| 2009 Southeastern Conference football season | |
| Color: |
|
| Color Text: | white |
| League: | NCAA Division I FBS |
| Sport: | football |
| Pixels: | 125px |
| Duration: | September 3, 2009 through January 7, 2010 |
| No Of Teams: | 12 |
| Tv: | CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, FSN, CSS |
| Draft: | 2010 NFL Draft |
| Draft Link: | 2010 NFL Draft |
| Top Pick: | Eric Berry (Tennessee) |
| Picked By: | Kansas City Chiefs, 5th overall |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champ Name: | Champion |
| League Champ Name: | Runners-Up |
| Conf1: | East |
| Conf1 Champ: | Florida Gators |
| Conf2: | West |
| Conf2 Champ: | Alabama Crimson Tide |
| Finals: | SEC Championship Game |
| Finals Link: | 2009 SEC Championship Game |
| Finals Champ: | Alabama Crimson Tide |
| Finals Mvp: | Mark Ingram, Alabama |
| Finals Mvp Link: | 2009 SEC Championship Game |
| Seasonslistnames: | Football |
| Prevseason Year: | 2008 |
| Nextseason Year: | 2010 |
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.
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.
Defense
See also: 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.
| Improvement in ranking | ||
| Drop in ranking | ||
| Not ranked previous week | ||
| align=center style="width:20px; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; background:white;" | RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll |
| т | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol | |
| 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 |
| Date | Visitor | Home | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 3 | NC State | South Carolina | |
| September 5 | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma State | |
| September 5 | Alabama | ||
| September 5 | LSU | ||
| September 12 | UCLA | ||
| September 19 | Kentucky | ||
| September 19 | Auburn | ||
| September 26 | Georgia | Georgia | |
| October 3 | Texas A&M | Arkansas | |
| October 3 | Mississippi State | Georgia Tech | |
| October 31 | Georgia Tech | Georgia Tech | |
| November 28 | Florida | Florida | |
| November 28 | South Carolina | ||
| November 28 | Georgia | ||
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
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 53-51-8[3] | ||
| 46-38-7[4] | ||
| 46-35-2[5] | ||
| 23-30-3[6] | ||
| 16-20[7] | ||
| Arkansas | 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.