- New Two-Hour Edition Set for Pre-CFP Debut
- Includes Look at Georgia’s Rise Under Kirby Smart and LSU’s 2019 National Championship Season
SEC Network will revisit fan favorite Saturdays in the South: A History of SEC Football Presented by Regions with the release of a newly expanded Part 8: SEC, SEC, SEC! to include the 150th anniversary season of college football. The two-hour extended cut, debuting on Sunday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. ET on the eve of the Georgia-Alabama CFP Championship Game re-match, will cover the recent rise of the Georgia program under Kirby Smart featuring their run to the national title game four years ago as well as LSU’s historic 2019 national championship season.
Through more than 150 years of college football and nine decades of the SEC, so much has changed. However, the conference remains home to some of the best football in the country – winning more than half of the sport’s national titles in the first 20 years of the new century. Expansion in 2012 brought two more programs in Texas A&M and Missouri. Nick Saban has arguably become one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football, Kirby Smart has created a national title contender in Georgia and Ed Orgeron led LSU to an undefeated championship season in 2019 as college football celebrated its 150th anniversary. More than ever before, it’s clear that the indelible moments in SEC history encompass the very history of the region – and the very history of America.
The 8-part documentary Saturdays in the South: A History of SEC Football was directed by Fritz Mitchell and produced by Andy Billman and Aaron Cohen.
“I spent two years living, eating and breathing SEC football, and to be asked by ESPN to go back and get seconds was an unexpected thrill,” said Mitchell. “The Georgia and LSU stories that appear in this new extended eighth episode truly round out 150 years of college football. As it’s been said, football didn’t start in the South but sometimes it feels that way.”
An Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker, Mitchell started his television career as a researcher for CBS Sports in 1982, and has directed and produced documentaries for ESPN and PBS since 1998, including two films for the celebrated 30 for 30 series – “The Legend of Jimmy the Greek” and “Ghosts of Ole Miss.”
Billman is an Emmy, NAACP and Peabody award-winning producer with a passion for sports and storytelling. He started at ESPN in July of 2002 and has worked on SportsCenter, the ESPY Awards, Playmakers, Tilt, Dream Job and 30 for 30. He also directed the documentaries “The Stars Are Aligned” for the launch of SEC Network and “Believeland” as part of 30 for 30.
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