BEST GAME
The 2008 matchup between Alabama and Florida was the first time in SEC history that two teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 collided, and it didn’t disappoint. Tim Tebow threw three touchdown passes and led the Gators to two fourth-quarter scores as they rallied from a 20-17 deficit after the third quarter to a 31-20 win.BEST PERFORMANCEBefore there was Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, there was Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell. In a 38-28 win over Tennessee in 2004, Campbell countered a 182-yard rushing performance by Vols tailback Gerald Riggs Jr. by completing 27 of 35 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns, and he added 57 yards on 13 carries.BIGGEST UPSETTennessee fans were punching their tickets to a Rose Bowl date with Miami after scoring 17 consecutive points to take a 17-7 lead over LSU in the 2001 title game. The Tigers lost starting quarterback Rohan Davey, but Matt Mauck entered and helped LSU outscore the Vols 21-3 after intermission for a 31-20 shocker.TOP FIGUREHEADFormer SEC commissioner Roy Kramer is credited for birthing the league championship, but it quickly became a showcase for coach Steve Spurrier. His Florida Gators reached the first five SEC title games and won four of them, and Spurrier has made eight career trips, seven with Florida and one with South Carolina.THROUGH THE YEARSResults of the first 19 SEC title games:1992 Alabama 28, Florida 211993 Florida 28, Alabama 131994 Florida 24, Alabama 231995 Florida 34, Arkansas 31996 Florida 45, Alabama 301997 Tennessee 30, Auburn 291998 Tennessee 24, Miss. State 141999 Alabama 34, Florida 72000 Florida 28, Auburn 62001 LSU 31, Tennessee 202002 Georgia 30, Arkansas 32003 LSU 34, Georgia 132004 Auburn 38, Tennessee 282005 Georgia 34, LSU 142006 Florida 38, Arkansas 282007 LSU 21, Tennessee 142008 Florida 31, Alabama 202009 Alabama 32, Florida 132010 Auburn 56, South Carolina 17
Steve Spurrier had just coached Florida to its first Southeastern Conference football championship in 1991 when he learned that in order to earn a second, the Gators would have to win a league title game being created by then-commissioner Roy Kramer.
“I didn’t even know it was legal,” Spurrier said earlier this month. “I remember asking him one time, ‘The NCAA approves that?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, as long as you have two divisions, you can put one together.’
“I was wondering why no one had ever done it, because it certainly creates a game for all the marbles.”
The only league championships that had taken place before the SEC instituted one in 1992 occurred in 12-team leagues on the Divisions II and III levels. The SEC became a 12-team collection with two six-team divisions in ’92, when Arkansas and South Carolina joined a conference that had stood firm with 10 members since 1966.