2023 Southeastern Conference football season

The 2023 Southeastern Conference football season was the 91st season of Southeastern Conference (SEC) football, taking place during the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 26, 2023, and ended with the 2023 SEC Championship Game on December 2, 2023. The SEC was a Power Five conference in the current College Football Playoff system. The season schedule was released on September 20, 2022. This was also the final year for the conference's divisional structure as Texas and Oklahoma will join the SEC in 2024.

Previous season
Georgia defeated LSU 50–30 in the 2022 SEC Championship Game.

The Georgia Bulldogs won their second straight CFP Championship by beating the TCU 65–7 in the 2023 CFP Championship Game in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

Recruiting classes
Source: Note: ESPN only ranks the top 40 teams.

SEC Media Days
The 2023 SEC Media days were held on July 17–20, 2023 at Grand Hyatt Nashville in downtown Nashville, TN. The Preseason Polls were released in July 2023. Each team had their head coach available to talk to the media at the event. Coverage of the event was televised on SEC Network and ESPN.

The teams and representatives in respective order were as follows:


 * SEC Commissioner – Greg Sankey
 * Monday July 17
 * LSU – Brian Kelly (HC), Jayden Daniels (QB), Josh Williams (RB), Mekhi Wingo (DT)
 * Missouri - Eliah Drinkwitz (HC), Kris Abrams-Draine (DB), Javon Foster (OL), Darius Robinson (DL)
 * Texas A&M – Jimbo Fisher (HC), Fadil Diggs (DL), McKinnley Jackson (DL), Ainias Smith (WR)
 * Tuesday July 18
 * Auburn – Hugh Freeze (HC), Luke Deal (TE), Elijah McAllister (LB), Kameron Stutts (OL)
 * Georgia – Kirby Smart (HC), Brock Bowers (TE), Kamari Lassiter (DB), Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (OL)
 * Mississippi State – Zach Arnett (HC), Jaden Crumedy (DT), Jo'Quavious Marks (RB), Will Rogers (QB)
 * Vanderbilt – Clark Lea (HC), Ethan Barr (LB), Jaylen Mahoney (S), Will Sheppard (WR)
 * Wednesday July 19
 * Alabama – Nick Saban (HC), JC Latham (OL), Kool-Aid McKinstry (DB), Dallas Turner (LB)
 * Arkansas – Sam Pittman (HC), Landon Jackson (DE), KJ Jefferson (QB), Raheim Sanders (RB)
 * Florida – Billy Napier (HC), Kingsley Eguakun (OL), Jason Marshall Jr. (DB), Ricky Pearsall (WR)
 * Kentucky – Mark Stoops (HC), Eli Cox (OL), Octavious Oxendine (DL), J. J. Weaver (LB)
 * Thursday July 20
 * Ole Miss – Lane Kiffin (HC), Cedric Johnson (DE), Quinshon Judkins (RB), Deantre Prince (CB)
 * South Carolina – Shane Beamer (HC), Tonka Hemingway (DL), Kai Kroeger (P), Spencer Rattler (QB)
 * Tennessee - Josh Heupel (HC), Joe Milton (QB), Omari Thomas (DL), Jacob Warren (TE)

Preseason media polls
references:

All−American Teams
Sources:

Media
First Team

Second Team

Third Team

Coaches
First Team

Second Team

Third Team

references:

Pre-season changes
Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin was fired after posting a 9–12 record with the school over two years. Cadillac Williams was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On November 28, Auburn announced that they had signed Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze to take over their head coaching position beginning in 2023.

Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach died after suffering a major heart attack. Mississippi State still elected to play in their bowl game. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett was named interim head coach during Leach's hospitalization and promoted to permanent head coach after Leach's death.

Coaches
Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2023 season

Mid-season changes

 * On November 12, 2023, Texas A&M fired head coach Jimbo Fisher with three weeks remaining in the season following a 6–4 start. He held the position since 2018 after serving as the head coach for Florida State from 2010 to 2017. His $77.5 million dollar buyout was the largest buyout in college football history. Elijah Robinson was named interim head coach and lead the team to a 1–2 record including a Texas Bowl loss to Oklahoma State.
 * On November 13, 2023, Mississippi State fired head coach Zach Arnett with two weeks remaining in the season following a 4–6 start. He had held the position since Mike Leach's death before the team's bowl game the previous year. Greg Knox was named interim head coach, a position he had held for Mississippi State in 2017 and for Florida in 2021. He led the team to a 1–1 record.

Post-season changes

 * On January 10, 2024, Alabama head coach Nick Saban retired after posting a 201–29 record with the school. Kalen DeBoer was hired as his successor following a trip to the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship with Washington in 2023. He was also the head coach for Sioux Falls—where he won three NAIA Football National Championships—from 2005 to 2009 and Fresno State from 2020 to 2021.

Schedules
All times Central time.

† denotes Homecoming game

Rankings reflect those of the AP poll for weeks 1 through 9. Rankings from Week 10 until the end of the Season reflect those of the College Football Playoff Rankings.

Regular season
The schedule was released on September 20, 2022. The season will begin on August 31, 2023, and will end with the SEC Championship Game on December 2, 2023.

Bowl games
For the 2020–2025 bowl cycle, The SEC will have annually eight appearances in the following bowls: Sugar Bowl and Peach Bowl (unless they are selected for playoffs filled by a SEC and at-large team if champion is in the playoffs), Citrus Bowl, Duke's Mayo Bowl, Gator Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Music City Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl and Texas Bowl. The SEC teams will go to a New Year's Six bowl if a team finishes higher than the champions of Power Five conferences in the final College Football Playoff rankings. The SEC champion are also eligible for the College Football Playoff if they're among the top four teams in the final CFP ranking.

Rankings are from CFP Poll. All times Central Time Zone.

Selection of teams

 * Bowl eligible (9): Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M
 * Bowl-ineligible (5): Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt

Head to head matchups
Updated with the results of all games.

SEC vs Power Five matchups
The following games include SEC teams competing against Power Five conferences teams from the (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Notre Dame and Pac-12). All rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game.

Note:† Denotes Neutral Site Game

SEC vs Group of Five matchups
The following games include SEC teams competing against "Group of Five" teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt.

Note:† Denotes Neutral Site Game

SEC vs FBS independents matchups
The following games include SEC teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, UConn and UMass.

SEC vs FCS matchups
The Football Championship Subdivision comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs.

SEC Records against other conferences
2023–24 records against non-conference foes:

Regular Season

Post Season

Television Selections
The Southeastern Conference has television contracts with ESPN and CBS, which allow games to be broadcast across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, FS1 and FS2. Streaming broadcasts for games under SEC control are streamed on ESPN+. Alabama operates its own network, SEC Network, in conjunction with ESPN. Games under the control of other conferences fall under the contracts of the opposing conference.

* Unconfirmed total selections for the week.

Players of the Year
On December 6, 2023, the Southeastern Conference released their Players of the Year and All-Conference Honors at the end of the season. Source:

All-SEC teams
The following players earned All-SEC honors. Any teams showing (_) following their name are indicating the number of All-SEC honors awarded to that university for first- and second-team respectively.

Source:

Notes:
 * RS = Return Specialist
 * AP/ST = All-Purpose/Special Teams Player (not a kicker or returner)
 * † Two-time first team selection;
 * ‡ Three-time first team selection

All-Americans
Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. College Football All-American consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

List of All American Teams

 * American Football Coaches Association All-America Team
 * Associated Press All-America Team
 * CBS Sports All-America Team
 * The Athletic All-America Team
 * FOX All-America Team
 * Sports Illustrated All-America Team
 * USA Today All-America Team
 * Walter Camp All-America Team
 * Writers Association of America All-America Team
 * The Sporting News College Football All-America Team
 * ESPN All-America Team
 * PFF College All-America Team
 * Athlon Sports College Football's Postseason All-America Team
 * Phil Steele's Postseason All-American Team
 * All-American College Football Team and Individual Honors

All-SEC freshman
Offense

Defense

Special Teams

Source:

National award winners
2023 College Football Award Winners

NFL draft
The following players were selected in the 2024 NFL draft.