2006 SEC Championship Game The 2006 SEC Championship Game was played on December 2 , 2006 , in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta , Georgia . The game matched SEC Western Division champion Arkansas against SEC Eastern Division champion Florida . The second meeting between the two schools in the championship game , it led to a 38 – 28 victory for Florida . The two teams had previously met in the championship game in 1995 , with the # 2 Gators winning 34 – 3 against Arkansas . Selection process . College football rules dictate that if a conference has twelve or more teams , an extra 9th conference game may be played as a championship game to determine the conference champion . 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 . Five other conferences currently have conference championship games ( Big 10 , Pac - 12 , ACC , CUSA & MAC ) . Regular season . Entering the championship game , both Arkansas and Florida were the subject of mass hype . Ranked # 8 and # 4 respectively , Arkansas was led by the dynamic running back tandem of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones , while Florida was led by star duo quarterback Chris Leak and wide receiver Dallas Baker . Arkansas . The preseason for Arkansas began as a disaster , with star running back Darren McFadden dislocating his toe , leaving Arkansas without its best weapon for the first game of the season . The regular season began just as disastrous , with a humiliating 50 – 14 loss against the USC Trojans . Coach Houston Nutt replaced starting quarterback Robert Johnson with star freshman Mitch Mustain after the former ' s poor play in the loss , and the latter ' s stellar performance . The change was instantly apparent for Arkansas , as Mustain helped to lead Arkansas to eight straight victories , including an overtime victory against the then # 22 Alabama Crimson Tide , and a startling 27 - 10 victory at the then # 2 Auburn Tigers . Relying on a powerful running game and a limited but efficient passing game , Arkansas handily won the games on the middle of its conference slate . But early in the first quarter in games won against Louisiana - Monroe and South Carolina , Mustain was kicked out for poor performance himself , including two interceptions early in the ULM game . , and replaced with Casey Dick in a controversial move . Dick finished the season with a 125 . 72 passer efficiency rating compared to Mustain ' s 120 . 53 . Although Dick led the Razorbacks to 2 more victories against Tennessee and Mississippi State with the latter clenching the Western Division for the Hogs , a poor performance contributed heavily in a loss to the LSU Tigers . Arkansas finished its regular season at 10 – 2 , with a 7 – 1 mark in conference play . Florida . Florida entered the 2006 season in the top 10 of many preseason lists . The Gators followed these high expectations by winning six straight games , including a 21 - 20 victory at # 13 Tennessee and a 23 - 10 victory against # 10 LSU . But on October 14 , 2006 , the Gators were defeated by # 10 Auburn 27 – 17 . But the Gators rebounded , and won the last 5 games of the regular season , winning the SEC Eastern Division title . Florida finished its regular season at 11 - 1 , with a 7 - 1 record in conference play . Using a two quarterback system , Coach Urban Meyer would employ Leak and freshman Tim Tebow , with the latter using his running ability to catch defenses out of position .