2008 SEC football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
Eastern Division
#1 Florida x$#		7	–	1		13	–	1
#13 Georgia		6	–	2		10	–	3
Vanderbilt		4	–	4		7	–	6
South Carolina		4	–	4		7	–	6
Tennessee		3	–	5		5	–	7
Kentucky		2	–	6		7	–	6
Western Division
#6 Alabama x%		8	–	0		12	–	2
#14 Ole Miss		5	–	3		9	–	4
LSU		3	–	5		8	–	5
Arkansas		2	–	6		5	–	7
Auburn		2	–	6		5	–	7
Mississippi State		2	–	6		4	–	8
Championship: Florida 31, Alabama 20
# – BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2008 Dr Pepper SEC Championship Game was played December 6, 2008, in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia to determine the 2008 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Gators were classified as the home team. Before this game was played, the designated "home team", chosen on an alternating basis, was 10–6 (11-6 after Florida's win in this game) in SEC Championship Games. The SEC East is 10–6 in SEC Championship games (11-6 after Florida's win), with the Florida Gators accounting for six of the 10 victories. (seven after this game) Before this game, Alabama had represented the SEC West five times in the conference championship game with a 2–3 record.

The game was televised by CBS Sports and kicked off at 4:00 pm EST.

The SEC Championship Game matches up the winner of the Eastern and Western divisions of the Southeastern Conference. The game was first played in 1992, when the conference expanded from 10 to 12 teams with the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. The SEC was the first conference in college football to have a conference championship game. Six other conferences currently have conference championship games (ACC, BIG 10, CUSA, MAC, MWC & PAC 12).

Alabama entered Nick Saban's second year as head coach with an AP preseason ranking of 24. After finishing the 2007 season 7–6, including a win in the Independence Bowl, the Crimson Tide brought in one of the nation's top recruiting classes and was expected to improve in 2008. The team started off strong in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff with a convincing 34-10 win over #9 Clemson. Four weeks later they shocked the nation by defeating #3 Georgia 41–30 in Athens after building a 31–0 halftime lead. The rest of the season included a 27–21 overtime victory over #16 LSU in Nick Saban's first game in Baton Rouge against his old team, as well as a 36–0 shutout of Auburn to end Alabama's 6-game losing streak to their in-state rival. The Crimson Tide finished the regular season with a 12–0 record and a #1 ranking in the BCS, AP, and Coaches' Polls.

...
Wikipedia