2018 Southeastern Conference football season explained

2018 Southeastern Conference football season
Color:	193980
Color Text:	white
League:	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport:	Football
Pixels:	125px
Duration:	August 30, 2018 through January 2019
No Of Teams:	14
Tv:	CBS Sports Family (CBS, CBSSN), ESPN Family (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, SECN, ABC, ESPN+)
Draft:	2019 NFL Draft
Draft Link:	2019 NFL Draft
Top Pick:	Quinnen Williams (Alabama)
Picked By:	New York Jets, 3rd overall
Season:	Regular season
Conf1:	East
Conf1 Champ:	Georgia
Conf1 Runner-Up:	Florida Kentucky
Conf2:	West
Conf2 Champ:	Alabama
Conf2 Runner-Up:	LSU Texas A&M
Finals:	SEC Championship Game
Finals Link:	2018 SEC Championship Game
Finals Champ:	Alabama
Finals Mvp:	Josh Jacobs, RB
Seasonslistnames:	Football
Prevseason Year:	2017
Nextseason Year:	2019

The 2018 Southeastern Conference football season represents the 86th season of SEC football taking place during the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 30 and will end with the SEC Championship Game, between Alabama and Georgia, on December 1. 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 2018 season, the SEC has 14 teams divided into two divisions of seven each, named East and West.^[1]

Background

Previous season

Georgia defeated Auburn 28–7 in a rematch from Week Ten in 2017 season (loss to Auburn by 40–17) for the 2017 SEC Championship Game.

Ten SEC teams participated in bowl games. Mississippi State defeated Louisville 31–27 in the TaxSlayer Bowl. South Carolina defeated Michigan 26–19 in the Outback Bowl. Missouri lost to Texas 16–33 in the Texas Bowl. Texas A&M lost to Wake Forest 52–55 in the Belk Bowl. Kentucky lost to Northwestern 23–24 in the Music City Bowl. LSU lost to Notre Dame 17–21 in the Citrus Bowl. Auburn lost to UCF 27–34 in the Peach Bowl.

Georgia defeated Oklahoma 54–48 at second overtime in the Rose Bowl semifinal game and Alabama defeated Clemson 24–6 in the Sugar Bowl semifinal game.

Alabama defeated Georgia 26–23 at overtime in the CFP National Championship game.

Preseason

Recruiting classes

National Rankings! Team! ESPN^[2] ! Rivals^[3] ! Scout^[4] ! 24/7^[5] ! Total Signees
Alabama	1	1	1	1	29
Arkansas	26	24	27	27	27
Auburn	9	14	11	9	23
Florida	13	9	10	10	23
Georgia	3	3	2	3	25
Kentucky	30	26	35	31	24
LSU	7	8	7	7	23
Ole Miss	36	39	29	29	21
Mississippi State	24	27	25	24	24
Missouri	54	48	40	42	24
South Carolina	19	16	21	21	24
Tennessee	15	15	16	17	27
Texas A&M	11	10	9	12	27
Vanderbilt	60	57	69	65	20

SEC media days

The SEC conducted its annual media days at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham – The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama on July 16–19. The event commenced with a speech by commissioner Greg Sankey, and all 14 teams sent their head coaches and three selected players to speak with members of the media. The event along with all speakers and interviews were broadcast live on the SEC Network and streamed live on ESPN.com.

Preseason media polls

The SEC Media Days concluded with its annual preseason media polls. Since 1992, the credentialed media has gotten the preseason champion correct just six times. Only nine times has the preseason pick even made it to the SEC title game. Below are the results of the media poll with total points received next to each school and first-place votes in parentheses.

SEC Champion Voting

Alabama (193)
Georgia (69)
Auburn (14)
South Carolina (4)
Florida (2)
Mississippi State (1)
Missouri (1)

West Division

1. Alabama (263) – 1971
2. Auburn (19) – 1664
3. Mississippi State (2) – 1239
4. Texas A&M – 1091
5. LSU – 1025
6. Ole Miss – 578
7. Arkansas – 412

East Division

1. Georgia (271) – 1977
2. South Carolina (8) – 1535
3. Florida (4) – 1441
4. Missouri – 1057
5. Kentucky (1) – 874
6. Tennessee (1) – 704
7. Vanderbilt – 392

First place votes in

References:

Preseason All-SEC Media

First Team Offense! Position! Player! Class! Team
QB	Drew Lock	SR	Missouri
RB	Damien Harris	SR	Alabama
RB	Benny Snell	JR	Kentucky
WR	A. J. Brown	JR	Ole Miss
WR	Deebo Samuel	RS SR	South Carolina
TE	Albert Okwuegbunam	RS SO	Missouri
OL	Jonah Williams	JR	Alabama
OL	Greg Little	JR	Ole Miss
OL	Martez Ivey	SR	Florida
OL	Trey Smith	SO	Tennessee
C	Ross Pierschbacher	SR	Alabama

First Team Defense! Position! Player! Class! Team
DL	Raekwon Davis	JR	Alabama
DL	CeCe Jefferson	SR	Florida
DL	Montez Sweat	SR	Mississippi State
DL	Jeffery Simmons	JR	Mississippi State
LB	Devin White	JR	LSU
LB	Anfernee Jennings	RS JR	Alabama
LB	Mack Wilson	JR	Alabama
DB		SR	Georgia
DB	Greedy Williams	SO	LSU
DB	J. R. Reed	JR	Georgia
DB	Deionte Thompson	RS JR	Alabama

First Team Special Teams! Position! Player! Class! Team
P	Corey Fatony	SR	Missouri
K		RS JR	Georgia
RS	Deebo Samuel	RS SR	South Carolina
AP	Deebo Samuel	RS SR	South Carolina

References:^[6]

Head coaches

School	Coach	Year
Alabama		12th
Arkansas		1st
Auburn		6th
Florida		1st
Georgia		3rd
Kentucky		6th
LSU		2nd
Mississippi State		1st
Missouri		3rd
Ole Miss		2nd
South Carolina		3rd
Tennessee		1st
Texas A&M		1st
Vanderbilt		5th

Rankings

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

See main article: 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.

	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	1 (42)	1 (48)	1 (54)	1 (58)	1 (60)	1 (58)	1 (59)	1 (60)	1 (61)	1 (60)	1 (60)	1 (61)	1 (61)	1 (61)	1 (61)	2
	C	1 (61)	1 (59)	1 (59)	1 (60)	1 (61)	1 (61)	1 (61)	1 (61)	1 (60)	1 (62)	1 (63)	1 (64)	1 (63)	1 (63)	1 (62)	2
	CFP	Not released	1	1	1	1	1	1
Arkansas	AP
	C		RV
	CFP	Not released
Auburn	AP	9	7	7	9	10	8	21		RV	RV	RV	RV	RV			RV
C	10	7	7	11	10	9	21	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV			RV
CFP	Not released		24
Florida	AP	RV	25			RV	22	14	11	9	13	19	15	13	11	10	7
C	RV	25		RV	RV	RV	16	12	11	14	21	16	13	10	10	6
CFP	Not released	11	15	13	11	9	10
Georgia	AP	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	8	7	6	5	5	5	4	6	7
C	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	6	8
CFP	Not released	6	5	5	5	4	5
Kentucky	AP	RV		RV	RV	17	13	18	14	12	11	12	20	17	16	16	12
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	17	15	20	17	14	12	12	21	18	15	15	11
	CFP	Not released	9	11	17	15	15	14
LSU	AP	25	11	12	6	5	5	13	5	4	4	9	10	8	12	11	6
C	24	15	13	6	6	6	12	5	4	4	10	10	8	14	11	7
CFP	Not released	3	7	7	7	10	11
Mississippi State	AP	18	18	16	14	23	RV	24	22	RV	21	18	25	22	20	18	RV
	C	18	18	16	14	19	RV	RV	RV	RV	21	15	23	20	19	18	25
	CFP	Not released	18	16	21	18	18	18
Missouri	AP				RV	RV	RV							RV	RV	24	RV
	C			RV	RV	RV	RV					RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
	CFP	Not released					24	23
Ole Miss	AP		RV	RV
C
CFP	Not released
South Carolina	AP	RV	24	RV	RV	RV		RV
	C	RV	24	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV		RV
	CFP	Not released
Tennessee	AP
	C												RV
	CFP	Not released
Texas A&M	AP	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	RV	22	17	16	25	RV	RV	RV	22	21	16
	C	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	RV	22	18	17	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	20	16
	CFP	Not released	20			22	19	19
Vanderbilt	AP
C			RV	RV
CFP	Not released

Schedule

Regular season

Index to colors and formatting
Non-conference matchup; SEC member won
Non-conference matchup; SEC member lost
Conference matchup

All times Eastern time. SEC teams in bold.

Rankings reflect those of the AP poll for that week until week ten when CFP rankings are used.

Week Fourteen

Championship game

The game between South Carolina and Marshall, originally scheduled for September 15, 2018, was canceled in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. The Gamecocks scheduled Akron to replace Marshall, as Akron had their game against Nebraska canceled due to inclement weather earlier in the year.^[7]

SEC vs other conferences

SEC vs. Power 5 matchups

This is a list of teams considered by the SEC as "Power Five" teams for purposes of meeting league requirements that each member play at least one "power" team in non-conference play. In addition to the SEC, the NCAA officially considers all football members of the ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and Pac-12, plus independent Notre Dame (a full but non-football ACC member), as "Power Five" teams.

All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Date	Visitor	Home	Score
September 1	No. 1 Alabama		W 51–14
September 1	Ole Miss		W 47–27
September 1	Tennessee		L 14–40
September 1		No. 25 LSU	W 33–17
September 1		No. 9 Auburn	W 21–16
September 8		Texas A&M	L 26–28
September 8	Mississippi State		W 31–10
September 15	Vanderbilt		L 17–22
September 15	Missouri		W 40–37
November 24		No. 5 Georgia	W 45–21
November 24	South Carolina		L 35–56
November 24	No. 17 Kentucky		W 56–10
November 24	No. 13 Florida		W 41–14

SEC records vs other conferences

2018-19 records against non-conference foes:

Regular Season

Power 5 Conferences	Record
ACC	5–2
Big 12	2–1
Big Ten	1–0
Notre Dame	0–1
Pac 12	1–0
Power 5 Total	9–4

Other FBS Conferences	Record
American	2–0
C-USA	10–1
Independents (Excluding BYU and Notre Dame)	2–0
MAC	3–0
Mountain West	3–1
Sun Belt	6–0
Other FBS Total	26–2

FCS Opponents	Record
Football Championship Subdivision	15–0

Total Non-Conference Record	50–6

Post Season

Power Conferences 5	Record
ACC	1–2
Big 12	1–3
Big Ten	3–1
Power 5 Total	5–6

Other FBS Conferences	Record
American	1–0

Other FBS Total	1–0
Total Bowl Record	6–6

Postseason

Bowl games

(Rankings from final CFP Poll; All times Eastern)

Date	Time	Bowl Game	TV	SEC Team	Opponent	Result
January 7, 2019	8:00 p.m.		ESPN	No. 1 Alabama (14–0)	No. 2 Clemson (14–0)	L 16–44
January 1, 2019	8:30 p.m.	Sugar Bowl (New Year's Six)	ESPN	No. 5 Georgia (11–2)	No. 15 Texas (9–4)	L 21–28
January 1, 2019	1:00 p.m.	Fiesta Bowl (New Year's Six)	ESPN	No. 11 LSU (9–3)	No. 8 UCF (12–0)	W 40–32
January 1, 2019	1:00 p.m.		ABC	No. 14 Kentucky (9–3)	No. 12 Penn State (9–3)	W 27–24
January 1, 2019	12:00 p.m.		ESPN2	No. 18 Mississippi State (8–4)	Iowa (8–4)	L 22–27
December 31, 2018	7:30 p.m.		ESPN	No. 19 Texas A&M (8–4)	NC State (9–3)	W 52–13
December 31, 2018	3:45 p.m.		ESPN	No. 23 Missouri (8–4)	Oklahoma State (6–6)	L 33–38
December 29, 2018	8:00 p.m.	Orange Bowl (CFP Semifinal)	ESPN	No. 1 Alabama (13–0)	No. 4 Oklahoma (12–1)	W 45–34
December 29, 2018	12:00 p.m.	Peach Bowl (New Year's Six)	ESPN	No. 10 Florida (9–3)	No. 7 Michigan (10–2)	W 41–15
December 29, 2018	12:00 p.m.		ESPN	South Carolina (7–5)	Virginia (7–5)	L 0–28
December 28, 2018	1:30 p.m.		ESPN	Auburn (7–5)	Purdue (6–6)	W 63–14
December 27, 2018	9:00 p.m.		ESPN	Vanderbilt (6–6)	Baylor (6–6)	L 38–45

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Week	Offensive			Defensive			Offensive Line			Defensive Line			Specialist			Freshman
Week	Player	Team	Position	Player	Team	Position	Player	Team	Position	Player	Team	Position	Player	Team	Position	Player	Team	Position
Week 1 (Sept. 4)	Scottie Phillips	Ole Miss	RB			LB	Cory Little	Ole Miss	OL			DL			PK	Jaylen Waddle	Alabama	WR/PR
Week 2 (Sept. 10)	Kylin Hill	Mississippi State	RB	Josh Allen	Kentucky	LB	Jervontius Stallings	Kentucky	OG	Montez Sweat	Mississippi State	DE	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	PK	Bryce Thompson	Tennessee	DB
Week 3 (Sept. 17)	Joe Burrow	LSU	QB	Christian Miller	Alabama	LB	Elgton Jenkins	Mississippi State	C	Jabari Zuniga	Florida	DL	Cole Tracy (2)	LSU	PK	Jalen Knox	Missouri	WR
Week 4 (Sept. 24)	Tua Tagovailoa	Alabama	QB	Josh Allen (2)	Kentucky	LB	Jervontius Stallings (2)	Kentucky	OG	Isaiah Buggs Javon Kinlaw	Alabama South California	DE DT	Noah Igbinoghene	Auburn	KR	Dameon Pierce	Florida	RB
Week 5 (Oct. 1)	Joe Burrow (2)	LSU	QB	Josh Allen (3)	Kentucky	LB	George Asafo-Adjei	Kentucky	OT	Jachai Polite	Florida	DL	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	P	Evan McPherson	Florida	PK
Week 6 (Oct. 8)	Nick Fitzgerald	Mississippi State	QB	Vosean Joseph	Florida	LB	Ross Pierschbacher	Alabama	C	Montez Sweat (2)	Mississippi State	DE	Braden Mann (2) Parker White	Texas A&M South Carolina	P PK	Jaycee Horn	South Carolina	DB
Week 7 (Oct. 15)		Ole Miss Tennessee	QB	Devin White	LSU	LB	Jedrick Wills	Alabama	RT		Tennessee	DE	Cole Tracy (3)	LSU	PK	Evan McPherson (2)	Florida	PK
Week 8 (Oct. 22)	Tua Tagovailoa (2)	Alabama	QB	Grant Delpit	LSU	S	George Asafo-Adjei (2)	Kentucky	OT	Nick Coe (2)	Auburn	DL	Cole Tracy (4)	LSU	PK	Jalen Knox (2)	Missouri	WR
Week 9 (Oct. 27)	Nick Fitzgerald Jake Fromm	Mississippi State Georgia	QB	Josh Allen (4)	Kentucky	LB	Justin Skule	Vanderbilt	OT	D. J. Wonnum	South Carolina	DL	Lynn Bowden	Kentucky	KR	Dylan Wonnum	South Carolina	OL
Week 10 (Nov. 4)	Drew Lock D'Andre Swift	Missouri Georgia	QB RB	Quinnen Williams	Alabama	DT	Jonah Williams Andrew Thomas	Alabama Georgia	OT OL	Nick Coe (3)	Auburn	DL	Deebo Samuel	South Carolina	WR (KR)	Seth Williams	Auburn	WR
Week 11 (Nov. 10)	D'Andre Swift (2) Trayveon Williams	Georgia Texas A&M	RB	Darrell Taylor	Tennessee	LB	Martez Ivey	Florida	OL	Quinnen Williams (2)	Alabama	DL	Braden Mann (3)	Texas A&M	P	Daniel Parker	Missouri	TE
Week 12 (Nov. 19)	Drew Lock (2)	Missouri	QB	Johnathan Abram Josh Paschal	Mississippi State Kentucky	S LB	Deion Calhoun	Mississippi State	OG	Dayo Odeyingbo	Vanderbilt	DL	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	PK	Justin Fields	Georgia	QB
Week 13 (Nov. 25)	Kyle Shurmur Tua Tagovailoa (3)	Vanderbilt Alabama	QB	Jordan Elliot Devin White (2)	Missouri LSU	DT LB	Erik McCoy Elgton Jenkins (2)	Texas A&M Mississippi State	C	Jeffery Simmons	Mississippi State	DL	Braden Mann (4)	Texas A&M	P	C.J. Bolar	Vanderbilt	WR

SEC Individual Awards

The following individuals won the conference's annual player and coach awards:

Offensive Player of the Year: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama^[8]
Defensive Player of the Year: Josh Allen, LB, Kentucky
Coach of the Year: Mark Stoops, Kentucky^[9]
Special Teams Player of the Year: Braden Mann, P/K, Texas A&M
Freshman Player of the Year: Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama
Newcomer Player of the Year: Ke'Shawn Vaughn, RB, Vanderbilt
Jacobs Blocking Trophy

Jonah Allen, OL, Alabama

Scholar-Athlete Player of the Year: Hale Hentges, TE, Alabama

Reference:

All conference teams

See main article: 2018 All-SEC football team.

Media

National award winners

Home game attendance

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7	Total	Average	% of Capacity
Alabama	Bryant–Denny Stadium	101,821^[10]	100,495	101,821	101,471	101,821	101,821	101,681	101,821	710,931	101,562	99.75%
Arkansas	Razorback Stadium	76,212	63,342	62,355	64,974	51,438	56,691	56,251	64,135	419,186	59,884	81.97%
Auburn	Jordan–Hare Stadium	87,451^[11]	84,806	86,787	84,188	83,792	84,589	85,945	81,129	591,236	84,462	96.58%
Florida	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium	88,548^[12]	81,164	80,651	80,021	90,283	80,017	82,696	81,467	576,299	82,328	92.98%
Georgia	Sanford Stadium	92,746^[13]	92,746	92,746	92,746	92,746	92,746	92,746	92,746	649,222	92,746	100%
Kentucky	Kroger Field	61,000^[14]	49,138	48,217	60,037	63,081	54,269	63,543	47,535	385,820	55,117	90.36
LSU	Tiger Stadium	102,321^[15]	96,883	102,321	100,224	102,321	101,340	102,321	100,323	705,733	100,819	98.53%
Mississippi State	Davis Wade Stadium	61,337^[16]	54,289	56,505	61,406	60,635	57,085	58,709	57,772	406,401	58,057	94.65%
Missouri	Faurot Field	60,168^[17]	44,019	50,820	58,284	52,917	53,397	48,342	52,482	360,261	51,466	85.54%
Ole Miss	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium	64,038^[18]	53,339	62,919	50,417	52,875	56,885	56,798	56,561	389,794	55,685	86.96%
South Carolina	Williams–Brice Stadium	80,250^[19]	75,126	83,140	73,393	76,871	80,614	72,832	53,420	515,396	73,628	91.75%
Tennessee	Neyland Stadium	102,455^[20]	96,464	87,074	100,027	97,087	86,753	95,258	88,224	650,887	92,984	90.76%
Texas A&M	Kyle Field	102,512^[21]	95,855	104,794	96,727	99,829	102,618	97,584	101,501	698,908	99,844	97.40%
Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt Stadium	40,550^[22]	25,348	25,676	26,078	27,340	31,118	24,866	35,887	196,313	28,045	69.16%

Game played at Arkansas' secondary home stadium War Memorial Stadium, capacity: 54,120.^[23]

Reference:^[24]

Notes and References

Web site: SEC Releases 2018 Football Schedule . SEC.com . September 20, 2017 . September 20, 2017.
Web site: Football Class Rankings - ESPN . . 2015-12-04.
Web site: Yahoo Sports: Rivals.com 2018 Team Recruiting Rankings . Sports.yahoo.com . 2015-12-04.
Web site: Scout.com College Football Team Recruiting Rankings. 4 February 2016. Scout.
Web site: 2018 Football Recruiting Team Rankings . 247sports.com . 2015-12-04.
Web site: 2018 PRESEASON MEDIA DAYS ALL-SEC TEAM . seccountry.com. Connor Riely. July 14, 2017. July 17, 2017.
Web site: Akron–Nebraska Football Game Cancelled. Akron Athletics. September 1, 2018. September 2, 2018.
Web site: 2018-12-05 . Tagovailoa, Allen win coaches SEC player of year awards . 2024-11-24 . ESPN.com. Associated Press.
Web site: Marcum . Jason . SEC coaches name Stoops Coach of the Year, Allen Defensive Player of the Year . A Sea Of Blue . 2018-12-05 . 2024-11-24.
Web site: Bryant–Denny Stadium. RollTide.com. March 28, 2016.
Web site: No place like home. Rivals.com. March 28, 2016.
Web site: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. GatorZone.com. March 28, 2016.
Web site: Sanford Stadium. GeorgiaDogs.com. March 28, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160112154918/http://www.georgiadogs.com/facilities/sanford-stadium.html. January 12, 2016. dead.
Web site: Kroger Field . Kentucky Wildcats . August 7, 2017 . August 18, 2017.
News: LSU Tiger Stadium expansion gets OK from Bond Commission. https://web.archive.org/web/20120720200120/http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/07/lsu_stadium_expansion_gets_ok.html. dead. July 20, 2012. March 30, 2016. The Times-Picayune. Associated Press. Advance Publications. July 19, 2012. Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Web site: Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field Expansion and Renovation . HailState.com . March 28, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150921213659/http://www.hailstate.com/fls/16800/pdf/fb_dwsexpfacts.pdf . September 21, 2015 .
News: Tai. Tim. Public gets sneak peek of Memorial Stadium renovations. March 28, 2016. Columbia Missourian. Missourian Publishing Association. August 28, 2014. Columbia, Missouri.
Web site: Ole Miss Releases Vaught-Hemingway Expansion Plans. March 28, 2016.
Web site: WILLIAMS-BRICE STADIUM. gamecocksonline.com. March 28, 2016.
Web site: Neyland Stadium. UTsports.com. March 28, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20150905052905/http://www.utsports.com/facilities/neyland/. September 5, 2015. dead.
Web site: Top officials reveal Kyle Field renovation progress. TexAGs.com. March 28, 2016.
Web site: VANDERBILT STADIUM. vucommodores.com. March 28, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160331210047/http://www.vucommodores.com/facilities/vand-stadium.html. March 31, 2016. dead.
Web site: Stadium History. wmstadium.com. March 28, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20170412222849/http://www.wmstadium.com/stadium-info/stadium-history. 2017-04-12. dead.
Web site: 2017 NCAA FBS Stats. NCAA National Rankings. NCAA.