The 88th season of SEC football kicks off at 11 a.m. CDT Saturday when Florida visits Ole Miss and Kentucky visits Auburn. The other 10 members of the conference start their seasons later in the day.
For the first time in the SEC’s history, each of the league’s teams is starting the season with a conference game. That’s all they’ll play in the 2020 regular season. To deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the SEC scrambled into a schedule during which each team will play 10 league games this season leading to the conference title game on Dec. 19.
Every season for the past 57, every SEC member had played its first game by Sept. 26, the starting date for all the conference’s teams this season. For Kentucky, this is the Wildcats' latest start since the 1941 season.
The conference has started four seasons with its teams sweeping the season-opening schedule -- 1951, 1973, 1974 and 1997. That would have been possible with the original 2020 schedule because none of the 14 schools started with a league game.
The most season-opening losses for the SEC in one year is seven in 2016. That mark will be tied in 2020 with seven conference games on the schedule for the first Saturday of the season.
Here’s a team-by-team look at the SEC in season-openers:
ALABAMA: The Crimson Tide carries an 18-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game at Missouri. The 18-game streak is the second-longest in SEC history, but it is not the school record. Alabama opened its season with a victory 30 straight times from 1904 through 1934. (Alabama did not field a team in 1918.) Only the final two of those victories came as an SEC member. The Crimson Tide’s most recent loss in a season-opening game came 20-17 to UCLA on Sept. 1, 2001.
Alabama’s season-opening winning streak ranks second in NCAA FBS currently. Ohio State has started its past 20 seasons with a victory.
On Saturday, Alabama will be seeking its 102nd victory in a season-opening game. Alabama’s 101 season-opening wins are the most among the SEC’s current members. Arkansas has 99 victories in season-opening games, Auburn 98, Georgia 96, LSU and Ole Miss 92 apiece, Tennessee 91, Kentucky and Texas A&M 88 each, Florida and Mississippi State 85 apiece, South Carolina 84, Missouri 83 and Vanderbilt 80.
Alabama had been scheduled to open the season against Southern Cal at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 5.
ARKANSAS: The Razorbacks carry a five-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game against Georgia in Fayetteville. Arkansas' longest opening-game winning streak as an SEC member is nine, accomplished from 1997 through 2005. Arkansas joined the league in 1992, so its school record of 17 straight achieved from 1933 through 1949 did not come as an SEC member but as a member of the Southwest Conference. Arkansas' most recent loss in a season-opening game is a 45-21 setback against Auburn on Aug. 30, 2014.
Arkansas also will be seeking its 13th consecutive victory when kicking off the season with a home game. Arkansas' most recent loss in a season-opening game in Fayetteville is a 50-14 setback against Southern Cal in 2006. Since then, the Razorbacks have started a season on the road once -- losing at Auburn in 2014. Eight of the opponents in Arkansas' home streak were NCAA FCS members.
Arkansas has won its first home game of the season annually in the 13 years since losing to Southern Cal. The Razorbacks have started their home schedules in that span against Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette, UTEP, Louisiana Tech and nine NCAA FCS opponents. After losing at Auburn to start the 2014 season, Arkansas beat Nicholls State 73-7 the next Saturday in the Razorbacks' home-opener.
Arkansas had been scheduled to open the season against Kent State in Fayetteville on Sept. 5.
AUBURN: The Tigers carry a three-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game against Kentucky in Auburn. Auburn’s longest streak as an SEC member is 11, when it won every season-opener from 1935 through 1946. (Auburn did not field a team in 1943.) Auburn’s most recent loss in a season-opening game is a 19-13 setback against Clemson on Sept. 3, 2016.
With Kentucky at 23rd in The Associated Press poll, Auburn is opening the season against a ranked opponent for the third straight year. The Tigers are the only program in the nation to start the past two seasons with victories over ranked foes. Auburn defeated No. 6 Washington 21-16 in Atlanta in 2018 and No. 11 Oregon 27-21 in Arlington, Texas, in 2019.
Auburn had been scheduled to open the season against Akron in Auburn on Sept. 5.
FLORIDA: The Gators carry a two-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game at Ole Miss.
Florida’s SEC record 27-game winning streak in season-opening games ended with a 33-17 loss to Michigan in Arlington, Texas, in 2017. Until the loss to Michigan, Florida hadn’t had an 0-1 record since a 24-19 setback against Ole Miss on Sept. 9, 1989. All the victories came in Gainesville, and the teams that Florida beat in the streak were Arkansas State, Ball State, Bowling Green, Charleston Southern, The Citadel, Eastern Michigan (twice), Florida Atlantic, Hawaii, Houston, Kentucky, Louisiana-Lafayette, Marshall, Massachusetts, Miami (Ohio), New Mexico State (twice), Oklahoma State, San Jose State (twice), Southern Miss (twice), Toledo, UAB, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan and Wyoming.
The Gators open 2020 in Oxford, and they haven’t started a season with a victory in a game outside of Florida since 1977, when the Gators kicked off the campaign with a 48-3 win at Rice. Of the 42 season-opening games since that contest in Houston, Florida has started its season at home 33 times, Miami three times, Orlando and Tampa twice each and Arlington and Houston once apiece.
Florida had been scheduled to open the season against Eastern Washington in Gainesville on Sept. 5.
GEORGIA: The Bulldogs carry a six-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game against Arkansas in Fayetteville. Georgia’s longest winning streak in season-opening games is 12, accomplished from 1997 through 2008. Georgia’s most recent loss in a season-opening game is a 38-35 setback against Clemson on Aug. 31, 2013.
Georgia had been scheduled to open the season against Virginia in the Atlanta Falcons' Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 7.
KENTUCKY: The Wildcats carry a three-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game at Auburn. Kentucky’s longest winning streak in season-opening games as an SEC member is eight, accomplished from 1987 through 1994. Kentucky’s most recent loss in a season-opening game is a 44-35 setback against Southern Miss on Sept. 3, 2016.
Kentucky has lost the past six times that it’s opened the season against an SEC rival. The Wildcats' most recent win when starting the season with a conference contest came on Sept. 21, 1946, in a 20-6 victory over Ole Miss.
Kentucky had been scheduled to open the season against Eastern Michigan in Lexington on Sept. 5.
LSU: The Tigers carry a three-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game against Mississippi State in Baton Rouge. LSU’s longest winning streak in season-opening games as an SEC member is 13, accomplished from 2003 through 2015. The Tigers' most recent loss in an opening game is a 16-14 setback against Wisconsin in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 2016.
The Tigers have won 12 straight season-opening games when playing at home, a streak that started after an 18-13 loss to Texas A&M to kick off the 1994 campaign.
LSU had been scheduled to open the season against UTSA in Baton Rouge on Sept. 5.
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MISSISSIPPI STATE: The Bulldogs carry a three-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game against LSU in Baton Rouge. Mississippi State’s record streak for victories in season-opening games is 15 from 1933 through 1948. (Mississippi State did not field a team in 1943.) The Bulldogs' most recent loss in an opening game is a 21-20 setback against South Alabama in 2016.
Mississippi State had been scheduled to open the season against New Mexico in Starkville on Sept. 5.
MISSOURI: The Tigers lost their 2019 season-opening game 37-31 at Wyoming and kick off 2020 with a home game against Alabama. Missouri most recently lost season-openers back-to-back in 1984 and 1985, when the Tigers fell to Illinois and Northwestern, respectively.
Missouri’s school-record winning streak in season-opening games is 12, established from 1902 through 1913.
Missouri has won its first home game for 14 consecutive seasons. Missouri hasn’t lost its home opener since a 45-35 defeat by New Mexico on Sept. 10, 2005. During its winning streak, the Tigers beat nine NCAA FCS opponents, four teams from the Mid-American Conference and West Virginia.
Missouri had been scheduled to open the season against Central Arkansas in Columbia on Sept. 5.
OLE MISS: The Rebels lost their 2019 season-opening game 15-10 at Memphis and kick off the 2020 campaign against Florida in Oxford. Ole Miss most recently lost season-openers back-to-back in 2011 and 2012, when the Rebels fell to Jacksonville State and BYU, respectively.
Ole Miss' longest opening-game winning streak as an SEC member is 16 from 1947 through 1962, and the Rebels went 20 straight openers without losing. Ole Miss started every season from 1947 through 1962 with a victory, tied Memphis 0-0 to start the 1963 season, then won its next three openers.
Ole Miss had been scheduled to open the season against Baylor in the Houston Texans' NRG Stadium on Sept. 6.
SOUTH CAROLINA: The Gamecocks lost their 2019 season-opening game 24-20 to North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina, and kick off the 2020 campaign against Tennessee in Columbia. South Carolina most recently lost season-openers back-to-back in 1994 and 1995, when the Gamecocks fell to Georgia both years.
South Carolina’s longest opening-game winning streak as an SEC member is 14 from 2000 through 2013. South Carolina’s school record is 19 in a row, set in the season-openers between 1920 and 1938.
South Carolina had been scheduled to open the season against Coastal Carolina in Columbia on Sept. 5.
TENNESSEE: The Volunteers have lost their past two season-opening games and kick off 2020 against South Carolina in Columbia. Tennessee lost to West Virginia 40-14 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to begin 2018 and Georgia State 38-30 in Knoxville to start 2019. The Volunteers most recently lost their first game in three straight seasons when they started every season from 1980 through 1983 with losses, falling to Georgia twice and Duke and Pittsburgh once each.
Tennessee’s longest opening-game winning streak as an SEC member is 12 from 1995 through 2006.
Tennessee had been scheduled to open the season against Charlotte in Knoxville on Sept. 5.
TEXAS A&M: The Aggies carry a two-game winning streak in season-opening contests into this year’s first game against Vanderbilt in College Station. The school-record streak for season-opening victories is 21 from 1901 through 1921.
Texas A&M had been scheduled to open the season against Abilene Christian in College Station on Sept. 5.
VANDERBILT: The Commodores lost their 2019 season-opening game 30-6 to Georgia and kick off the 2020 campaign against Texas A&M in College Station. Vanderbilt most recently lost season-openers back-to-back when they started 2012 through 2016 with losses, falling to South Carolina twice and Ole Miss, Temple and Western Kentucky once each.
Vanderbilt’s longest opening-game winning streak as an SEC member is six from 1970 through 1975. The Commodores beat Tennessee-Chattanooga every season during that streak.
Against Texas A&M, Vanderbilt will try to snap an 11-game losing streak when opening the season with an SEC game, a skid that started after the Commodores began 1988 with a 24-20 victory over Mississippi State.
Vanderbilt had been scheduled to open the season against Mercer in Nashville on Sept. 5.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.