00 PM	ABC	Alabama (#1)	37	Texas (#2)	21	94,906	$31,000,000 (est.)

Rankings are from AP Poll. All times Central Standard Time.
* Penn State's win was vacated due to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal

Awards and All-SEC Teams

2009 AP All-SEC First Team

^[2]

Offense Position Name Height Weight (lbs.) Class Hometown Team QB Tim Tebow 6'4" 240 Sr. Jacksonville, FL, U.S. Florida RB Mark Ingram II 5'10" 215 So. Flint, MI, U.S. Alabama RB Anthony Dixon 6'1" 235 Sr. Jackson, MS, U.S. Mississippi State WR A. J. Green 6'4" 205 So. Summerville, SC, U.S. Georgia WR Shay Hodge 6'2" 205 Sr. Morton, MS, U.S. Ole Miss TE Aaron Hernandez 6'2" 250 Sr. Bristol, CT, U.S. Florida LT Ciron Black 6'5" 322 Sr. Tyler, TX, U.S. LSU LG Mike Pouncey 6'5" 320 Jr. Lakeland, FL, U.S. Florida C Maurkice Pouncey 6'5" 320 Jr. Lakeland, FL, U.S. Florida RG Mike Johnson 6'6" 305 Sr. Pensacola, FL, U.S. Alabama RT John Jerry 6'6" 335 Sr. Batesville, MS, U.S. Ole Miss All-purpose Randall Cobb 5'11" 190 So. Alcoa, TN, U.S. Kentucky All-purpose Dexter McCluster 5'9" 170 Sr. Largo, FL, U.S. Ole Miss

Defense Position Name Height Weight (lbs.) Class Hometown Team DE Antonio Coleman 6'3" 257 Sr. Mobile, AL, U.S. Auburn DT Terrence Cody 6'5" 350 Sr. Fort Myers, FL, U.S. Alabama DT Dan Williams 6'3" 325 Sr. Memphis, TN, U.S. Tennessee DE Carlos Dunlap 6'6" 290 Jr. North Charleston, SC, U.S. Florida LB Rolando McClain 6'4" 255 Jr. Decatur, AL, U.S. Alabama LB Eric Norwood 6'1" 250 Sr. Acworth, GA, U.S. South Carolina LB Rennie Curran 5'11" 220 Jr. Atlanta, GA, U.S. Georgia DB Javier Arenas 5'11" 200 Sr. Tampa, FL, U.S. Alabama DB Joe Haden 5'11" 185 Jr. Fort Washington, MD, U.S. Florida S Eric Berry 5'11" 200 Jr. Fairburn, GA, U.S. Tennessee S Mark Barron 6'2" 215 So. Mobile, AL, U.S. Alabama

Rankings

See also: 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Legend

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

		Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Final
Alabama	AP	5	4	4	3	3	3	2	1	2	3	3	2	2	2	1	1
	C	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	1	1
	BCS	Not released							2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2
Arkansas	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV			RV	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV
	BCS	Not released
Auburn	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	17	RV	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	19	RV	RV	RV
	BCS	Not released
Florida	AP	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1
	C	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	BCS	Not released							1	1	1	1	1	1
Georgia	AP	13	21	23	21	18	RV
	C	13	21	20	17	14	RV		RV	RV
	BCS	Not released
Kentucky	AP
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV
	BCS	Not released
LSU	AP	11	11	9	7	4	4	10	9	9
	C	9	9	7	7	4	4	10	10	9
	BCS	Not released							9	9
Mississippi State	AP
	C
	BCS	Not released
Ole Miss	AP	8	6	5	4	21	20	RV	RV	24
	C	10	8	6	5	18	16	RV	25	22
	BCS	Not released								25
South Carolina	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	22	23	21
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	23	21
	BCS	Not released							24	22
Tennessee	AP	RV	RV
	C	RV	RV
	BCS	Not released
Vanderbilt	AP
	C
	BCS	Not released

SEC vs. BCS matchups

Date	Visitor	Home	Winner
September 3	South Carolina	NC State	South Carolina
September 5	Georgia	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma State
September 5	Alabama	Virginia Tech	Alabama
September 5	LSU	Washington	LSU
September 12	UCLA	Tennessee	UCLA
September 19	Louisville	Kentucky	Kentucky
September 19	West Virginia	Auburn	Auburn
September 26	Arizona State	Georgia	Georgia
October 3	Arkansas	Texas A&M	Arkansas
October 3	Georgia Tech	Mississippi State	Georgia Tech
October 31	Georgia Tech	Vanderbilt	Georgia Tech
November 28	Florida State	Florida	Florida
November 28	Clemson	South Carolina	South Carolina
November 28	Georgia	Georgia Tech	Georgia

Previous season

During the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Florida and Alabama won their respective divisions and met in the 2008 SEC Championship Game which Florida won 31–20. Florida went on to win the 2009 BCS National Championship while SEC Runner-Up Alabama lost in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia was the heavy favorite to win the SEC in the pre-season, but did not live up to the hype. The Bulldogs, however, did finish strong winning the Capital One Bowl. Other bowl winners include Chick-fil-A Bowl champion LSU, Cotton Bowl Classic champion Ole Miss, Liberty Bowl champion Kentucky, Music City Bowl champion Vanderbilt

Preseason

Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin begins his first season in Knoxville. Kiffin is a former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and assistant coach at USC. Gene Chizik also begins his first season as head coach at Auburn.

In a given year, each SEC team will play its five other division foes plus three opposing division opponents. Each team has a set opposing division opponent. The other teams from the division are on a rotation, playing a home/away series every five seasons.

Western Division	Eastern Division	Series record
Auburn	Georgia	53-51-8[3]
Alabama	Tennessee	46-38-7[4]
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	46-35-2[5]
LSU	Florida	23-30-3[6]
Mississippi State	Kentucky	16-20[7]
Arkansas	South Carolina	10-7[8]

The Southeastern Conference announced on July 22 that the SEC media had elected Florida and Alabama as the preseason favorites for their divisions for the 2009 football season. It chose Florida quarterback Tim Tebow as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and Tennessee cornerback Eric Berry as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

In the preseason Coaches' Poll released on August 7, the SEC was one of only three conferences with multiple teams ranked in the top ten. Florida was elected pre-season #1 while Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, and Georgia also were in the top 25.

References

1. "Ohio State Named Preseason Favorite for 2009 Football Season: Buckeyes' Pryor and Michigan State's Jones earn individual preseason honors". CBS Interactive. July 27, 2009. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
2. "2009 AP All-SEC honors". Courier-Journal. December 7, 2008. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2009.
3. Auburn-Georgia series record
4. "Alabama-Tennessee series record". Archived from the original on October 23, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
5. Ole Miss-Vanderbilt series record
6. LSU-Florida series record
7. Mississippi St.-Kentucky series record
8. Arkansas-South Carolina series record