Here are some notes about the #1 Florida Gators and the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide heading into Saturday’s SEC Football Championship, courtesy of the SEC offices. Be sure to sign-up for e-mail alerts, so you never miss a post on Alabama or the SEC, by selecting subscribe on my main page.
SEC FOOTBALL SUNDAY NOTES PACKAGE (Nov. 29, 2009)
* - The 2009 SEC Football Championship Game will feature Eastern Division Champion Florida (12-0, 8-0 SEC) against Western Division Champion Alabama (12-0, 8-0 SEC). The Crimson Tide will be the designated home team.
* - Florida comes into the game ranked 1st in the AP, USA Today and Harris Interactive Polls while Alabama is 2nd in the AP and 3rd in the USA Today and Harris Interactive Polls. The BCS rankings have not been released as of press time.
* - CBS Sports will carry the action with kickoff slated for 4:10 p.m. ET from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta (71,500).
* - The SEC finishes the regular season with a 42-6 non-conference record (87.5 percentage). It is the most non-conference wins in a season by the SEC (previous high: 41 in 2006) and the highest winning percentage for the SEC since 1997 (32-4, 88.9 percent).
* - The SEC has three teams ranked in the major polls. LSU is the third SEC team ranked this week. The Tigers are 15th in the AP, 14th in the USA Today and Harris Interactive polls. This week, six SEC teams received points and were not in the top 25 – Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Miss. State, South Carolina and Tennessee.
* - The two starting quarterbacks in the SEC Championship Game area combined 46-5 (.902). Alabama’s Greg McElroy is 12-0 while Florida’s Tim Tebow is 34-5 (.872), which is fourth highest winning percentage all-time for starting quarterbacks in multiple years.
* - In 85 home football games this season, SEC stadiums were filled to 98.02 percent capacity. Of the 85 games, 50 were sellouts. A total of 6,485,224 witnessed first-hand SEC football in league stadiums this year.
* - Florida QB Tim Tebow became the SEC career total offensive yardage leader against Florida State. Tebow has 11,389 career yards, surpassing Gator Chris Leak (11,350 from 2003-06).
* - Alabama RS/DB Javier Arenas became the SEC career punt return yardage leader against Auburn. Arenas has 1,725 career yards, surpassing Vanderbilt’s Lee Nalley (1,695 from 1947-49).
* - Red Zone Defense: Florida opponents are 7-of-23 for touchdowns while Alabama opponents are 8-of-20 for scores. The rest of SEC averages 19-of-38 for TDs.
* - Florida P Chas Henry leads the SEC with 44.83 percent of his punts inside-the-20 yard line (13 of 29), while Alabama P P.J. Fitzgerald is second at 34.04 percent (16 of 47).
* - SEC teams average 28.6 points per game in 2009, which is a three points per game increase over last year. The national average is 27.1 and the SEC is second in the nation behind the Big 12, averaging 28.9 points per game. SEC defenses allow just 20.7 points per game, which is 0.2 points per game higher than last year.
* - SEC defenses lead the nation in yards per offensive attempt in 2009. Opponents average 4.95 yards per play against SEC defenses in 2009. That equates to 3.84 per run play and 6.35 per pass play. The pass play average leads the nation while the run play average is fourth in the nation (3.55 – Big 12 leads).
* - This season, 45.8 percent of SEC intra-conference games were decided by 10 points or less (22 of 48 games). The 13.23 average scoring margin in intra-conference games is second in the nation behind the Big Ten (12.36 points per game).
* - Alabama and Florida defenses are 1-2 in percentage of 3-downs-and-out this season. Alabama has held opponents to 3-downs-and-out 68 of 149 times (45.64) while Florida has held opponents 45.39 percent of the time (64 of 141).
* - Opponents have scored just 12 points off of Alabama turnovers this season, which is second in the league behind LSU’s 11 points. Opponents have scored 37 points off of Florida turnovers this season, which ranks fourth in the SEC.
* - Florida leads the SEC in points per offensive drive this season (2.88) while Alabama is third (2.39). Florida leads the SEC in touchdown/drive efficiency, scoring 50 TDs on 140 offensive drives. Alabama is second behind Florida in overall/drive efficiency, scoring on 67 of 150 drives (40 TDs & 27 FGs / 44.7 percent). Florida has scored on 49.3 percent of its offensive drives this season (69 of 140 / 50 TDs & 19 FGs).
* - Alabama and Florida have combined to allow just 22 offensive TDs this season, which is less than seven other SEC teams. Alabama has allowed 8 passing and 5 rushing TDs this season while Florida has allowed 6 passing and 3 rushing TDs this season.
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