2009 Southeastern Conference football season

2009 Southeastern Conference football season
League	NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
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
Regular Season
East champions	Florida Gators
West champions	Alabama Crimson Tide
SEC Championship Game
SEC Championship Game champions	Alabama Crimson Tide
SEC Championship Game MVP	Mark Ingram, Alabama
Football seasons
← 2008	2010 →

2009 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
#3 Florida x‡		8	–	0					13	–	1
Georgia		4	–	4					8	–	5
Tennessee		4	–	4					7	–	6
South Carolina		3	–	5					7	–	6
Kentucky		3	–	5					7	–	6
Vanderbilt		0	–	8					2	–	10
Western Division
#1 Alabama x†		8	–	0					14	–	0
#17 LSU		5	–	3					9	–	4
#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 representative as champion ‡ – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

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. 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.

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.

Bowl Game	Date	Stadium	Location	TV	Matchup winner bolded	Payout (US$)
Independence Bowl	December 28, 2009	Independence Bowl	Shreveport, LA	ESPN	Georgia vs. Texas A&M	$1,100,000
PapaJohns.com Bowl	January 2, 2010	Legion Field	Birmingham, AL	ESPN	South Carolina vs. Connecticut	$300,000
Liberty Bowl	January 2, 2010	Liberty Bowl	Memphis, TN	ESPN	Arkansas vs. East Carolina	$1,700,000
Music City Bowl	December 27, 2009	LP Field	Nashville, TN	ESPN	Kentucky vs. Clemson	$1,600,000
Chick-fil-A Bowl	December 31, 2009	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, GA	ESPN	Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech	$3,005,000
Cotton Bowl Classic	January 2, 2010	Cowboys Stadium	Arlington, TX	FOX	Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma State	$3,000,000
Outback Bowl	January 1, 2010	Raymond James Stadium	Tampa, FL	ESPN	Auburn vs. Northwestern	$3,300,000
Capital One	January 1, 2010	Citrus Bowl	Orlando, FL	ABC	LSU vs. Penn State	$4,250,000
Sugar Bowl	January 1, 2010	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, LA	FOX	Florida vs. Cincinnati	$18,000,000
BCS Championship Game	January 7, 2010	Rose Bowl	Pasadena, CA	ABC	Alabama vs. Texas	$18,000,000

Awards and All-SEC Teams

2009 AP All-SEC First Team

Offense Position Name Height Weight (lbs.) Class Hometown Team QB Tim Tebow 6'4" 240 Sr. Jacksonville, FL, U.S. Florida RB Mark Ingram 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 Terrance 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
Alabama	Tennessee	46-38-7
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	46-35-2
LSU	Florida	23-30-3
Mississippi State	Kentucky	16-20
Arkansas	South Carolina	10-7

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.