The 2009 Southeastern Conference football season started on Thursday, September 3 as conference member South Carolina visited North Carolina State. The conference's other 11 teams began their respective 2009 season of NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) competition on Saturday, September 5. All teams started their season at home except Kentucky, who started their season on neutral turf at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio against Miami (OH), Georgia, who traveled to Oklahoma State, and Alabama, who traveled to the Georgia Dome to face Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff for the second straight year.