2009 A year unlike any other for the SEC

There's going to be a new change in the wind this year once teams kick off their football season in the SEC. For the first time in four years, yes it was only four years, Tim Tebow will not be wearing the Blue and Orange on a Saturday. For the first time in a decade the University of Alabama comes in as defending conference champion. 2009 brought back the Gus Malzahn spread for all of us to enjoy. We had the retirement of Urban Meyer end just as quickly as it came. 2009 season came and went just as fast as Lane Kiffins stay in Knoxville. 2010 season is quickly approaching and with a blink of an eye it will be here, but before you blink lets take a stroll down memory lane and review the 2009 season and what it had to offer.

Week 1- Game of the Week: Alabama vs Virginia Tech (Georgia Dome)- For the second straight year Alabama opened up the season against the preseason favorite to win the ACC. The Tide once again showed who the superior conference was and dominated Virginia Tech from kick-off til the scoreboard had three zeroes on it. Alabama dismantled Virginia Tech and won 34-24
     Other Game of Notes: LSU squeaks past Washington 31-23, Georgia lost its bite against Oklahoma State and lost 24-10.

Week 2-Game of the Week: Georgia vs South Carolina. Between the Hedges we go for this southern rivarly. If a football game could include everything this one did as it had blocked kicks to kickoff returned for touchdowns to safeties, but it all came down to one play. Rennie Curran blocks a pass from Stephen Garcia to give Georgia the win over South Carolina 41-37.
    Other Games of Note: Tennessee loses its 3rd straight to a Pac-10 opponent as UCLA beat the Vols 19-15.

Week 3- Game of the Week: Florida vs Tennessee. Lane Kiffin started to send shockwaves around the league by saying, at his press conference on accepting the head coaching job at Tennessee, "Get ready to sing rocky top after we beat Florida in Gainesville this year". Everyone was predicting Florida to put up over half a hundred over the Vols but that was not the case. Florida's offense managed the pace of the game but Tennessee's defense kept it close as The Gators beat the Volunteers by ten, 23-13.
     Other Games of Note: Auburn picks off West Virginia five times and wins 41-30. Georgia and Arkansas played a WAC style game with the Bulldogs beating the Hogs, 52-41.

Week 4- Game of the Week: LSU vs Mississippi State. A close game between two power running football teams came down to a goal-line stand by the LSU defense. Mississippi State has 1st and goal on its own 2 yard line. Four plays later LSU held Mississippi State at the 2 yard line to preserve a 4 point victory. LSU wins 30-26.
     Other Games of Note: Georgia wins another nail biter, this time against Pac-10 foe Arizona State, 20-17. South Carolina upsets 4th ranked Ole Miss 16-10.

Week 5- Game of the Week: LSU vs Georgia. Another close old-fashion SEC game between two major programs only managed two field goals in the first 57 minutes of play. Then the two teams scored in a flurry as three touchdowns were accumulated but Charles Scotts touchdown run with forty-six seconds left proved to be the difference in the game. LSU beats Georgia 20-13.
      Other Games of Note: Auburn squeaked past Tennessee 26-22.

Week 6- Game of the Week: Florida vs LSU. After Tebow receieved a concussion in the Kentucky game that left him on the ground for a while, eyes were watching to see if Tebow would be him old-self and that came in the second quarter on a eight yard run when he ran over an LSU defender. Both defenses were stellar but Florida's defense made a couple of more plays against the LSU offense. Florida beats LSU 13-3.
    Other Games of Note: South Carolina wins by 2 over Kentucky, 28-26. Mississippi State comes up short against 12th ranked Houston 31-24.

Week 7- Game of the Week: Alabama vs South Carolina. Mark Ingram led Alabama with over 250 yards of total offense and put himself in the Heisman race. South Carolina gave Alabama all they wanted in Tuscaloosa but came up short 20-6.
    Other Games of Note: Kentucky beats Auburn in Auburn for the first time since the 1960's, 21-14. Florida hangs on against Arkansas 23-20.

Week 8- Game of the Week: Alabama vs Tennessee. This game will always will be known as the block heard around the state of Alabama. In a great defensive game and with Alabama already blocking a kick earlier in the game, Tennessee found itself in position to ruin Alabama's hopes of an undefeated season. With less than ten seconds left Daniel Lincoln kick is blocked by Mount Cody to give Alabama a 12-10 victory.
    Other Games of Note: South Carolina hangs on against Vanderbilt 14-10. Teacher beats the pupil as Florida beat Mississippi State 29-19.

Week 9- Game of the Week: Mississippi State vs Kentucky. Shockingly this game turned out to be the best game of the weekend as Anthony Dixon piled up over 250 rushing yards along with two scores to lead the Bulldogs to a seven point win over the Wildcats, 31-24.
    Other Games of Note: Florida blast Georgia 41-17, Auburn rocks Ole Miss 33-20.

Week 10- Game of the Week: LSU vs Alabama. This is the third edition of Saban Bowl and it came to Tuscaloosa. The game was evenly matched all through-out but a wide-receiver screen to Julio Jones sealed the deal for Alabama. Julio took the pass from McElroy and blistered down the sideline run for a seventy-three yard touchdown that led Alabama to a 24-15 victory over LSU.
    Other Game of Note: Florida stays undefeated against Vanderbilt 27-3.

Week 11- Game of the Week: Auburn vs Georgia. The Deep South's Oldest rivalry wrote another stellar chapter in its storied book. Auburn jumped out on Georgia early but in the 4th quarterback Georgia paved the way for Caleb King to score twice and give Georgia the victory 31-24.
   Other Games of Note: Florida keeps undefeated season alive by beating South Carolina 24-14. Kentucky becomes bowl eligible against Vanderbilt 24-13.

Week 12- Game of the Week: LSU vs Ole Miss. This game will always been known where did the seconds go? Under a minute to go LSU had the ball and driving down the field, while driving they ran off seventeen seconds because they could not get the play in. They threw the ball down the field and ended up on the one yard line as time expired and thus a controversy struck and made everybody wonder what happen to the seventeen seconds. Ole Miss won 25-23.
    Other Games of Note: Kentucky beats Georgia 34-27 in Athens. Tennessee became bowl eligible by defeating Vanderbilt 31-16.

Week 13- Game of the Week: Iron Bowl, Alabama vs Auburn. "The Drive" Game is what this year's version of the Iron Bowl will always be known as. After Auburn started off the game with backyard football plays things settled down and at half Alabama was able to even things up at 14 a piece. Alabama scored two field goals to Auburn's one touchdown and found themselves down by one heading into the fourth quarter. With 1:24 left in the game Greg McElroy found Roy Upchurch coming out of the backfield for a 4 yard touchdown pass to win the game 26-21 for Alabama.
   Other Games of Note: LSU gets past Arkansas 33-30. Georgia runs wild on Georgia Tech and upsets the Yellow Jackets 30-21.

Week 14- Game of the Week: Alabama vs Florida, SEC Championship. One vs two the sequel. One word can describe this game: Domination. After losing last years game, Alabama came out with a furry from the opening kick and trounced the Gators 32-13 and got a one-way ticket to Pasadena. Mark Ingram led the Crimson Tide with 113 yards and 3 touchdowns. Greg McElroy would get the SEC Championship game MVP award.

Bowl Season- The SEC had a very successful bowl season as the SEC went 6-4. The wins include the National Championship and Sugar Bowl.

Liberty Bowl- Arkansas 20 East Carolina 17
Papa Johns.com Bowl- South Carolina 7 Connecticut 20
Music City Bowl- Kentucky 13 Clemson 21
Chick-fil-a Bowl- Virginia Tech 37 Tennessee 14
Capital One Bowl- LSU 17 Penn State 19
Outback Bowl- Auburn 38 Northwestern 35
Independence Bowl- Georgia 44 Texas A&M 20
Cotton Bowl- Ole Miss 21 Oklahoma State 7
Sugar Bowl- Florida 51 Cincinnati 24

BCS National Championship Game- Alabama 37 Texas 21

SEC Standings

EAST
Florida              8-0 13-1
Georgia            4-4 8-5
Tennessee         4-4 7-6
South Carolina  3-5 7-6
Kentucky          3-5 7-6
Vanderbilt         0-8 2-10

West
Alabama    8-0 14-0
LSU          5-3  9-4
Ole Miss   4-4  9-4
Auburn     3-5  8-5
Arkansas  3-5  8-5
Miss St.    3-5  5-7

All-SEC First Team Selections

Offense-
QB- Tim Tebow FLA
RB- Mark Ingram ALA
RB- Anthony Dixon MSU
WR- AJ Green UGA
WR- Shay Hodge MISS
TE- Aaron Hernandez FLA
OL- Ciron Black LSU
OL- Mike Johnson ALA
OL- Maurice Pouncey FLA
OL- Maurkice Pouncey FLA
OL- John Jerry MISS

Defense-
DL- Terrance Cody ALA
DL- Carlos Dunlap FLA
DL- Dan Williams TENN
DL- Antonio Coleman AUB
LB- Rolando McClain ALA
LB- Rennis Curran UGA
LB- Eric Norwood USC
                                                      CB- Javier Arenas ALA
                                                      CB- Joe Haden FLA
                                                      FS- Mark Barron ALA
                                                      SS- Eric Berry TENN
Specialist
P- Drew Butler UGA
K- Leigh Tiffin ALA