May 31, 2014
Ole Miss FAQ | Ticket Information
The SEC Network’s traveling two-hour Saturday morning college football show, SEC Nation, will air from the grounds of LP Field in Nashville prior to the Ole Miss-Vanderbilt game Saturday, Sept. 6.
SEC Nation, designed to be similar to ESPN’s highly popular College GameDay production, will broadcast from 9-11 a.m., CT from a LP Field parking lot next to the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge, which connects the 67,000-seat stadium with downtown Nashville.
The SEC Nation set also will be next to Vandyville, Vanderbilt’s official tailgate location for the Ole Miss game, just outside the south gates of LP Field.
The Commodores, coming off a 9-4 campaign and BBVA Compass Bowl victory, and the 8-5 Rebels will kickoff Sept. 6 at 3:30 p.m. CT at LP Field. The Vanderbilt-Ole Miss game is the only pairing of SEC schools on that Saturday, and will be televised to a national audience by ESPN.
The announcement that SEC Nation will air from the banks of the Cumberland River prior to the Vanderbilt-Ole Miss game came Saturday at the Music City Sports Fest in Nashville’s new Music City Center. ESPN and SEC Network officials used the event as a backdrop to announce three new early-season locations for the show and trumpet the addition of talk radio provocateur Paul Finebaum and former LSU and NFL star Marcus Spears to the impressive lineup of SEC Nation personalities.
Finebaum, who will host a daily SEC Network show, and Spears will join previously announced host Joe Tessitore and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow as SEC Nation cast members.
“Our SEC Nation team encompasses the veteran voices our fans expect and insider knowledge they deserve. Paul and Marcus bring a variety of experiences that will complement Joe and Tim, providing viewers with a high-caliber, full view of SEC matchups each week,” said Stephanie Druley, ESPN vice president, production for college networks.
On Friday, Tessitore and Spears were part of a SEC Nation group that toured Vanderbilt’s campus and spent time with Commodore Head Coach Derek Mason and offensive coordinator Karl Dorrell.
SEC Nation will premiere Thursday, August 28 from Columbia, S.C., where the Gamecocks and Texas A&M Aggies square off to open the season at 5 p.m., CT. Later that day, Vanderbilt opens its 2014 campaign by hosting Temple from the Mid-American Conference, with opening kick scheduled for 8:15 p.m., CT. Both Thursday night games will be televised by the SEC Network.
Besides announcing the LP Field date on Sept. 6, SEC Network officials also revealed that SEC Nation will broadcast Saturday, Sept. 13 from Gainesville, Fla., and Saturday, Sept. 20 from Tuscaloosa, Ala. The show will travel to all 14 SEC schools by season’s end.
Vanderbilt Athletics officials hope Commodore fans converge on the SEC Nation set in large numbers. The show invites all college football fans to participate in its audience.
“We could not be happier than hearing news that the SEC Nation show is broadcasting next to Vandyville prior to the game Sept. 6. This is more evidence to what an important early-season matchup the Vanderbilt-Ole Miss is in the SEC and another reason why our fans need to go ahead and get their tickets to the game,” Vanderbilt assistant athletics director Steve Walsh said.
In recent years, the Vanderbilt-Ole Miss series have produced some classic outcomes. In 2012, the Commodores registered a 27-26 come-from-behind victory in Oxford. Last year, Vanderbilt stormed back from a deficit to take a 35-32 lead in the closing moments only to witness the Rebels post a 39-35 rally in the season opener.
Vanderbilt has captured five of the last eight games played between the SEC East-West division annual rivals.
The SEC Network is a new national sports network launching August 14. It will operate out of Charlotte, N.C., by ESPN in conjunction with the SEC. The Network will air 45 college football games, more than 100 men’s basketball games, 60 women’s basketball games and 75 baseball contests during the upcoming 2014-15 season. With its accompanying digital platforms, the SEC Network will air SEC content 24/7 including more than 1,000 total sporting events from the conference.
SEC Network programming will include in-depth commentary and analysis from studio shows, Finebaum’s daily radio show from 1-5 p.m., CT, and daily news and information original content such as a SEC Storied series, spring football games and more.
Several national television distributors, including AT&T U-Verse, DISH, Google Fiber and National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) have agreed to carry the SEC Network.
