I have been hoping that Arkansas could win the SEC Championship game but after 20 years we still haven’t done so. Wikipedia reports that four times have appeared at least five times. They are Florida (10), Alabama (7), LSU (5) and Tennessee (5). Arkansas does have 3 appearances but no wins. Florida has the most wins with 7, LSU has 4, Alabama has 3 and Tennessee has 2. Before Houston Nutt haters get cranked up you have to admit that Houston got us there on the dance floor twice and tied for the SEC West Championship in 1998 too. SEC West Champs 3 out of 10 aint so bad after all!!!!
History
The SEC was the first conference in the NCAA to hold a football championship game made possible when the conference expanded in 1991 to twelve members with the addition of the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina. The format has since been adopted by other conferences to decide their football champion (the first being the Big 12 in 1996).
The first two SEC Championship games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. However, since 1994, the game has been played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.[2]
In 2009, Alabama and Florida met in the SEC Championship Game for the seventh time in the eighteen year history of the game, the record for the most times any two teams have faced each other in the Championship game. The only other matchup in the SEC Championship played more than twice is Georgia and LSU, which has been played three times. Alabama has faced Florida in each of their seven SEC Championship game appearances. In addition, the 2009 game marked the second consecutive year that the number 1 (Florida) and number 2 (Alabama) ranked teams in the AP Poll met in the SEC Championship game. 2009 was the first time any conference championship game had featured two undefeated teams. Alabama won 32-13 and earned a berth in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game.
[edit] Results
Results from all SEC Championship games that have been played.[3] Rankings are from the AP Poll, winner in bold italics
| Year | Eastern Division | Western Division | Venue | Attendance | MVP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | #12 Florida[4] | 21 | #2 Alabama | 28 | Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama |
83,091 | CB Antonio Langham, Alabama |
| 1993 | #9 Florida | 28 | #16 Alabama[5] | 13 | 76,345 | QB Terry Dean, Florida | |
| 1994 | #6 Florida | 24 | #3 Alabama | 23 | Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia |
74,751 | DT Ellis Johnson, Florida |
| 1995 | #2 Florida | 34 | #23 Arkansas | 3 | 71,325 | QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida | |
| 1996 | #4 Florida | 45 | #11 Alabama[6] | 30 | 74,132 | QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida | |
| 1997 | #3 Tennessee | 30 | #11 Auburn[7] | 29 | 74,896 | QB Peyton Manning, Tennessee | |
| 1998 | #1 Tennessee | 24 | #23 Mississippi State[8] | 14 | 74,795 | WR Peerless Price, Tennessee | |
| 1999 | #5 Florida | 7 | #7 Alabama | 34 | 71,500 | WR Freddie Milons, Alabama | |
| 2000 | #7 Florida | 28 | #18 Auburn | 6 | 73,427 | QB Rex Grossman, Florida | |
| 2001 | #2 Tennessee | 20 | #21 LSU[9] | 31 | 74,843 | QB Matt Mauck, LSU | |
| 2002 | #4 Georgia | 30 | #22 Arkansas[10] | 3 | 75,835 | QB David Greene, Georgia | |
| 2003 | #5 Georgia[11] | 13 | #3 LSU[12] | 34 | 74,913 | RB Justin Vincent, LSU | |
| 2004 | #15 Tennessee | 28 | #3 Auburn | 38 | 74,892 | QB Jason Campbell, Auburn | |
| 2005 | #13 Georgia | 34 | #3 LSU | 14 | 73,717 | QB D. J. Shockley, Georgia | |
| 2006 | #4 Florida | 38 | #8 Arkansas[13] | 28 | 73,374 | WR Percy Harvin, Florida | |
| 2007 | #14 Tennessee[14] | 14 | #5 LSU | 21 | 73,832 | QB Ryan Perrilloux, LSU | |
| 2008 | #2 Florida | 31 | #1 Alabama | 20 | 75,892 | QB Tim Tebow, Florida | |
| 2009 | #1 Florida | 13 | #2 Alabama | 32 | 75,514 | QB Greg McElroy, Alabama | |
| 2010 | #19 South Carolina | 17 | #1 Auburn | 56 | 75,802 | QB Cam Newton, Auburn | |
| 2011 | #12 Georgia | 10 | #1 LSU | 42 | 74,515 | CB Tyrann Mathieu, LSU | |
| Totals | 11 Wins | 489[1] | 9 Wins | 499[1] | 74,888 (avg)[15] | ||
[edit] Results by team
| Appearances | School | Wins | Losses | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Florida | 7 | 3 | .700 |
| 7 | Alabama | 3 | 4 | .428 |
| 5 | LSU | 4 | 1 | .800 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 2 | 3 | .400 |
| 4 | Auburn | 2 | 2 | .500 |
| 4 | Georgia | 2 | 2 | .500 |
| 3 | Arkansas | 0 | 3 | .000 |
| 1 | Mississippi State | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| 1 | South Carolina | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| 0 | Kentucky | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| 0 | Ole Miss | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| 0 | Vanderbilt | 0 | 0 | N/A |
Arkansas Sports 360 has a good article on those 3 appearances that Arkansas made in the championship game and it is a shame that we lost that game in 2006 with those turnovers to Florida.
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8/21/2012 at 1:00pm
For a second there, Florida head coach Urban Meyer almost looked worried in the 2006 SEC Championship Game. That feeling didn’t last long, needless to say.
This football season marks the 21st for the Razorbacks as members of the SEC. Having completed two decades in the league it seemed worth reflecting on how far the program has come. Which victories over the last 20 years were the sweetest? Were there losses that hurt more than others? What coaching decisions still have folks scratching their heads? ArkansasSports360.com assembled a panel aimed at answering these questions. We have our list and we’d love to hear yours.
No. 9 on our moments you would love to forget …
Razorbacks Make Three SEC Title Games, Can’t Win
When It Happened: 1995, 2002, 2006
Who To Remember: Danny Ford, Houston Nutt, Reggie Fish, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs
Why You’d Like To Forget: All Reggie Fish had to do was let the punt roll into the end zone.
Pretty simple, really. Don’t field the punt. Anything would have been better than fielding the punt. Instead, Fish tried to make a play inside the 10 — a huge no-no in the return game — and he mishandled it. Florida recovered, reclaimed momentum, won the game 38-28 and sent the Razorbacks to yet another loss in Atlanta.
Instead of a trip to the national title game (which Florida got) or the program’s first BCS bowl, the Razorbacks wound up playing Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. Deflated by the title game loss and decimated by internal strife the Razorbacks came out flat against the Badgers and lost 17-14.
Maybe it would have been easier to handle if the SEC title game loss had been lopsided as usual. Arkansas’ other trips to the SEC championship weren’t close losses and, quite honestly, were worse beatings than the final scores indicated.
Florida handled the Razorbacks with ease in 1995, winning 34-3. Georgia posted a closer, but no less convincing, 30-3 victory against Arkansas in 2002.
Each trip to the SEC championship began as cause for celebration, but ended with the program being reminded how much further there was to go.
Before a 10-game winning streak in 2006 came to an end in Atlanta, it looked like the UA might be ready to break through and join the league’s elite list of SEC champions.
Arkansas led 21-17 thanks to an interception returned for a touchdown and the defense held strong to force a punt. No more SEC West title rings, the Razorbacks were on their way to the real thing this time.
If only the return man had let the dang ball roll into the end zone.
Up Next: Questionable calls
