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 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 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, resulting in the season beginning September 26 and ending with the 2020 SEC Championship Game on December 19.
Preseason
Recruiting classes
SEC media days The 2020 SEC Media days were scheduled to take place at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia in July 2020. The event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Head coaches Four Coaches were fired after the 2019 season.
Arkansas Head Coach Chad Morris was fired after almost two seasons at the school on November 10, 2019. Barry Lunney Jr. 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 on December 7, 2019.
On November 30, 2019, Missouri Head Coach Barry Odom was fired and Replaced by Appalachian State Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz on December 8, 2019.
On December 1, 2019, Ole Miss Coach Matt Luke was fired and replaced by former FAU Head Coach Lane Kiffin.
On December 7, 2019, Mississippi State Head Coach Joe Moorhead was fired. On January 3, 2020, he was replaced by former Washington State head coach Mike Leach. School Coach YearAlabama Nick Saban 14thArkansas Sam Pittman 1stAuburn Gus Malzahn 8thFlorida Dan Mullen 3rdGeorgia Kirby Smart 5thKentucky Mark Stoops 8thLSU Ed Orgeron 4thMississippi State Mike Leach 1stMissouri Eliah Drinkwitz 1stOle Miss Lane Kiffin 1st South Carolina Will Muschamp 5thTennessee Jeremy Pruitt 3rd Texas A&M Jimbo Fisher 3rdVanderbilt Derek Mason 7th
Rankings
Pre Wk 1(n/a) Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 FinalAlabama AP 3 (2) 2 2 (1) 2 (3) 2 (8) 2 (2) 2 (8) 2 (10) 2 (29) 1 (59) 1 (60) 1 (62) 1 (62) 1 (62) 1 (62) 1 (62)1 (61)C 3 (4) 2 (1) 2 (1) 2 (4) 2 (14) 2 (5) 2 (8) 2 (8) 2 (17) 1 (55) 1 (56) 1 (59) 1 (59) 1 (59) 1 (60) 1 (61) 1 (60) CFP Not released 1 1 1 1 1 Arkansas AP RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Auburn AP 11 8 8т 7 13 15 RV RV 24 24 23 22 RV RV RV C 11 9 8 7 13 14 RV RV 21 21 21 19 RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released 22 Florida AP 8 5 5 3 4 10 10 10 8 6 6 6 6 6 11 10 13C 8 6 6 3 3т 9 8 9 8 5 5 5 5 6 11 10 12 CFP Not released 6 6 6 7 7 Georgia AP 4 4 4 4 3 3 (1) 4 5 5 12 13 13 11 12 10 11 7C 4 4 3т 4 3т 3 4 5 5 11 11 10 10 10 9 9 7 CFP Not released 9 8 9 8 9 Kentucky AP RV 23т 23 RV RV C RV 20 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released LSU AP 6 (1) 6 (1) 6 (1) 20 17 RV C 5 5 (3) 5 (1) 17 16 RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Mississippi State AP RV RV RV 16 RV C RV RV RV 14 RV RV CFP Not released Missouri AP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released 25 Ole Miss AP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released South Carolina AP RV C RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Tennessee AP 25 15 16 21 14 18 RV C RV 17 21 20 12 17 RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Texas A&M AP 13 10 10 13 21 11 7 8 7 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4C 13 10 11 13 20 11 9 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 4 CFP Not released 5 5 5 5 5 Vanderbilt AP C CFP Not released + Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week No change in ranking from previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll т Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
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 COVID-19 pandemic. On July 10, 2020, the Pac-12 announced it was going to compete in a conference-only season, thus cancelling the non-conference games of Alabama vs. USC and Texas A&M vs. Colorado. On July 30, 2020, The SEC announced that it would play a 10-game, conference only schedule beginning on September 26 with 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. However, in light of Hurricane Delta, the game was moved to Columbia, Missouri.
Week Four
Date Bye WeekOctober 17 Florida LSU Missouri Vanderbilt
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
Date Bye WeekOctober 24 Arkansas Florida Georgia Mississippi State Texas A&M Vanderbilt
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.
Date Bye WeekOctober 31 South Carolina Tennessee
Week Seven
Date Bye WeekNovember 7 Alabama Auburn Kentucky LSU Ole Miss Missouri
Week Eight
Date Bye WeekNovember 14 Alabama Auburn Georgia LSU Mississippi State Missouri Tennessee Texas A&M
Week Nine
Date Bye WeekNovember 21 Ole Miss Texas A&M
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.Vanderbilt at Missouri Football Game Postponed 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.SEC Games of November 28 Rescheduled
Date Bye WeekNovember 28 Arkansas Tennessee
Week Eleven
Date Bye WeekDecember 5 Georgia Mississippi State Ole Miss Vanderbilt
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 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 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.LSU at Florida Football Game Postponed 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.Auburn at Mississippi State Football Game Postponed 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.Two SEC football games of November 14 postponed 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.Vanderbilt at Georgia Football Game Postponed 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
Legend SEC win SEC loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)SEC teamOpponentScoreAttendance Armed Forces Bowl December 31 Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TX ESPN 12:00 p.m. Mississippi State No. 24 Tulsa W 28–26 9,000 Citrus Bowl January 1 Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FL ABC 1:00 p.m. Auburn No. 14 Northwestern L 19–35 15,698 Gator Bowl January 2 TIAA Bank Field • Jacksonville, FL ESPN 12:00 p.m. Kentucky No. 23 NC State W 23–21 10,422 Outback Bowl January 2 Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL ABC 12:30 p.m. Ole Miss No. 11 Indiana W 26–20 11,025New Year's Six bowl games Cotton Bowl Classic December 30 AT&T Stadium • Arlington, TX ESPN 8:00 p.m. No. 7 Florida No. 6 Oklahoma L 20–55 17,323 Peach Bowl January 1 Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, GA ESPN 12:00 p.m. No. 9 Georgia No. 8 Cincinnati W 24–21 15,301 Orange Bowl January 2 Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL ESPN 8:00 p.m. No. 5 Texas A&M No. 13 North Carolina W 41–27 13,737College Football Playoff bowl games Rose Bowl (CFP Semifinal) January 1 AT&T Stadium • Arlington, TX ESPN 4:00 p.m. No. 1 Alabama No. 4 Notre Dame W 31–14 18,373 College Football Playoff National Championship January 11 Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL ESPN 8:00 p.m. No. 1 Alabama No. 3 Ohio State W 52–24 14,926
Head to head matchups