ALABAMA (12-0, 8-0 SEC) VS. FLORIDA (12-0, 8-0 SEC)SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2009 • 3 P.M. CST • CBS GEORGIA DOME (71,500) • ATLANTA, GA.The No. 2/3 University of Alabama football team makes its second straight trip to the Southeastern Conference Championship Game to face the top-ranked Florida Gators on Saturday, December 5, 2009. It will be the 36th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1904. The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. (CST) kickoff at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., and will be televised by CBS with Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson and Tracy Wolfson calling the action. Eli Gold, Phil Savage and Barry Krauss will have the radio call on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban (Kent State, 1973) is in his third season with the Crimson Tide. He was named the school's 27th head coach on January 3, 2007. Saban has compiled a 122-50-1 (.708) record as a collegiate head coach with a 31-8 (.795) mark at Alabama that includes a 12-0 record this year with a perfect 8-0 mark in the SEC. Saban has now won 10 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his career. He captured his 100th career win and coached his 150th game as a collegiate head coach during the 2008 campaign. In 2003, Saban led LSU to a 13-1 record and the BCS National Championship. Overall, Saban has coached three conference championship teams (1990 Mid-American, 2001 SEC and 2003 SEC) and nine of his 12 teams have played in post-season bowl games with Alabama already bowl eligible this season. Saban is one of two (Bob Stoops) current Football Bowl Subdivision coaches to coach for at least 10 years and not suffer a losing season.
The Crimson Tide is ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, No. 2 in the BCS standings, No. 3 in the Harris Poll and No. 3 in the USA Today Coaches' poll this week following a 26-21 win at Auburn. Alabama has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the AP poll and No. 2 in the coaches' poll this season. UA garnered seven first-place votes in the AP poll and three in the coaches' poll this week. Alabama was ranked fifth in both the AP and USA Today Coaches' preseason polls, the highest preseason ranking for the Tide since the 2000 season when Alabama opened at No. 3.
Alabama is ranked second in this week's Bowl Championship Series standings released on Sunday, November 29. The Crimson Tide (.9513) trails No. 1 Florida (.9868) by a margin of just .0355 with Texas in third at .9282. The Tide is ranked No. 3 in the Harris Interactive poll and the USA Today Coaches poll but is tied at No. 1 with Florida in the average of all six computer rankings, while third-place Texas is fourth in the computers. TCU is fourth in the BCS with an average of 0.8689 with Cincinnati fifth (.8096).
Head coach Nick Saban's arrival in Tuscaloosa has seen his Crimson Tide vault up the national rankings. That success in such a short period of time has quickly impacted the Tide's record book. Saban produced the largest win increase from year one to year two in school history as Alabama went from seven wins in 2007 to 12 wins in 2008. He is one of two coaches (Bob Stoops, Oklahoma) in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football to have coached 10 years and never suffered through a losing season. Saban achieved another first in 2009 with back-to-back 10-win seasons. He also ranks fifth in winning percentage (70.8 percent) among active coaches who have coached at least 10 years of FBS football.
Alabama is 7-2 against the Associated Press Top 25 over the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The Crimson Tide's 24-15 win over No. 9 LSU on November 7 was the Tide's fourth win over a top-10 team dating back to the start of the 2008 season. Alabama is 4-0 against the AP Top 25 in the 2009 season.
Alabama ran the table in the 2009 regular season and finished the season with a perfect 8-0 record in SEC play. Since the league split into a divisional format in 1992, nine SEC teams have navigated their way through the conference with a perfect 8-0 mark. Alabama has done it four times (1992, 1994, 2008 and 2009) while Florida has run the table three times (1995, 1996 and 2009). Tennessee went 8-0 in 1998 and Auburn was 8-0 in 2004.
With its win over Auburn, Alabama has completed back-to-back perfect seasons in SEC play. With 8-0 records in each of the last two seasons, the Crimson Tide joins the 1995-96 Florida Gators as the only two SEC teams to post consecutive 8-0 seasons since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1992.
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