The Southeastern Conference will kick off its 92nd football campaign with its first 16-team lineup this week. All the SEC members will begin their 2024 campaigns with non-conference contests, with two games on Thursday, one on Friday, 12 on Saturday and one on Sunday. SEC Football by the Numbers looks at the 2024 season in 10 stats:
3 SEC teams have new coaches in 2024. At Alabama, Kalen DeBoer follows Nick Saban. At Mississippi State, Jeff Lebby replaces Zach Arnett. At Texas A&M, Mike Elko succeeds Jimbo Fisher. In SEC history, 76 coaches have had a better record in their first seasons than their predecessors had in their last, 64 have had a worse record and 27 have had the same record. DeBoer had a 104-12 record at Sioux Falls, Fresno State and Washington. This is the 11th time in the SEC era that Alabama has changed coaches. The new Crimson Tide coach had a better record in his first season than his predecessor had in his last season four times, a worse record five times and the same record once. Alabama had a 12-2 record in 2023. The most wins for a first-year Tide coach in the SEC era is eight by Red Drew in 1947 and Ray Perkins in 1983. Lebby comes to MSU after serving as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator and has not been a head coach. In the SEC era, eight Mississippi State coaches won more games in their first season than their predecessor did in his last, nine lost more and two had the same number of victories. The Bulldogs were 5-7 in 2023. The record for victories by a first-year MSU coach in the SEC era is eight by Ralph Sasse in 1935, Allyn McKeen in 1939 and Joe Moorhead in 2018. Elko becomes the third Texas A&M coach of the Aggies’ SEC era after posting a 16-9 record at Duke over the past two seasons. The most victories for a first-year Texas A&M coach in any era is 11 by Kevin Sumlin during the Aggies’ first SEC season in 2012.
3 Expansions of the SEC, with Oklahoma and Texas playing their first football seasons in the conference in 2024. The SEC added Arkansas and South Carolina for the 1992 football season and Missouri and Texas A&M for the 2012 football season. The SEC also had had three contractions, with 10 original members remaining from the first football season in 1933 after the 13 Southern Conference members west and south of the Appalachian Mountains formed the new league. The Southern Conference had 23 members in 1932 and was left with Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, VMI and Washington & Lee for 1933. Sewanee played its final SEC football season in 1939, Georgia Tech left the league after the 1963 football season and Tulane departed the SEC after the 1965 football season.
3 Consecutive losing seasons have been posted by both Auburn and Florida. The previous time the Tigers had three or more losing seasons in a row came from 1946 through 1950, when Auburn had five straight. The previous time the Gators had three losing seasons in a row came from 1945 through 1947. Florida’s most recent streak of four losing seasons came from 1935 through 1938.
5 SEC teams play three of the nine SEC teams ranked in The Associated Press preseason poll and five SEC teams play six of the nine SEC teams ranked in the preseason poll during 2024. Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M have three of the ranked rivals among their eight SEC games, with Texas A&M playing all three of its contests at home. Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi State, Oklahoma and South Carolina have six of the ranked rivals among their eight SEC games. Alabama, Auburn and Vanderbilt play five of the ranked teams apiece, and Georgia, Kentucky and LSU play four of the ranked teams each. The SEC teams in the preseason top 25 are Georgia at No. 1, Texas at No. 4, Alabama at No. 5, Ole Miss at No. 6, Missouri at No. 11, LSU at No. 13, Tennessee at No. 15, Oklahoma at No. 16 and Texas A&M at No. 20.
6 Of the 24 position players selected by the league’s coaches for the All-SEC team in 2023 are back for the 2024 season. The returning all-conference players are Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III, LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell, Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson, Tennessee defensive end James Pearce Jr. and Georgia guard Tate Ratledge and safety Malaki Starks.
