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136-503: The Southern Conference is considered one of the stronger football conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision and is considered a mid-major conference in basketball. The three-time Division I NCAA Football champion Appalachian State Mountaineers were a member of the conference when they stunned the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines 34–32 on September 1, 2007. The Davidson Wildcats reached

272-492: A "power conference" program. ESPN is not the only major media outlet that does not consider Gonzaga men's basketball to be a mid-major program; CBS Sports journalist Matt Norlander, in his 2022–23 season preview of mid-major conferences and programs, explicitly called Gonzaga "not a mid-major". In 2022, Gonzaga was reportedly in preliminary membership talks with three Power Six conferences—the Big East, Big 12, and Pac-12; after

408-748: A #8 seed. The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams of the Colonial Athletic Association advanced to their first Final Four appearance after winning the Southwest Regional in San Antonio as a #11 seed. VCU became the first team in history to win five games to reach the Final Four, winning the First Four round in its inaugural year. VCU tied LSU in 1986 and fellow CAA team, George Mason , in 2006 as

544-556: A 1 seed.) To expand opportunities for mid-majors to play postseason basketball, some unofficial postseason tournaments have arisen, including the aforementioned CollegeInsider.com tournament and the College Basketball Invitational ; however, as most of the schools are smaller, they may not be able to afford the entry fees for these pay-to-play tournaments, and a number of mid-major schools have policies prohibiting play in them. The Gonzaga Bulldogs team faces

680-418: A CFP semifinal. The two leagues that resulted from the 2013 split of the original Big East Conference —the football-sponsoring American Athletic Conference and non-football Big East Conference —are often considered to be major basketball conferences as well. When the original league split along football lines, the seven non-FBS schools, plus Creighton, Butler, and Xavier, founded the current Big East while

816-610: A cooperative agreement with the ASUN Conference , the SoCon began sponsoring men's lacrosse in the 2014–15 school year (2015 season) with three full members (Furman, Mercer, VMI) and four associates (Bellarmine, High Point, Jacksonville, Richmond). SoCon men's lacrosse has since added Air Force. Women's lacrosse was sponsored by the ASUN through the 2017 season, after which the SoCon launched its own women's lacrosse league. Beginning in

952-548: A formula that treated home and road wins and losses equally, to a formula that gave higher weight to road games. Because many BCS conference teams played no more than one or two non-conference games away from home, there was a de facto bolstering of RPI ratings for many mid-major teams, leading to speculation about how this "new" version of the RPI would be used in the selection process by the NCAA tournament selection committee. In spite of

1088-830: A high quality mid-major team, knowing that there is an uncomfortably high chance that they will lose (especially if the game is at the mid-major team's home court) and if the major team does win, there is often little benefit in media exposure for beating a non-major school. Some major conference teams also believe that scheduling games with additional competitive teams isn't necessary for their current team's development, as they believe there will be enough "tough games" during conference play. This phenomenon often manifests itself in major squads playing mostly lower ranked mid-major conference teams (while refusing schedule requests from better mid-major squads) in their out-of-conference schedules, thereby establishing very impressive records against lesser foes and bypassing higher quality mid-major teams in

1224-515: A home-and-home basis. Each of the 14 members in the conference in 2023 will play either Oklahoma or Texas in 2024 and '25, but not both. Whether the conference schedule stays at 8 games or expands to 9 after 2025, each team will be guaranteed of playing all other conference teams home and away in a four-year cycle. The requirement of scheduling at least one Power Four (the Pac-12 lost all but two of its members, Oregon State and Washington State , before

1360-612: A joint letter, Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote, "We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC." On July 29, 2021, the presidents of the current 14 schools of the SEC voted unanimously to extend an offer of admission to Oklahoma and Texas. The boards of regents for both institutions on July 30, 2021, accepted conference membership, and

1496-594: A major conference from the Big East renamed it the American Athletic Conference (The American), while several non-football schools left and founded a new conference, purchasing the "Big East" name from the newly renamed American. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, the non-Power Five FBS conferences are usually referred to as "Group of Five" conferences rather than mid-majors. No mid-major ever qualified for

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1632-540: A major conference, in turn, disqualifies the team from awards and tournament bids (such as the College Insider tournament mentioned above) reserved for mid-majors. Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States . Its 16 members include

1768-488: A new precedent being set by the committee by leaving the highest ranked RPI team ever, #21 Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference , out of the tournament field, some mid-majors with strong RPI's received at-large bids over lower-ranked BCS conference teams. This prompted harsh criticism from sports writers and coaches of BCS conference teams that did not receive bids. This criticism flew in

1904-679: A payout to the SEC conference. ^ The Sugar Bowl is contractually obligated to select the SEC champion if that team is not participating in the College Football Playoff. In years where the champion is unavailable the Playoff Committee will assign another SEC team to participate in the Sugar. Alternatively, in years where the Sugar hosts a playoff game the SEC Champion will be sent to the Fiesta, Cotton, or Peach Bowl if not selected for

2040-473: A slightly different set of challenges. Since its Elite Eight appearance in 1999 , it has successfully established itself as the closest thing to a major program in a mid-major conference, making the tournament field in every year since, even in years it failed to win the West Coast Conference tournament. Its position in a mid-major conference is no longer a primary issue with regard to making

2176-400: A spinal cord injury suffered during a football practice before ever playing a game, while Dillard suffered a career-altering injury before getting a chance to play for Vanderbilt's varsity and transferred to Eastern Michigan . The remaining two both played in the 1967–68 school year. Northington made his overall debut against Indiana on September 23, 1967 and his SEC debut against Ole Miss

2312-595: A step below the level of the six major conferences. However, due to recent changes in membership in some conferences, as well as the sustained success of some "mid-major" conferences, most no longer consider the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West to be below the level of the CFP conferences in college basketball. One reason why is the 2012–2013 RPI (a rating used by the tournament selection committee), which in 2012–13 ranked

2448-406: A telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected the request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. The 1959 Mississippi State men's basketball team, led by all-American Bailey Howell , finished its season 24–1, winning the conference title. They did not participate in

2584-438: A uniform 6-game schedule from 1974 to 1987, and added a seventh conference game from 1988 to 1991. Through this period and through the earlier years each SEC school had five permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the other games rotated around the other members of the conference. After expansion to twelve programs in 1992, the SEC went to an 8-game conference schedule, with each team playing

2720-485: Is a partial list of the last 10 regular-season and tournament champions. For the full history, see List of Southern Conference men's basketball champions . This is a partial list of the last 10 tournament champions. For the full history, see Southern Conference women's basketball tournament This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see Southern Conference baseball tournament . The Commissioner's and Germann Cups are awarded each year to

2856-478: Is less than $ 2 million and average total spending on all athletic programs is less than $ 20 million, notes that teams from major conferences win games against teams from mid-major conferences roughly 84 percent of the time. In unusual cases, teams may have reputations as mid-majors even if they participate in major conference. An example of this is Saint Bonaventure , one of the smallest universities in Division I;

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2992-586: Is membership in the Association of American Universities . Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties. Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance. The following table shows institutional reporting to

3128-571: Is now a mid-major conference has won a national championship since the tournament expanded to 64 teams—UNLV in 1990 as a member of the Big West Conference . (Louisville won national titles in 1980 and 1986 as a member of the Metro Conference , one of the precursors to Conference USA and arguably a major basketball conference of that day.) Because of the development of the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series in 1998, and

3264-504: Is now in the Big 12, qualified for the 2014 Peach Bowl and played for the national championship following the 2022 season while there; Utah, which joined the Pac-12 in 2011 and moves to the Big 12 in 2024, played in the Rose Bowl in 2022 and 2023 ; and Cincinnati and UCF joined the Big 12 in 2023. Before the 2023 departure of Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF for the Big 12, The American

3400-474: Is now seen as a major program despite its mid-major conference affiliation. The basketball website Collegeinsider.com created its own definition of "mid-major" when it introduced a pair of end-of-season awards for outstanding mid-major individuals in college basketball: the Lou Henson Award for players (first presented in 2010) and Hugh Durham Award for coaches (first presented in 2005). Since

3536-606: Is the only time two mid-majors have qualified for top-tier bowls. Prior to 2012, each of these teams entered its bowl undefeated, until Northern Illinois qualified following the 2012 season. UCF qualified for the January 2014 Fiesta Bowl (following the 2013 season), in the final year of the BCS, because the American Athletic Conference retained the Big East's automatic slot in the BCS. The current arrangement of

3672-629: The 1956 Sugar Bowl , when the Pitt Panthers , with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on the roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . White southern segregationists created controversy by claiming that Grier should be barred from the game due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin 's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent

3808-693: The 2018 Peach Bowl and end the season as the only undefeated FBS team. The Knights were denied a CFP bid in favor of four teams which had all lost one game (two of which, Georgia and Alabama, had lost by double digits to the same Auburn team that UCF had defeated in the Peach Bowl). The American Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference have so far been the most successful of the Group of Five at placing their champions in major bowls, respectively doing so eight and five times. However, four of

3944-451: The ASUN Conference , announced a new alliance in lacrosse that took effect with the 2015 spring season (2014–15 school year). Under its terms, sponsorship of men's lacrosse shifted from the ASUN to the SoCon, while women's lacrosse sponsorship remained with the ASUN. Bellarmine, which had announced it would join the ASUN for men's lacrosse for the 2015 spring season, instead joined the SoCon. The alliance remains in effect in men's lacrosse, but

4080-823: The Alabama Crimson Tide . Currently, the Group of Five football conferences are the American Athletic Conference , Conference USA , the Mid-American Conference , the Mountain West Conference , and the Sun Belt Conference . Several conferences that no longer sponsor football were considered mid-majors; two that existed in the BCS era were the Big West Conference and the Western Athletic Conference (which resumed football competition in

4216-435: The American Athletic Conference , a Group of Five conference), BYU (before it joined the Big 12 in 2023), and Notre Dame . In 2023, the SEC announced the divisional split would be scrapped when Oklahoma and Texas join in 2024. The conference schedule will remain at 8 games in the 2024 and 2025 seasons while the SEC determines its long-term football scheduling format. Teams will play the same opponents in both seasons on

Southern Conference - Misplaced Pages Continue

4352-536: The Appalachian Mountains left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen founding members have remained in the conference since its inception: the University of Alabama , Auburn University , the University of Florida , the University of Georgia , the University of Kentucky , Louisiana State University ("LSU"), the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), Mississippi State University ,

4488-564: The Atlantic 10 Conference , announced on May 23, 2022, led to the demise of the SoCon men's lacrosse league after the 2022 season. In addition to Hampton joining the CAA, SoCon associate members High Point and Richmond (the latter a full A-10 member) moved to the A-10, and Jacksonville returned to ASUN men's lacrosse. In the table below, the "Joined" column denotes the start of the school year in which

4624-522: The Georgia Dome through 2016, and since 2017 at its replacement, Mercedes-Benz Stadium , with the current hosting contract running through 2027. The "home team" designation alternated between the division champions during the divisional era, going to the East champion in even-numbered years and the West champion in odd-numbered years. The West led 19-13 in overall wins in the championship game against

4760-479: The Georgia Dome until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season, and since 2017 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium . On September 25, 2011, the SEC Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced that Texas A&M University would join the SEC effective July 1, 2012, to begin competition in nineteen of the twenty sports sponsored by the SEC during the 2012–13 academic year. On November 6, 2011,

4896-561: The Mountain West Conference , have sometimes been branded as "high-majors". Additionally, one men's program outside of these conferences, West Coast Conference member Gonzaga , is now generally considered equivalent to a Power Six program despite its mid-major affiliation. ESPN's Kevin Connors currently defines men's basketball mid-majors as "programs outside the top 7 conferences (Power Five, Big East, AAC) and Gonzaga". Another ESPN journalist, Jeff Borzello, referred to Gonzaga in 2022 as

5032-665: The Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta from February 24 to March 2, 1922, the first meeting was won by North Carolina who defeated non-member Mercer in the Finals 40–25. The SoCon Basketball Tournament continues as the nation's oldest conference tournament. The next-oldest tournament overall is the SEC men's basketball tournament , founded in 1933, but that event was suspended after its 1952 edition and did not resume until 1979. With

5168-722: The NCAA Division I level are athletic conferences that are not among the Power conferences . The grouping is used particularly in men's college basketball to describe conferences outside of the Big Ten , Big 12 , Big East , SEC , Pac-12 , and ACC , collectively referred to as the Power Six or "high majors". The term "mid-major" was coined in 1977 by Jack Kvancz, the head coach of men's basketball team at Catholic University of America . The NCAA neither acknowledges nor uses

5304-478: The New Year's Six bowl games mandates that the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion be awarded a New Year's Six bowl berth. This has been most recently invoked for the 2021 Cotton Bowl Classic , which featured a Cincinnati team that became the first Group of Five team to be selected to a College Football Playoff semifinal. The 2018 season saw a controversy that also involved UCF, which went on to win

5440-775: The SEC Championship Game pitted the SEC West Division representative against the East Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Starting in 2024, when the SEC eliminates its football divisions, the game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings. The first two SEC Championship football games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama . Since 1994, it has been played in Atlanta —first at

5576-739: The United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year. The following table shows revenue specifically from NCAA / Conference Distributions, Media Rights, and Post-Season Football reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year. The Southeastern Conference sponsors championship competition in nine men's and thirteen women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Under SEC conference rules reflecting

Southern Conference - Misplaced Pages Continue

5712-631: The University of Tennessee , and Vanderbilt University ("Vandy"). The SEC had no formal headquarters during its first eight years of existence, but in 1940, former Governor of Mississippi Martin "Mike" Conner was named the conference's first president, with the league establishing its first corporate headquarters on the 13th floor of the Standard Life Building in downtown Jackson, Mississippi . The SEC office remained there until 1948, when it moved to Birmingham, Alabama , where it remains. The three founding members that have since left

5848-595: The flagship public universities of 12 states, three additional public land-grant universities , and one private research university. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama . The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in sports competitions. In football , it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A. The SEC

5984-598: The 1967–68 school year. The first African American to compete in the SEC was Stephen Martin, who walked on to the Tulane baseball team in that school's final SEC season of 1966. In August of that same year, Kentucky enrolled Nate Northington and Greg Page on football scholarships, and Vanderbilt enrolled Godfrey Dillard and Perry Wallace on basketball scholarships. At the time, the NCAA did not allow freshmen to compete on varsity teams, which meant that these pioneers could not play until 1967. Page died from complications of

6120-401: The 2006 men's tournament was surrounded by controversy related to mid-major programs. A number of teams from mid-major conferences had unprecedented success in the non-conference portions of their schedule, and were therefore ranked highly in the RPI throughout the season. A change in the NCAA's RPI rating process prior to the 2005 season also improved many of these teams' chances by changing from

6256-481: The 2008 and 2009 NCAA tournaments, mid-major Siena had a strong showing, advancing to the second round with wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio State respectively. In the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament , the Butler University Bulldogs reached the Final Four, becoming the 3rd mid-major to make the Final Four in the modern (1985–present) era. On April 3, they beat Michigan State of

6392-530: The 2011–2012 season. Following expansion, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annual football championship game that did not count against NCAA limits on regular-season contests, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions. The 1992 and 1993 championship games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, and all championship games from 1994 onward have been held in Atlanta —first at

6528-511: The 2013–14 season, players and coaches from the following conferences have been ineligible for these awards: Additionally, although Collegeinsider.com continues to include Gonzaga in its unofficial "Mid-Major Top 25" when warranted, it apparently no longer considers Gonzaga to be eligible for its "mid-major" awards. For example, in 2020–21, Gonzaga had no representatives on the Lou Henson All-America Team, consisting of

6664-404: The 2013–14 season, the first after the split, American member UConn won national titles in both men's and women's basketball. The American also includes several other historically major men's programs such as Cincinnati, Memphis, and Temple. UConn eventually left The American in 2020 to reunite with many of its historic rivals in the current Big East. Cincinnati also eventually left The American for

6800-521: The 2015 season, but the SEC presidents voted 10–4 in April 2014 to keep the current format for an additional six to eight seasons beyond 2015. Additionally, since 2016, SEC teams have been required to schedule at least one opponent each season from the other so-called "Power Five" conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, or Pac-12); games against select football independent schools also qualify, including Army (which no longer counts as of 2024 due to it joining

6936-566: The 2016–17 academic year, after a 30-year hiatus, the SoCon resumed rifle as its 21st sport. Members for conference competition are full members The Citadel, VMI, and Wofford as well as associate members UAB, Georgia Southern, and North Georgia. The SoCon is one of only two all-sports conferences to sponsor rifle, joining the Ohio Valley Conference. Rifle is technically a men's sport for NCAA purposes, but men's, women's, and co-ed teams all compete against each other. Women's lacrosse

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7072-622: The 2024 season; the Beavers have meetings with Ole Miss scheduled in 2027 and 2030, while the Cougars are slated to face Mississippi State in 2030 and '31) team or Notre Dame remains in place. The championship game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings, with tiebreakers as needed. Through end of the 2023 season including SEC Championship Game. Records reflect official NCAA results, including any forfeits or win vacating. Notes: From its establishment in 1992 through 2023,

7208-479: The 25 players on the final watchlist for the Henson Award. This was despite three Gonzaga players ( Corey Kispert , Jalen Suggs , Drew Timme ) being consensus All-Americans in that season. Members of these conferences were also generally ineligible for CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament , and remain so for that event's effective successor, The Basketball Classic . In Division I women's basketball,

7344-555: The ASUN Conference. The men's lacrosse partnership took a slightly different form from the 2022 spring season (2021–22 school year) forward, as the ASUN reinstated its men's lacrosse league. The two full ASUN members with men's lacrosse programs separated, with Jacksonville remaining in SoCon men's lacrosse while Bellarmine joined the ASUN men's lacrosse league. SoCon associate Air Force also left for ASUN men's lacrosse. The SoCon maintained its automatic NCAA tournament berth with

7480-462: The BCS title game. Only one mid-major team has won a National Championship: the BYU Cougars , then in the Western Athletic Conference , won the 1984 championship on the strength of their perfect record and win in the 1984 Holiday Bowl . BYU largely won the championship by default, since no other team had held an undefeated record, and there were still lingering doubts about the team deserving

7616-401: The Big 12 Conference in 2023. The term "mid-major" is sometimes used to describe all of the other 25 basketball-playing conferences not receiving automatic tie-ins to either the BCS or CFP. However, most of the time the term is specifically applied only to the non-CFP conferences that consistently produce quality NCAA Tournament teams (distinguishing them from the "low-major" conferences). Often

7752-589: The Big 12 in 2023, and SMU joined the ACC in 2024. The bowl game to host the most mid-major conference champions is the Fiesta Bowl , which has hosted at least one such team seven times, with the 2010 edition (2009 season) involving two mid-majors. The Cotton Bowl Classic has featured a mid-major champion four times, and the Peach Bowl has done so three times, with all such games for both bowls taking place in

7888-611: The Big Ten Conference to become the second mid-major to reach the national championship game since 1998. The 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that two mid-majors met in the Final Four. The Butler University Bulldogs returned for their second consecutive appearance after winning the Southeast Regional in New Orleans as

8024-596: The Bonnies have been a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference (in which it has been a consistent contender under current coach Mark Schmidt). In 2016 , the Bonnies were denied a bid into the NCAA Tournament because of their non-conference schedule; Saint Bonaventure has regularly scheduled rivalry games with the three other Western New York universities in Division I ( Buffalo , Canisius and Niagara ), all of which are considered mid-majors. Their participation in

8160-551: The Bulldogs' Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) (an important numerical criterion in tournament selection). Gonzaga's challenges were similar to those faced by Nevada-Las Vegas under Jerry Tarkanian , whose Running Rebels dominated a relatively weak Big West Conference (formerly the Pacific Coast Athletic Association) from 1974 to 1992. Xavier University is another program that had to overcome

8296-553: The CFP era, and Conference USA has done so once in the CFP era. The Sun Belt Conference has never qualified a champion for a BCS or New Year's Six bowl. The mid-major teams that have qualified for the most major bowl games are Boise State and UCF , with three each. Boise State qualified twice while in the WAC and once in the Mountain West, and UCF has made all of its appearances while in The American. Cincinnati , TCU , and Utah have each done so twice. Cincinnati, TCU, UCF, and Utah are now members of "Power Five conferences"—TCU

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8432-516: The CFP era. The Sugar Bowl did so twice in the BCS era. The Rose Bowl Game and Orange Bowl each did so once in the BCS era. Since 2002, CollegeSwimming.com has produced an objective ranking system for Mid-Major, Division I swimming programs. Initiated by Clark Campbell, the poll has been used to provide attention to teams that were often targeted for elimination ostensibly for Title IX or budgetary reasons. Swimming, along with most other NCAA sports, fundamentally differs in its financial model from

8568-456: The East during the divisional era. As of 2023, the only pre-2024 members without a Championship Game appearance are Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt. The post-season bowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2014–2019 seasons are: Payout is per team for the 2014 season; if different for opposing conference, payout for the SEC team is shown. Each conference member, irrespective of bowl participation, also receives an equal split of

8704-529: The Elite Eight in the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament by upsetting power programs Gonzaga , Georgetown , and Wisconsin . More recently, the six-time Division I NCAA football champion Georgia Southern Eagles stunned Southeastern Conference power-house Florida Gators 26–20 in The Swamp on November 23, 2013—the first loss to a lower-division opponent in the Florida program's history. In 2015, Furman defeated UCF 16–15 and The Citadel topped South Carolina 23–22 for their second win over

8840-420: The Football Championship Subdivision in 2021 and is now a partner in the FCS football-only United Athletic Conference ). Mid-major schools have compiled a record of 9–7 in the major bowl games since the 2004 football season. Since 2004, only the 2005 and 2011 seasons did not see a mid-major team in one of the major bowl games. The 2010 Fiesta Bowl featured two unbeaten mid-majors ( Boise State and TCU ); this

8976-477: The Gamecocks in the past three meetings. On September 4, 2021, East Tennessee State University stunned Vanderbilt 23–3 in their opening game. The SoCon also frequently sees multiple teams selected to participate in the NCAA Division I baseball championship . The SoCon was the first conference to use the three-point field goal in basketball in a November 29, 1980, game at Western Carolina against Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where Ronnie Carr shot

9112-411: The MW's appearances were in the BCS era, when the conference now operating as The American was known as the Big East and was a primary BCS partner. The Western Athletic Conference , which no longer sponsors FBS football , has done so three times; both schools which went to major bowls as WAC champions now play football in the MW. The Mid-American Conference has done so once in the BCS era and once in

9248-537: The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and the two remaining men's lacrosse members, Jacksonville and Mercer, moved that sport to the ASUN. Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southern Conference which are played by SoCon schools: Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southern Conference which are played by SoCon schools: This is a list of recent champions. For the full history, see List of Southern Conference football champions . † Automatic bid to NCAA Division I Football Championship This

9384-475: The Mountain West and the Atlantic 10, may be considered a "high-major" as opposed to a mid-major depending on whom one asks. Conference USA, the WAC, and the American Athletic Conference both once had many strong basketball programs, but since 1999 WAC men's basketball has dropped in prestige due to members leaving for The American, Mountain West, Big 12, respectively. This list is not static from year to year, as many fail to agree which conferences are truly

9520-412: The Mountain West as the third best conference in Division I (ahead of the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) and the Atlantic 10 seventh (ahead of the SEC). The strength of these two non-CFP conferences in men's college basketball in 2012–13 was not an aberration, given that in 2011–12 the Mountain West finished the year ranked fifth, and the Atlantic 10 ranked seventh, both ahead of the Pac-12. Given

9656-409: The NCAA tournament as school and state officials would not permit the team to play against Black players from northern schools. Four years later, in 1963, Loyola , with four black starters, played Mississippi State in the " Game of Change ". It was not until 1966 that African Americans first participated in an SEC athletic contest, and the first black scholarship athletes did not play in the SEC until

9792-557: The Pac-12 lost all but two of its members in 2024, Gonzaga would accept membership in the reimagined Pac-12 effective in 2026–27. Given the sustained success of many so-called "mid-major" conferences, and especially that of the Gonzaga program, higher profile conferences find it more difficult to distinguish themselves with the "mid-major" and "major" labels, unless one takes into account the distinction of being in now-defunct BCS football playing conference. However, only one team from what

9928-663: The SEC Executive Committee and liaison to SECU. In an interview with Dr. Zeppos about the formation of the SECU he noted, "that the member institutions of the Southeastern Conference are committed to a shared mission of fostering research, scholarship, and achievement. The SEC Symposium represents a platform to connect, collaborate and promote a productive dialogue that will span disciplinary and institutional boundaries and allow us to work together for

10064-482: The SEC and ACC are considered "power" conferences in Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A), the SoCon dropped to Division I-AA (FCS) in 1982, four years after the top division was split into two levels in 1978. The SoCon became the first league to hold a post-season basketball tournament to decide a conference champion. Although first played in 1921, it did not become "official" until 1922, and in its first few years included teams which were not conference members. Held at

10200-593: The SEC commissioner announced that the University of Missouri would also join the SEC on July 1, 2012. For football, Texas A&M was scheduled to compete in the Western Division, and Missouri in the Eastern Division. Texas A&M and Missouri both left the Big 12 Conference . On July 27, 2021, Oklahoma and Texas formally notified the SEC they were seeking "an invitation for membership". In

10336-625: The SoCon added the sport for the 2016–17 school year. In the table below, the "Joined" and "Left" columns denotes the calendar year in which each school joined and left the SoCon. For fall sports, the year of departure differs from the final year of competition. For spring sports, the year of arrival differs from the first season of competition. Full members Full members (except football) Other Conference Other Conference The Southern Conference sponsors championship competition in 11 men's, 9 women's, and one co-educational NCAA-sanctioned sports. Five schools are associate members for wrestling. Under

10472-613: The South (Sewanee), Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt) all departed the SoCon to form the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In 1953, seven additional schools (Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest) withdrew from the SoCon to form the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The SEC and ACC have gone on to surpass their parent conference in prestige; while

10608-404: The Southeastern Conference which are played by SEC schools: Source: SECSports.com. [REDACTED] For the current season, see 2024 Southeastern Conference football season . SEC teams did not play a uniform number of conference games until 1974. Prior to that, the number of conference games teams played ranged from four to eight, but most played a 6- or 7- game schedule. The league adopted

10744-437: The addition of Hampton . Before the addition of Hampton men's lacrosse, the most recent addition to the associate membership was Presbyterian wrestling, which joined during summer 2019. Two women's lacrosse members, Central Michigan and Detroit Mercy , left after the 2020 season (2019–20 school year) to join the new women's lacrosse league of Central's full-time home of the Mid-American Conference ; this move contributed to

10880-542: The allowable scholarships under the NCAA rules. University of Denver (tie) Current Poll As a convenient shorthand, the term "high major" basketball conference is often synonymous with the college football Power Four conferences : These leagues, along with the Big East and the since-decimated Pac-12 Conference , were the six so-called AQ ("automatic qualifying") conferences during the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era in college football. Following

11016-558: The amount and type of study abroad opportunities available for students; and providing opportunities for collaboration among SEC university personnel. The Big Ten Conference , since 1958, has had a similar program, now called the Big Ten Academic Alliance . The SEC Symposium component of SECU was crafted by Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos , who at the time was the Vice President of

11152-622: The analytics website Her Hoop Stats created a similar definition of "mid-major" when it introduced the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award in 2020. Currently, players from the Power Four conferences, plus the Big East, are ineligible for this award. Mid-major teams often have a difficult time scheduling major conference opponents, especially at home. Major conference teams usually will not schedule

11288-490: The arrival of East Tennessee State (ETSU), Mercer, and VMI. The current football membership stands at nine. UNC Greensboro does not sponsor football, while ETSU relaunched its previously dormant football program in 2015 and rejoined SoCon football in 2016 after one season as an independent . The 10 members of the Southern Conference are: On January 9, 2014, the SoCon and Atlantic Sun Conference, now known as

11424-465: The betterment of society." The SEC Academic Network was created in 2009 in partnership with ESPN . The SEC Academic Network was an online library of institutionally produced videos featuring academic initiatives and stories from all Southeastern Conference institutions. The SEC Academic Network was officially merged into the SECU operation. The following table shows National University rank by U.S. News & World Report as of 2023. Also indicated

11560-518: The breakup of the Big East and end of the BCS era, the remaining five are the primary members of the College Football Playoff (CFP) structure that began in the 2014 season. The CFP is centered around a group of bowl games often called the " New Year's Six ", with two of them hosting CFP semifinals each season in rotation. Football champions of these conferences are assured of a spot in a "New Year's Six" game, though not necessarily in

11696-414: The change so attractive match-ups between non-traditional opponents would happen twice every five years instead of twice every eight years. With the subsequent expansion to 14 members in 2012, non-permanent cross-division opponents face each other in the regular season twice in a span of twelve years. Under the format used from 2012 to 2023, each school played a total of eight conference games, consisting of

11832-735: The combination of the Power Five and Big East. The NCAA has officially recognized this distinction in the selection process for the National Invitation Tournament , as the Power Six conferences each receive automatic bids for their two highest-ranked teams not invited to the NCAA Tournament, as ranked by the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET). Beyond that, other conferences such as the Atlantic-10 Conference , Missouri Valley Conference and

11968-452: The conference are Sewanee , who left after the 1940 season to drop all athletic scholarships and become a D-III Independent; Georgia Tech , who left after the 1963 season and became a D-I Independent; and Tulane , who left after the 1965 season and became a D-I Independent. In 1935, the SEC became the first conference to legalize athletic scholarships . White southerners committed to maintaining segregation created controversy preceding

12104-557: The conference. The first year of competition for the conference was in 1922, effective January 1. The new rules banned freshman play. Later additions included Sewanee (1924), Virginia Military Institute (1924), and Duke (1929). The SoCon is particularly notable for having spawned two other major conferences. In 1932, the 13 schools located south and west of the Appalachians (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, University of

12240-449: The definition of a "mid-major" is a conference that garners only one bid to the NCAA tournament (its automatic bid, won by its conference tournament winner) and no at large bids, all the while not garnering the attention and television dollars of a major conference. Until the last decade, the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference , and the Western Athletic Conference were widely considered to high-major conferences but

12376-597: The demise of the Division II West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2013, whose tournament had been continuously held since 1936, the next-oldest conference tournament in continuous existence is now the ACC men's basketball tournament , first held in 1954. The all-sports membership changed to 10 schools in 2014 following the departure of Appalachian State, Davidson, Elon, and Georgia Southern, plus

12512-570: The eventual demise of the SoCon women's lacrosse league. Men's soccer member Belmont left the SoCon after the 2021–22 school year when it joined the Missouri Valley Conference , which sponsors that sport. At the same time, Hampton moved men's lacrosse to its new full-time home of the Colonial Athletic Association, now known as the Coastal Athletic Association . The addition of men's lacrosse by

12648-401: The face of the fact that the six BCS conferences still received more bids (32) from the committee than in most past years. The mid-major conference teams that were selected went on to silence those critics when a record number (five) advanced to the " Sweet 16 ". Even more significantly, one of those teams, George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association , made it to the Final Four. In both

12784-530: The fact that the mid-major teams often have a lower strength of schedule. Without the ability to play more "major" opponents, most mid-majors have to stake their Tournament hopes on winning their conference's season-ending tournament (which promises an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament) since the possibility of an at-large bid is often remote. Mid-majors that do make it into the tournament by winning their conference tournament are regularly placed in

12920-472: The five other teams in their division and three opponents from the other division. The winners of the two divisions would then meet in the SEC Championship Game . From 1992 through 2002, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU, and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in

13056-620: The following week on September 30 (the day after Page's death ), while Wallace made his varsity debut later that year. In 1990, the SEC expanded from ten to twelve member universities with the addition of the Arkansas Razorbacks and the South Carolina Gamecocks . The two new members began SEC competition with the 1991–1992 basketball season. At the same time, the SEC organized competition for some sports into two divisions. The Western Division comprised six of

13192-512: The four major bowls, even if such a program completed a perfect season . The establishment of the BCS National Championship Game opened two additional at-large berths and mandated invites for mid-major schools above a certain ranking, which led to an increase in mid-major appearances in the four major bowls. Then conference realignment brought about the split of the Big East football conference. Schools that did not join

13328-468: The games played to date. USF, UCF, Houston, Navy, Cincinnati, SMU, and Memphis, all American Conference teams, are very successful programs in FBS play. In 2017, UCF was the first team from The American to go undefeated; its schedule included two wins against Memphis (whose only two regular season losses came to UCF and was otherwise undefeated) and a win against USF (which had only one other loss besides UCF), and

13464-539: The highest seed to reach the Final Four (#11). The previous time two mid-majors advanced to the same Final Four was the 1979 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament , when Indiana State of the Missouri Valley and Penn of the Ivy League qualified. Butler is no longer a mid-major due to its membership in the Big East since 2013. VCU has since joined the Atlantic 10, where it has consistently been among

13600-862: The historic shot from 22 feet (6.7 m) away and the Catamounts won 77–70. Talks of a new conference for Southern athletics had started as early as fall of 1920. The conference was formed on February 25, 1921, in Atlanta as fourteen member institutions split from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference charter members were Alabama , Auburn , Clemson , Georgia , Georgia Tech , Kentucky , Maryland , Mississippi State , North Carolina , North Carolina State , Tennessee , Virginia , Virginia Tech , and Washington & Lee . In 1922, six more universities— Florida , LSU , Mississippi , South Carolina , Tulane , and Vanderbilt joined

13736-492: The honor because it was in a lesser conference. Since the establishment of the Bowl Alliance (and its successors the Bowl Championship Series and College Football Playoff ), no mid-major team had ever been selected for the championship game or tournament until the 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats of The American were selected after an unbeaten regular season. The Bearcats were defeated in the opening (semifinal) round 27–6 by

13872-443: The institution became an associate member, which for spring sports differs from the first season of competition. Most former members are currently members of either the Southeastern Conference or the Atlantic Coast Conference . Two of the former full members, Appalachian State and Davidson, maintain SoCon associate membership in wrestling . A third former full member, Georgia Southern, became an associate member in rifle when

14008-411: The lack of a playoff format for the Football Bowl Subdivision prior to the College Football Playoff , the demarcation line between major and mid-major conferences is much clearer in college football than in other sports. The six conferences of the BCS each had guaranteed appearances in one of the four major bowl games ( Rose Bowl , Fiesta Bowl , Orange Bowl , and Sugar Bowl ), whereas mid-majors —

14144-449: The large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX ), each member institution is required to provide two more women's varsity sports than men's. A similar rule was recently adopted by the NCAA for all of Division   I. Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southeastern Conference which are played by SEC schools: Women's varsity sports not sponsored by

14280-477: The last several years in a row. There are many conferences (besides the six BCS conferences) that have regularly had teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond, regularly challenge for multiple NCAA Tournament bids, have multiple teams "buy" games from lower-ranked conferences, and have finished in the top 10 in conference attendance every year for the last decade. Additionally, as noted previously, Gonzaga

14416-451: The leagues amicably ended their full alliance in women's lacrosse once the SoCon began sponsoring that sport in the 2018 spring season (2017–18 school year). However, the conferences maintained their working relationship in women's lacrosse, with the SoCon adding Coastal Carolina as an associate member effective with the 2021 spring season (2020–21 school year) in order to keep both conferences at five women's lacrosse members for 2021. Coastal

14552-444: The lowest seeds (four of the eight play-in game seeds are reserved for mid-major conference champions), which effectively ensures they will be eliminated from the tournament quickly because they will have to face the strongest teams in the tournament in their first game. (Only one play-in game participant has ever defeated a 1 seed, when Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Purdue in 2023; it was not until 2018 that any 16 seed had ever defeated

14688-470: The majors and which are the mid-majors and/or low-majors during any given season. (The Big West and Ohio Valley Conference were previously included on this list; they finished the 2011–2012 season as the 21st and 25th, respectively, ranked conferences in the RPI.) Some still refuse to consider the Mountain West to be a "major" conference, despite outperforming several other "major" (BCS) conferences for

14824-461: The mid-major label prior to joining the Big East. On January 9, 2008, PG Drew Lavender was named the "Mid-Major Player of the Week" by Rivals.com but Lavender refused to accept the award making the case that Xavier was no longer a mid-major. This act caused many prominent journalists to debate if the Atlantic 10 is a mid-major conference or not. This quandary no longer applies to Xavier, as it joined

14960-587: The other hand, the NCAA classifies swimming as an "equivalency" sport, meaning that scholarships can be divided among a number of student-athletes. CollegeSwimming.com's definition of a mid-major institution takes this into account. Though the lineup has changed, institutions eligible for the CollegeSwimming.com poll are those institutions that a) are not members of a Power Five conference , American Athletic Conference, Mountain West Conference, or Western Athletic Conference; or b) provide fewer than one-half of

15096-433: The other six teams in its division, one school from the other division on a rotating basis, and one school from the other division that it plays each year. The permanent cross-division matchups were: Alabama–Tennessee ; Arkansas–Missouri ; Auburn–Georgia ; LSU–Florida ; Mississippi State–Kentucky; Ole Miss–Vanderbilt ; Texas A&M–South Carolina. The then-current scheduling arrangement was originally set to expire after

15232-540: The process. In recent years, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has stressed the importance of a team's strength of schedule (SOS) in the nonconference portion of their schedule. Teams with a low-ranked nonconference SOS have often been penalized in their seeding and in some cases not selected for the tournament at all. In 2006 , Florida State was left out of the tournament field in large part because its out-of-conference schedule

15368-413: The rankings of these two leagues, as well as their prestige, performance, recent post-season results, national perception, exposure, attendance, and many other factors, most observers have trouble considering certain non-CFP conferences as "mid-majors". So-called "mid-major" basketball programs generally belong to one of the following twenty-four conferences. Note that some of these conferences, including

15504-765: The reconstituted Big East in 2013. Some mid-major teams are now preferring to play "home" games in larger nearby arenas. Gonzaga uses the Spokane Arena in its home city or KeyArena in Seattle for these larger-audience games. Some mid-major and major conference teams have made the use of non-campus arenas permanent. Saint Bonaventure University , one of the smallest colleges in Division I, has regularly played games at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester and KeyBank Center in Buffalo . The NCAA tournament selection for

15640-401: The schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the number of permanent inter-division opponents to one starting in the 2003 season. The TV networks televising SEC games were also pressuring for

15776-471: The schools were tentatively scheduled to join the league in 2025. On February 9, 2023, the Big 12, Texas, and Oklahoma announced they had reached a buyout agreement that allowed the schools to join the SEC in 2024. The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners athletic teams thus began league play during the 2024–25 academic year. Full members  Full members (non-football)  Other Conference  Other Conference  The office of Commissioner

15912-624: The seven member schools in the Central Time Zone , while the Eastern Division comprised the five member schools in the Eastern Time Zone plus Vanderbilt, which is in the Central Time Zone but was placed in the Eastern Division to preserve its rivalry with Tennessee. Initially, the divisional format was used in football, baseball, and men's basketball. The divisional format was dropped for men's basketball following

16048-427: The so-called "revenue sports" of basketball and Division I FBS football. The NCAA classifies the latter two sports as "head-count" sports, which means that the total number of players that can receive any athletically related financial aid from the school is limited. Because a partial scholarship counts fully against the head count, it means that in practice, scholarships are almost always awarded as full grants-in-aid. On

16184-604: The team won its bowl game against #7 Auburn, a team which had beaten both CFP championship game teams (Alabama and Georgia) that year. The Knights also completed an unbeaten regular season in 2018, but lost to LSU in their bowl game after having lost McKenzie Milton , the quarterback who had led them in both 2017 and 2018, to a catastrophic knee injury in their final regularly scheduled game. Cincinnati also entered its bowl games unbeaten in both 2020 and 2021, but lost both times, narrowly to Georgia in 2020 and more convincingly to Alabama in 2021. However, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF joined

16320-514: The teams that were not in one of those six leagues — relied on an at-large bid or a high ranking to qualify for a major bowl. (The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, an independent, was an exception due to being a member of the ACC in all other sports with the exception of men's hockey in which it is a member of the Big Ten.) It was rare for any mid-major program to receive one of two at-large bids (or only one, if Notre Dame qualified) to one of

16456-499: The term uses an arbitrary litmus test, based on how many teams from a given conference qualify for the NCAA tournament in a "good" year, or how much success a given conference has had in the NCAA tournament, or even conference revenue and attendance. The Big East Conference is not a Power Five football conference, but is universally considered a power conference in basketball, with the term "Power Six" sometimes used by media to describe

16592-403: The terms "major" or "mid-major" to differentiate between Division I athletic conferences. Some schools and fans consider it offensive and derogatory, while others embrace the term. In college basketball , the term "mid-major" is used to refer to teams that are members of a conference other than the "Power Six" of the Big Ten , Big 12 , Big East , SEC , Pac-12 , and ACC . Others believe

16728-402: The three remaining FBS schools, Cincinnati, UConn, and Temple, became The American. In every year since the split, the "new" Big East has been ranked a top five basketball conference by leading analysts such as Ken Pomeroy. Villanova won the men's basketball national championship in the 2015-2016 and 2017–2018 seasons. The American has also found success, consistently ranking a top ten league. In

16864-481: The top men's and women's program in the conference. The Commissioner's Cup was inaugurated in 1970. The Germann Cup, named for former Southern Conference Commissioner Ken Germann, was first awarded in 1987. The completion of the 2013–2014 athletics season saw Appalachian State winning its 33rd Commissioner's Cup and Furman its 13th Germann Cup. Mid-major Mid-major conferences in American college sports at

17000-467: The top teams, even following the departure of coach Shaka Smart for Texas in 2015, and his successor, Will Wade , for LSU in 2017. Mid-major basketball teams also face significant disadvantages when it comes to resources to spend on recruiting, marketing, and operations, including coaches' salaries. Mid-major basketball blogger Kyle Whellison, who describes as mid-major any team from a conference where average total spending on men's basketball programs

17136-402: The tournament field, but is often perceived to adversely affect its tournament seeding. The Bulldogs typically play a nationally competitive nonconference schedule, frequently going on the road, and have proven themselves capable of defeating nationally prominent opponents. However, the relative weakness of the West Coast Conference (WCC) hurts Gonzaga's strength of schedule, which in turn lowers

17272-521: The two division winners met in the SEC Championship Game . The SEC eliminated its baseball and football divisions once Oklahoma and Texas joined in 2024. Three schools have left the SEC, all charter members: The SEC was established December 8 and 9, 1932, in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Farragut Hotel, when the thirteen members of the large Southern Conference located west and south of

17408-605: Was added as the 22nd sport for 2017–18, but was dropped after the 2020–21 school year. The SoCon dropped men's lacrosse after the 2022 season. Affiliate member Hampton joined the Colonial Athletic Association, which sponsors that sport, and the Atlantic 10 Conference, full-time home to men's lacrosse affiliate Richmond, launched a men's lacrosse league in the 2023 season, also taking in another SoCon affiliate in High Point. With SoCon men's lacrosse being gutted by these changes, VMI moved that sport to its former men's lacrosse home of

17544-583: Was created in 1940. In 2005, the member institutions of the Southeastern Conference formed the SEC Academic Consortium (SECAC), a collaborative endeavor designed to promote research, scholarship, and achievement amongst the universities. In 2011, the SEC Academic Consortium was relocated to the SEC headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama , from its original home on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas , and

17680-498: Was established in 1932 by 13 members of the Southern Conference . Three charter members left by the late 1960s, but additions in 1990 and 2012 grew the conference to 14 member institutions. The conference expanded to 16 members with the addition of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas in 2024. In 1992 , the SEC was the first NCAA Division I conference to have a championship game for football and

17816-537: Was formerly divided into East and West Divisions, although the divisional alignment was not strictly geographic, with Missouri in the East Division while being farther west than several West Division schools, and Auburn in the West Division despite being located farther east than East Division schools Missouri and Vanderbilt. These divisional groupings were applied only in football, baseball, and women's soccer, for both scheduling and standings purposes. In football,

17952-607: Was intended to play in SoCon women's lacrosse in the 2022 spring season (2021–22 school year) as well, but the SoCon decided to drop the sport after the 2021 spring season (2020–21 school year). While no formal announcement was made, the SoCon–ASUN women's lacrosse partnership definitively ended at that time, as the three full SoCon members who sponsored women's lacrosse moved that sport to the Big South Conference . Coastal and Delaware State both returned women's lacrosse to

18088-476: Was one of the founding member conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The conference sponsors team championships in nine men's sports and 13 women's sports. The conference distributed $ 721.8 million to its 14 schools in 2022. The SEC consists of 16 member institutions located in the U.S. states of Alabama , Arkansas , Florida , Georgia , Kentucky , Louisiana , Mississippi , Missouri , Oklahoma , South Carolina , Tennessee , and Texas . The SEC

18224-452: Was rated #316 out of 333 Division I teams. The difficulty most mid-majors have in scheduling major conference opponents has a large effect on their ability to qualify for the NCAA basketball championship tournament and for the National Invitation Tournament . Often, mid-major teams with outstanding records are passed over for at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament in favor of teams from BCS conferences with mediocre records, based partly on

18360-480: Was renamed SECU. The SECU rebranded its mission to better serve as a means through which the collaborative academic endeavors and achievements of Southeastern Conference universities would be promoted and advanced. The SECU's goals included highlighting the endeavors and achievements of SEC faculty , students, and its universities; advancing the academic reputation of SEC universities; identifying and preparing future leaders for high-level service in academia ; increasing

18496-540: Was widely considered the best football conference that is not in the Power 5. Since its reorganization and split from the Big East Conference in 2013 (and its corresponding expulsion from "BCS conference" status), they have sent five programs to New Year's Six bowl games: Houston in 2015, UCF in 2013, 2017, and 2018, Memphis in 2019, Cincinnati in 2020 and 2021, and Tulane in 2022. These programs have gone 4–4 in

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