The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members include the flagship public universities of 12 states, three additional public land-grant universities, and one private research university. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in sports competitions. In football, it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A.
The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regular season champion. With the SEC eliminating football divisions after the 2023 season, future games will feature the top two teams in the conference standings. Since 2007, the game has typically been played on the first Saturday of December, and the game has been held in Atlanta since 1994, first at the Georgia Dome, and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2017.
The Aflac Kickoff Game is an annual series of college football games played on the opening weekend of the NCAA Division I FBS season in Atlanta, Georgia. Organized by the Peach Bowl, the event coincides with Labor Day weekend in the United States. From its inception in 2008 until 2016, it was held at the Georgia Dome. The Georgia Dome's replacement, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, began hosting the games starting in 2017. Since 2012, there have been occasional doubleheaders in the series.
SEC Nation is an ESPN entertainment show previewing college football games from the Southeastern Conference. Based on the format of College Gameday, the show previews SEC football games from a SEC school each week.
The 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played on January 8, 2018, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and was televised nationally by ESPN. The fourth College Football Playoff National Championship, the game determined a national champion in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2017 season. It was the final game of the 2017-18 College Football Playoff (CFP) and, aside from the all star games following this, was the cumulating game of the 2017-18 bowl season. Sponsored by telecommunications company AT&T, the game was officially known as the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T.
The 2016 SEC Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 3, 2016, in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, and determined the 2016 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game was played between the Eastern Division champion, Gators, and Western Division champion Alabama. The Eastern Division team was the designated home team, and the game was broadcast nationally by CBS for the 16th consecutive year. This was the final SEC Championship Game in the Georgia Dome, which was demolished on November 20, 2017, after its successor, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, opened on August 26 of the same year. The title game moved to the new stadium and will remain there through at least 2027.
The 2017 SEC Championship Game was played on December 2, 2017, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and determined the 2017 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). This was the first SEC Conference football championship at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game featured the Eastern Division Champion, Georgia Bulldogs against the Western Division Co-Champion, the Auburn Tigers. This championship game marked the first time Auburn and Georgia had rematched each other in the same year, with the previous iteration having been played on November 11, 2017. In the earlier game, Auburn beat Georgia by a score of 40–17. In this rematch, Georgia won the SEC Championship by beating Auburn 28–7. This was also the first SEC Championship Game with new SEC on CBS announcer Brad Nessler replacing Verne Lundquist, who retired in 2016. The game was televised nationally by CBS.
The 2018 Sugar Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal bowl game that was played on January 1, 2018 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The 84th Sugar Bowl game, it matched two of the top four teams selected by the Selection Committee-Alabama from the SEC and Clemson from the ACC to compete to face the winner of the Rose Bowl (Georgia) in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship played on January 8, 2018, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. It was one of the 2017–18 bowl games that concluded the 2017 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Allstate insurance company, the game is officially known as the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The 2018 SEC Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, to determine the 2018 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the East Division champion Georgia against the West Division champion Alabama. Georgia, the East Division Champion, was the designated home team. The game was televised by CBS for the eighteenth straight year. Alabama came back from a 28–14 deficit in the third quarter to defeat Georgia, 35–28.
The Alabama–Georgia football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between the Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama and the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia. The two bordering state schools were charter members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1933 and played every season from 1944 to 1965. Despite no longer playing annually, Alabama and Georgia have met in several nationally important matchups in the twenty-first century, including four Southeastern Conference championship games and two College Football Playoff national championship games since 2010, bringing the rivalry back into national prominence.
The 2019 Southeastern Conference football season represented the 87th season of SEC football taking place during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 29, 2019 and ended with the 2019 SEC Championship Game on December 7, 2019. The SEC is a Power Five conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-12 Conference. For the 2019 season the SEC has 14 teams divided into two divisions of seven each, named East and West.
The 2019 SEC Championship Game was a college football game played on Saturday, December 7, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game determined the 2019 champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the East division champions the University of Georgia Bulldogs (Georgia) and the West division champions the Louisiana State University Tigers (LSU). Beginning in 1992, this served as the conference's 28th annual championship game. After a dominating performance by transfer quarterback Joe Burrow, LSU became the 2019 SEC champions winning the game by a final score of 37–10. The strong performance not only earned LSU the 2019 SEC Championship trophy but it contributed to earning the No.1 seed in the 2019 College Football Playoffs. After their loss, Georgia moved to the fifth spot in the rankings and earned a bid to play in their second consecutive Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The 2020 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia and were led by fifth-year head coach Kirby Smart. For the first time since 2016, the Bulldogs did not win the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), finishing second behind rival Florida.
The 2021 Peach Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Cincinnati Bearcats that was played on January 1, 2021, with kickoff scheduled for 12:30 p.m. EST on ESPN. It was the 53rd edition of the Peach Bowl, and was one of the 2020–21 bowl games concluding the 2020 FBS football season. Sponsored by restaurant chain Chick-fil-A, the game was officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The game averaged 8.72 million viewers, becoming the most viewed non-semifinal Peach Bowl. Georgia represented the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Cincinnati represented the American Athletic Conference (AAC).The game was the final game of the 2020 football season for each team and resulted in a 24–21 Georgia victory.
The 2021 SEC Championship Game was a college football game that was played on December 4, 2021, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the 30th edition of the SEC Championship Game and determined the champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for the 2021 season. The game began at 4:00 p.m. EST and was aired on CBS. The contest featured the Georgia Bulldogs, the East Division champions, and the Alabama Crimson Tide, the West Division champions.
The 2021 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia in the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and competed in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by sixth-year head coach Kirby Smart. They finished the season with 14 wins and 1 loss. Georgia won the National Championship and was the consensus No. 1 team at the conclusion of the season. The 14 games won by the Bulldogs also set the record for the most wins in a single season in school history until it was broken the following season, where Georgia finished with a 15–0 record.
The 2022 SEC Championship Game was a college football game played on December 3, 2022, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the 31st edition of the SEC Championship Game and determined the champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for the 2022 season. The game began at 4:00 p.m. EST on CBS. The contest featured the LSU Tigers, the West Division champions and the Georgia Bulldogs of the East Division.
The 2022 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia in the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and competed in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by seventh-year head coach Kirby Smart. They entered the season as the defending consensus national champions.
The 2022 Peach Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2022, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game was the 55th annual playing of the Peach Bowl, one of the two semifinals of the 2022–23 College Football Playoff (CFP), and was one of the bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. The game began at approximately 8:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. It featured two of the four teams chosen by the selection committee to participate in the playoff: the Georgia Bulldogs from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Ohio State Buckeyes from the Big Ten Conference. The winner qualified for the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship against the winner of the other semifinal, hosted at the Fiesta Bowl.
The 2023 SEC Championship Game was a college football game that was played on December 2, 2023, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the 32nd edition of the SEC Championship Game. The contest featured the Alabama Crimson Tide, the West Division champions and the Georgia Bulldogs the East Division Champions. The game began at 4:00 p.m. EST and was televised on CBS for the twenty-third consecutive year, and also the final SEC Championship game to be televised on the network. Alabama won the game by a score of 27–24 and, therefore, became champions of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for the 2023 season, while ending Georgia’s 29-game winning streak that began in the 2021 Orange Bowl CFP Semifinal.
