The 2011 Southeastern Conference football season began on Thursday, September 1, 2011 with

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

taking on Western Kentucky on

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. The season concluded on January 9, 2012 as the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

shut out LSU Tigers, 21–0 in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game at the

Mercedes-Benz Superdome Caesars Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and formerly Mercedes-Benz Superdome), commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium in the southern United States, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home st ...

in New Orleans to claim their 14th national championship in school history. It was also the final season for the SEC before

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

and

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joined the conference from the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

the following season.

Preseason

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and former college football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green F ...

retired in early December citing his health concerns and wanting to be around his family more. Meyer then joined

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as an analyst for its college football coverage during the 2011 season. In his place Florida hired

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as the new head coach. Muschamp elected to bring in former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis as his offensive coordinator. Vanderbilt interim head coach Robbie Caldwell had a tough year in 2010 with injuries and tough schedule, going 2–10. The school decided to search for a new coach to replace former head coach Bobby Johnson, who retired unexpectedly in July 2010. Vanderbilt hired

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

offensive coordinator James Franklin, and this is Franklin's first head coaching job.

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

decided to part ways with offensive coordinator Gary Crowton because of a lack of offensive production the previous seasons. In his place LSU hired former

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head coach Steve Kragthorpe.

added new schemes to its defense by adding former

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

head coach Rick Minter as its co-defensive coordinator alongside Steve Brown. 2011 Pre-season Coaches All-SEC

Rankings

Regular season

All times Eastern time. Rankings reflect that of the AP poll for that week until week eight when the BCS rankings will be used.

Week One

Players of the week:

Week Two

Players of the week:

Week Three

Players of the week:

Week Four

Players of the week:

Week Five

Players of the week:

Week Six

Players of the week:

Week Seven

Players of the week:

Week Eight

Players of the week:

Week Nine

Players of the week:

Week Ten

Players of the week:

Week Eleven

Players of the week:

Week Twelve

Players of the week:

Week Thirteen

Players of the week:

Week Fourteen/SEC Championship

SEC vs. AQ conference and BCS-buster opponents

''NOTE:. Games with a * next to the home team represent a neutral site game''

Home attendance

Games played at Arkansas' secondary home stadium War Memorial Stadium, capacity: 54,120. Attendance was 84,524 for the Georgia vs. Florida game in Jacksonville

Bowl games

Per BCS selection rules, no more than two teams from a conference may be selected, regardless of whether they are automatic qualifiers or at-large selections, unless two non-champions from the same conference are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS Standings. As the SEC champion Louisiana State was the top-ranked team in the BCS poll, the Sugar Bowl was prohibited from selecting an SEC representative for the 2011–12 season.

Post-season awards and honors

All-SEC

The following players were named by the AP All-SEC team:

All-Americans

Running back * Trent Richardson,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

(AFCA-Coaches) Defensive end * Melvin Ingram,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

(AFCA-Coaches) Tight end * Orson Charles,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

(AFCA-Coaches) Linebacker * Dont'a Hightower,

(AFCA-Coaches) * Jarvis Jones,

(AFCA-Coaches) Offensive guard * Barrett Jones,

(AFCA-Coaches) Secondary * Mark Barron,

(AFCA-Coaches) * Morris Claiborne,

(AFCA-Coaches) * DeQuan Menzie,

(AFCA-Coaches)

National award winners

The following SEC players listed below have been named to the national award semifinalist and finalist lists.

References

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