SEC Football History at a Glance

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/KProcterTN/status/757628074930364416

Dec. 8-9, 1932: With a two-day meeting in Knoxville, the SEC quietly formed.
SEC charter members were Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, University of the South (Sewanee), Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.

Jan. 1, 1935: Alabama beat Stanford 29-13 in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day to finish 10-0 and win the SEC's first share of a national championship. However, Alabama and Minnesota split the title between numerous polls, and the NCAA currently recognizes Minnesota as the 1934 champion. In the first decade of the SEC, Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee won national titles according to at least one poll, but the NCAA does not recognize an SEC national champion until Tennessee's 1951 title. Many of the early title claims were often awarded by the now-defunct Williamson System poll, created by New Orleans geologist Paul Williamson.

Nov. 9, 1940: Sewanee lost 20-0 to Vanderbilt in its final SEC game, and its only conference contest that season. Its 1899 squad went 12-0 and accomplished the unthinkable feat of earning five shutout wins in six days over Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU and Ole Miss. Sewanee was a charter member of the SEC, but it lasted only eight years with an 0-37 record in SEC games.

Nov. 28, 1942: Georgia halfback Frank Sinkwich became the SEC's first Heisman Trophy winner.

Oct. 20, 1951: Tennessee beat Alabama 27-13 in Birmingham on CBS in the SEC's first televised event.

Jan. 1, 1962: Paul "Bear" Bryant claimed his first national championship [awarded before the bowls at the time] with Alabama's 10-3 win over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.

1964-66: Charter members Georgia Tech and Tulane left the SEC in 1964 and 1966, respectively, as both schools argued that the conference's focus on football was overshadowing academics. Tulane cut its athletic scholarships a few years before giving up on competing in the SEC. And Georgia Tech, fueled by a feud between coach Bobby Dodd and Bear Bryant, left abruptly when the SEC failed to change its rule that allowed football teams to sign as many as 45 players per year and then cut many of them before the season.

Summer 1965: Frustrated by their players' fatigue in the heat, Florida coaches asked university physicians to help. A team of four researchers created a beverage stocked full of carbohydrates and electrolytes, and they dubbed it Gatorade.

Sept. 30, 1967: Kentucky safety Nate Northington broke the SEC football color barrier, becoming the first black player to play in an SEC varsity game.

Sept. 14, 1968: Tennessee introduced the SEC to artificial turf in its 17-17 tie with Georgia at Neyland Stadium.

Jan. 1, 1990: It didn't seem like a landmark event at the time, but Steve Spurrier's hiring at Florida led the SEC into a new era. Spurrier, a former Heisman Trophy quarterback for the Gators, inherited a program buried beneath NCAA penalties and a half-century without a full-fledged SEC title.

Sept. 5, 1992: Although Arkansas and South Carolina officially became the 11th and 12th SEC members in 1991, they didn't join in football until the following year. On opening day in 1992, Arkansas lost to The Citadel.

Dec. 5, 1992: The SEC Championship Game, the first of its kind in major college football.

Jan. 4, 1999: Tennessee beat Florida State 23-16 in the first Bowl Championship Series national title game. It kicked off one of the SEC's most successful eras. In 16 BCS championship games, SEC teams won nine times, including seven straight.

Jan. 3, 2007: If not for his return to the SEC, Nick Saban...

July 1, 2012: Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC amid widespread expansion in other conferences...

Aug. 14, 2014: The SEC Network launched on a Thursday evening, and it quickly surpassed the reach and revenue of other conference TV networks. In its first fiscal year in which the SEC received money from the formation of the SEC Network and the College Football Playoff, the conference raked in $527.4 million in total revenue, an increase of more than 60 percent from the previous year. Also in that inaugural SEC Network year, the SEC reported $311.8 million in TV and radio rights fees, an increase of more than $100 million over the previous year.