National Roundup
(From the NFF and other sources)
· National Football Champions: Florida (NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision); Richmond (NCAA Football Championship Subdivision); Minnesota-Duluth (NCAA Division II); Mount Union (NCAA Division III); University of Sioux Falls (NAIA)
· The Florida-Oklahoma national championship game attracted 26.8 million viewers to Fox Sports, and the four BCS bowls drew an average of more than 16 million viewers (the highest ratings in the three years Fox has televised the games).
· Viewership for the 23 bowls televised by ESPN and ESPN2 was up more than 8% from last season’s figures (if you wonder why ESPN wanted the BCS games there you go).
· Conference records in bowls (sorted by alpha): ACC (4-6); Big 12 (4-3); Big East (4-2); Big Ten (1-6); C-USA (4-2); MAC (0-5); Mountain West (3-2); PAC 10 (5-0); SEC (6-2); Sun Belt (1-1); WAC (1-4); Independents (1-1).
· 2010 BCS Schedule (2009 season): Rose Bowl ABC (Jan. 1); Sugar FOX (Jan. 1); Fiesta FOX (Jan. 4); Orange FOX (Jan. 5); BCS Title Game FOX (Pasadena Jan. 7).
SEC Roundup
(From the SEC and other sources)
· The SEC paced the nation in attendance by drawing an overall total of 6.4 million fans in 2008. In 83 home dates, the SEC averaged 76,832 fans per game (the highest average in NCAA history). SEC games averaged 98.41% capacity (highest since 1999).
· Florida won the BCS national championship for the second time in three seasons by defeating Oklahoma 24-14 on Jan. 8 in Miami. The title gives the SEC its third consecutive national championship, its fifth title in the eleven years of the BCS and its seventh crown since 1992 (when the league expanded to twelve teams and added a conference championship game).
· Heading into 2009, the SEC is the only conference to have four coaches who have won a national championship as a head coach (Urban Meyer 2006 and 2008 at Florida; Les Miles 2007 at LSU; Nick Saban 2003 at LSU; Steve Spurrier in 1996 at Florida). Last year the league had five such coaches (including Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee).
· For much of the season, the common perception lingered that the SEC was down in 2008, but in the final polls the league placed four teams (Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss) in the top 15 of the final AP and USA Today coaches polls (the most of any conference).
· The conference finished the 2008-09 bowl season with a mark of 6-2, making the SEC 19-7 in the past three seasons (no other conference has won more than 12 bowl games in that span).
· The SEC posted a 43-13 non-conference mark in 2008, a percentage of .767 – tops in the nation among NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision teams (FBS). That is the third straight season the SEC topped that category.
· A fact I found interesting was that every SEC team has reached the 7-win mark at least once in the past two seasons.
· The conference will welcome three new coaches in 2009: Gene Chizik at Auburn; Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, Dan Mullen at Mississippi State.
