The 2020 Southeastern Conference football season was the 88th season of SEC football taking place during the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football games in the United States. Organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision ...

. The season was scheduled to begin on September 3, 2020 and end with the 2020 SEC Championship Game on December 5, 2020. The SEC is a Power Five conference under the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

. The entire schedule was originally released on August 7, 2019. However, the 2020 season had to be shortened due to complications from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, resulting in the season beginning September 26 and ending with the 2020 SEC Championship Game on December 19.

Previous season

To conclude the

2019 Southeastern Conference football season The 2019 Southeastern Conference football season represented the 87th season of SEC football taking place during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 29, 2019 and ended with the 2019 SEC Championship Game on De ...

, the LSU Tigers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 37–10 in the

2019 SEC Championship Game The 2019 SEC Championship Game was a college football game played on Saturday, December 7, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game determined the 2019 champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the East ...

, held in Atlanta.

Preseason

Recruiting classes

SEC media days

The 2020 SEC Media days were scheduled to take place at the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in July 2020. The event was canceled due to the

Head coaches

Four Coaches were fired after the 2019 season. Arkansas Head Coach

Chad Morris Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an American football coach. He is currently an offensive analyst at South Florida. Morris served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University ...

was fired after almost two seasons at the school on November 10, 2019.

Barry Lunney Jr. Barry Lunney Jr. (born September 11, 1974) is an American football coach. He is the offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois. Lunney served as the interim head football coach at the University of Arkansas for the final two games of the ...

was named interim head coach for the final two games of the season and was replaced by Georgia Offensive Line Coach and associate Head Coach

Sam Pittman Sam Pittman (born November 28, 1961) is an American football coach who is the head football coach at the University of Arkansas. Prior to being hired at Arkansas, he was the associate head coach and offensive line coach at the University of Georg ...

on December 7, 2019. On November 30, 2019, Missouri Head Coach

Barry Odom Barry Stephen Odom (born November 26, 1976) is an American football coach and currently the head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Odom spent 15 years with the Missouri Tigers program as a player, recruiter, assistant coach, and head ...

was fired and Replaced by

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

Head Coach

Eliah Drinkwitz Eliah Drinkwitz (born April 12, 1983) is an American football coach who is the head coach at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He previously served as the head coach at Appalachian State University in 2019 and as an assistant co ...

on December 8, 2019. On December 1, 2019, Ole Miss Coach Matt Luke was fired and replaced by former FAU Head Coach

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

. On December 7, 2019, Mississippi State Head Coach

Joe Moorhead Joe Moorhead (born November 2, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at the University of Akron. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon from 2020 to 2021, and the head coach at ...

was fired. On January 3, 2020, he was replaced by former

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

head coach Mike Leach.

Rankings

Schedule

Regular season

The Schedule was released on August 7, 2019. The season was scheduled to begin on September 3, 2020 and end on December 5, 2020. The SEC Championship Game was scheduled for December 12, 2020. The regular-season schedule was severely impacted by the

. On July 10, 2020, the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

announced it was going to compete in a conference-only season, thus cancelling the non-conference games of Alabama vs.

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and Texas A&M vs.

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. On July 30, 2020, The SEC announced that it would play a 10-game, conference only schedule beginning on September 26, and the SEC Championship game to be played on December 19. The revised 2020 SEC schedule was released on August 17, 2020

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

:The game between LSU and Missouri was originally scheduled to take place in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

. However, in light of

Hurricane Delta Hurricane Delta was the record-tying fourth named storm of 2020 to make landfall in Louisiana, as well as the record-breaking tenth named storm to strike the United States in that year. The twenty-sixth tropical cyclone, twenty-fifth named ...

, the game was moved to

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

Week Four

Week Five

:The game between Kentucky and Missouri was originally scheduled to take place on October 31. However, schedule adjustments stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak in the Florida program caused it to be rescheduled for October 24.SEC Announces Football Schedule Changes
/ref>

Week Six

:The games between Georgia and Kentucky and Missouri and Florida were originally scheduled to take place on October 24. However, schedule adjustments stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak in the Florida program caused it to be rescheduled for October 31.

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

:The game between Vanderbilt and Missouri was originally scheduled to take place on October 17. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Vanderbilt program, the game was rescheduled for December 12. The game was again rescheduled for November 28 due to scheduling adjustments stemming from positive tests and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Arkansas football program. The Arkansas–Missouri and Tennessee–Vanderbilt games originally scheduled for November 28 were postponed.

Week Eleven

:The game between Arkansas and Missouri was originally scheduled to take place on November 28. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Arkansas program, the game was rescheduled for December 5.SEC Announces Revised Football Schedule for December 5
/ref> :The game between Alabama and LSU was originally scheduled to take place on November 14. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the LSU program, the game was rescheduled for December 5.

Week Twelve

:The game between Alabama and Arkansas was originally scheduled to take place on December 5. However, schedule adjustments stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak in the LSU program caused it to be rescheduled for December 12.SEC Announces Football Schedule for December 12 and 19
/ref> :The game between Georgia and Missouri was originally scheduled to take place on November 14. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Missouri program, the game was rescheduled for December 12. :The game between Tennessee and Vanderbilt was originally scheduled to take place on November 28. However, schedule adjustments stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak in the Arkansas program caused it to be rescheduled for December 12. :The game between LSU and Florida was originally scheduled to take place on October 17. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Florida program, the game was rescheduled for December 12. :The game between Auburn and Mississippi State was originally scheduled to take place on November 14. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Mississippi State program, the game was rescheduled for December 12. :The game between Ole Miss and Texas A&M was originally scheduled to take place on November 21. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Texas A&M program, the game was rescheduled for December 12. On December 7, the game was again postponed, this time due to a combination of positive tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Ole Miss program. Because both teams had games already scheduled for December 19, the game was declared a no-contest.

Week Thirteen

:The game between Texas A&M and Tennessee was originally scheduled to take place on November 14. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Texas A&M program, the game was rescheduled for December 12. The game was again rescheduled for December 19 due to scheduling adjustments stemming from multiple game postponements. :The game between Ole Miss and LSU was originally scheduled to take place on December 5. However, schedule adjustments stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak in the LSU program caused it to be rescheduled for December 19. :The game between Missouri and Mississippi State was originally scheduled to take place on December 5. However, schedule adjustments stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak in the Arkansas program caused it to be rescheduled for December 19. :The game between Vanderbilt and Georgia was originally scheduled to take place on December 5. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to Vanderbilt's football squad size and position availability falling below roster minimum requirements, the game was rescheduled for December 19. On December 14, the game was declared a no-contest, again due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to Vanderbilt's football squad size and position availability falling below roster minimum requirements.

Championship game

Postseason

Bowl Games

SEC records vs Other Conferences

2019–2020 records against non-conference foes:

SEC vs Power Five Matchups

SEC vs Group of Five Matchups

SEC vs FBS Independents matchups

''(Excluding BYU)''

SEC vs FCS matchups

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

SEC Individual awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Southeastern Conference football coaches at the end of the season

All-conference teams

All-Americans

The 2020 College Football All-America Teams are composed of the following

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

first teams chosen by the following selector organizations:

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP),

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

(FWAA),

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA),

Walter Camp Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

(WCFF), ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' (''TSN''), ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' (''SI''), ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' (USAT)

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

(CBS),

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

(FOX) ''

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis include ...

'' (''CFN''),

Bleacher Report Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...

(BR),

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

Phil Steele Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football. He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media. His company, Phil Steele Publications, prod ...

(PS),

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...

(SB),

Athlon Sports Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville's Spencer Hays was its majority stockholder. It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and now ...

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

(PFF) and

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. Bef ...

(Yahoo!). Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of

Division I-FBS NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. Football consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.2018 Consensus All-America Team
/ref>

All-Academic

National award winners

Landon Dickerson *

Rimington Trophy The Dave Rimington Trophy is awarded to the player considered to be the best American football center in college football. Dave Rimington was a center who played at the University of Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. A member of the National College F ...

Thomas Fletcher *

Patrick Mannelly Award The Patrick Mannelly Award is an award given annually in the United States to the best college football long snapper. The award is named after Duke Blue Devils alum and former Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American footbal ...

Najee Harris *

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football League ...

Mac Jones *

Davey O'Brien Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National Co ...

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is given annually in the United States to the nation's top upperclassmen quarterback in college football. Candidates are judged on accomplishments on the field as well as on their character, scholastic achievemen ...

Manning Award The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that incl ...

Alex Leatherwood *

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman in the United States as adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named an All-Ame ...

Kyle Pitts *

John Mackey Award The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, ac ...

DeVonta Smith * AP Player of the Year *

Fred Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best all ...

Paul Hornung Award The Paul Hornung Award is a college football award that was created in January 2010 by the Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) with the support of Paul Hornung, a native and resident of Louisville, Kentucky and member of the College Football Hall o ...

* ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year *

Walter Camp Award The Walter Camp Player of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football player of the year, as decided by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I FBS head coaches and sports information directo ...

Home game attendance

NFL draft

A total of 65 SEC players were drafted in the 2021 NFL Draft, the most of any conference that year. The following list includes all SEC players drafted in the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

References

{{2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox