Florida defeated Oklahoma, 24-14, in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan 8 in Miami, Fla. The Gators give the SEC its third consecutive national championship (LSU, 2007; Florida 2006), its fifth title in 11 years of the BCS and its seventh since conference expansion in 1992. It is the SECs 19th national championship in its history (counting only AP, UPI, FWAA and USA Today polls).

The SEC is the only league to currently have four football coaches who have won a national championship as a head coach.

Steve Spurrier, South Carolina (won title in 1996 while at Florida)

* Nick Saban, Alabama (won title in 2003 while at LSU)
* Urban Meyer, Florida (won titles in 2006 and 2008)
* Les Miles, LSU (won title in 2007)

The SEC had four teams ranked in the top 15 of the final Associated Press USA Today coaches polls – the most of any conference. Since 1983, the SEC has placed four teams in the top 15 of the AP poll 13 times (out of 26 years) and the USA Today poll ten times. The SEC has had four teams ranked in the top 15 in five of the last six seasons in the AP poll (four in a row) and four of the last nine seasons in the USA Today poll.

The SEC finished the 2008-09 bowl season with a 6-2 record. During the last three bowl seasons, the SEC is 19-7 (.731) – the highest win total of any conference and the second highest winning percentage of any conference (Big East – 12-4, .750). No other conference has won more than 12 bowl games during the last three seasons.

In 2008, the SEC led all NCAA FBS conferences with a 76.7 winning percentage in non-conference games. The SEC posted a 43-13 overall non-conference mark, edging out the Big 12 Conference with a 42-13 mark (76.4 percent) . It marks the third year in a row that the SEC has led all NCAA FBS conferences in non-conference winning percentage.

The SEC finished the 2008 season with eight teams earning at least seven-or-more victories for the third straight season. Every SEC team has reached at least seven wins at least once during the last two seasons.

The SEC drew 6.4 million fans to its games in 2008, the most by any conference in 2008. In 83 game dates, the SEC averaged 76,832 fans per game, which is the highest mark in NCAA history. SEC games filled stadiums at 98.41 percent of capacity, whcih is the highest since 1999.

SEC student-athletes and coaches won six major awards during the 2008 season – Florida QB Tim Tebow (Maxwell Player of the Year and Wuerffel Trophy), Alabama OT Andre Smith (Outland Trophy), Alabama coach Nick Saban (Walter Camp Coach of the Year, Home Depot Coach of the Year, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year). The SEC has won a major National Player of the Year Award four times in the last six seasons (2003 – Eli Manning, Ole Miss, Maxwell; 2007 – Tim Tebow, Florida, Maxwell & Heisman; 2007 – Darren McFadden, Arkansas; Camp; 2008 – Tebow, Maxwell).

The SEC had 13 football student-athletes earn first-team All-America mention in 2008. Included are seven consensus All-Americas: Alabama OT Andre Smith, Ole Miss OT Michael Oher, Alabama C Antoine Caldwell, Alabama NG Terrence Cody, Florida LB Brandon Spikes, Tennessee DB Eric Berry and Florida RS Brandon James. Also earning first-team honors were Vanderbillt DB D.J. Moore, LSU OG Herman Johnson, Ole Miss DT Peria Jerry, Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno, Alabama DB Rashad Johnson and Florida ATH Percy Harvin.

STATE OF THE SEC

Georgia and LSU have the SECs best records during the last five and 10 seasons. Since 2004, Florida and LSU have posted the leagues best overall mark at 51-14 (.785). Since 1999, Georgia has had the leagues best record at 98-30 (.766).

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

The SEC has captured the BCS National Championship for three consecutive seasons. Since the inception of the BCS in 1998, the SEC leads all conferences with five national champions. Tennessee won the BCS first national title in 1998, LSU won the crown in 2003, Floridas claimed the national championship in 2006 and 2008 and LSU took the title in 2007. The Big 12 has two BCS national titles followed by the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big East with one each.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS SINCE 1992

Since SEC expansion in 1992, the SEC has the most national championships (AP, USA Today) with seven. During that time, the SEC has had more teams with national titles than any other conference (4). Here is a breakdown:

* SEC – Florida (2008, 2006, 1996), LSU (2003, 2007), Tennessee (1998), Alabama (1992)
* Big 12 – Texas (2005), Oklahoma (2000), Nebraska (1994, 1995, 1997)
* Big Ten – Ohio State (2002), Michigan (1997)
* Pac-10 – Southern California (2004, 2003)
* ACC – Florida State (1999, 1993)
* Big East – Miami, Fla. (2001)

TOP 25 FINISHES

Since 2000, the Southestern Conference has had more teams ranked in the final USA Today Coaches Poll than any other conference. The SEC has had 43 teams ranked in the last ninefinal USA Today Coaches polls, an average of almost five per season. The Big 12 is second with 36 teams ranked since 2000. The SEC has led or tied for lead in most teams ranked in the final USA Today Coaches Polls in seven of the last nine seasons.

SEC LEADS NATION IN ATTENDANCE IN 2007

For the 27th straight season, the SEC recorded the largest total attendance figure of any conference in the nation. In 2007, a total of 6,687,342 fans attended 89 games, an average of 75,139 per contest, also tops in the nation. SEC stadiums were filled to 97.69 percent of capacity for each home game in 2007. The SEC had six of the top 10 schools in total attendance in 2007 – Tennessee (4), Auburn (5), Georgia (6), LSU (7), Alabama (8) and Florida (9).

SEC LEADS NATION WITH 259 FORMER PLAYERS ON 2008 NFL OPENING DAY ROSTERS

The Southeastern Conference placed 259 of its former players on the 2008 National Football League opening weekend active rosters, leading all NCAA conferences.

The SEC had five of the top 12 schools on NFL opening day rosters. Georgia was the SECs leading squad and was third overall with 36 of its former players listed on NFL rosters, followed by LSU with 35, Tennessee at 34, Florida with 30 and Auburn with 27. Miami (Fla.) led all schools with 44 former players on NFL rosters, followed by Florida State with 37.

Following the SEC, the ACC had 254 of its players on active rosters, followed by the Big Ten with 227, Pac-10 with 178, Big 12 with 170 and the Big East with 87.

The SEC has led the nation in the number of players on opening weekend rosters since 2001.

The 12 SEC schools were in the top 64 among all colleges. Alabama was sixth in the SEC with 18, followed by Arkansas and Mississippi State with 16 each, South Carolina with 15, Ole Miss at 14, Vanderbilt with 10 and Kentucky with eight.

SEC TOPS ALL CONFERENCES IN BCS WINS

Since the inception of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998, the SEC has won the most BCS games with a record of 12-5 (.706). The winning percentage is tops of conferences that have played in three-or-more BCS games. The Pac-10 is second at 9-4 (.692), followed by the Big East at 6-5 (.545), the Big 12 at 7-9 (.438), the Big Ten at 8- 11 (.421) and the ACC at 2-9 (.182). The Mountain West is 2-0 and the WAC is 1-1 in BCS games.

Posted on January 19th, 2009 by admin
Filed under: College football news, NCAA college football