CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 2008 season

Florida finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 13–⁠1 under Urban Meyer, after it beat Oklahoma 24–⁠14 in the BCS National Championship. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Florida 31, No. 1 Alabama 20 (Dec 6, 2008). One FBS team finished unbeaten. 70 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma, who also won the Davey O’Brien.

The Heisman vote: Sam Bradford 1,726 points, Colt McCoy 1,604
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Sam Bradford QB, Oklahoma1,726300315196
Colt McCoy QB, Texas1,604266288230
Tim Tebow QB, Florida1,575309207234
Graham Harrell QB, Texas Tech213134486
Michael Crabtree WR, Texas Tech11632753
Shonn Greene RB, Iowa655932
Pat White QB, West Virginia19318
Nate Davis QB, Ball State10018
Rey Maualuga LB, USC9211
Javon Ringer RB, Michigan State8105

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Florida (48)Southeastern Conference
2Utah (16)Mountain West Conference
3USC (1)Pac-10
4TexasBig 12
5OklahomaBig 12
6AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
7TCUMountain West Conference
8Penn StateBig Ten
9Ohio StateBig Ten
10OregonPac-10
11Boise StateWestern Athletic Conference
12Texas TechBig 12
13GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
14Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
15Virginia TechAtlantic Coast Conference
16Oklahoma StateBig 12
17CincinnatiBig East
18Oregon StatePac-10
19MissouriBig 12
20IowaBig Ten
21Florida StateAtlantic Coast Conference
22Georgia TechAtlantic Coast Conference
23West VirginiaBig East
24Michigan StateBig Ten
25BYUMountain West Conference

Biggest upsets

Sep 25, 2008Oregon State 27, 1USC 21
Nov 8, 2008Iowa 24, 3Penn State 23
Sep 27, 2008Ole Miss 31, 4Florida 30
Sep 6, 2008East Carolina 24, 8West Virginia 3
Sep 27, 2008Michigan 27, 9Wisconsin 25
Oct 16, 2008TCU 32, 9BYU 7
Oct 2, 2008Pittsburgh 26, 10South Florida 21
Aug 30, 200824Alabama 34, 9Clemson 10
Oct 11, 200817Oklahoma State 28, 3Missouri 23
Nov 29, 2008Kansas 40, 12Missouri 37
Dec 5, 2008Buffalo 42, 12Ball State 24
Jan 2, 200922Ole Miss 47, 8Texas Tech 34

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 2008, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalOregon: Wk 1 No. 21, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 No. 17, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 23, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 No. 23, Wk 11 unranked, Wk 12 unranked, Wk 13 No. 24, Wk 14 No. 19, Wk 15 No. 16, Final No. 1010 OregonOhio State: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 13, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 12, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 10, Final No. 99 Ohio StatePenn State: Wk 1 No. 22, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 17, Wk 4 No. 16, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 6, Final No. 88 Penn StateTCU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 24, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 15, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 15, Wk 13 No. 15, Wk 14 No. 14, Wk 15 No. 11, Final No. 77 TCUAlabama: Wk 1 No. 24, Wk 2 No. 13, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Final No. 66 AlabamaOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 4, Final No. 55 OklahomaTexas: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 3, Final No. 44 TexasUSC: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 5, Final No. 33 USCUtah: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 22, Wk 3 No. 22, Wk 4 No. 20, Wk 5 No. 17, Wk 6 No. 15, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 14, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 7, Final No. 22 UtahFlorida: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Final No. 11 Florida
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Utahunranked → No. 2
  2. TCUunranked → No. 7
  3. AlabamaNo. 24 → No. 6
  4. Boise Stateunranked → No. 11
  5. Penn StateNo. 22 → No. 8

Fell

  1. LSUNo. 7 → unranked
  2. ClemsonNo. 9 → unranked
  3. AuburnNo. 10 → unranked
  4. West VirginiaNo. 8 → No. 23
  5. MissouriNo. 6 → No. 19

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsGraham Harrell (Texas Tech)5,111 yds
Passing touchdownsSam Bradford (Oklahoma)50 TD
Passer ratingSam Bradford (Oklahoma)180.8
Rushing yardsDonald Brown (UConn)2,083 yds
Rushing touchdownsJavon Ringer (Michigan State) and MiQuale Lewis (Ball State)22 TD
Yards per carryShun White (Navy)8.3
ReceptionsCasey Fitzgerald (North Texas)113 catches
Receiving yardsAustin Collie (BYU)1,538 yds
Yards per catchBrennan Marion (Tulsa)25.9
Receiving touchdownsJarett Dillard (Rice)20 TD
PointsJeff Wolfert (Missouri)133 pts
Points per gameDez Bryant (Oklahoma State)16.0
Total offenseCase Keenum (Houston)5,241 yds
Total offense per gameCase Keenum (Houston)403.2
Punt return averageAntonio Brown (Central Michigan)20.5
Kickoff return averageTravis Shelton (Temple)31.3

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

FBS

Atlantic Coast Conference
Virginia Tech
Big 12
Oklahoma
Big East
Cincinnati
Big Ten
Ohio State and Penn State (shared)
Conference USA
East Carolina
Mid-American Conference
Buffalo
Mountain West Conference
Utah
Pac-10
USC
Southeastern Conference
Florida
Sun Belt Conference
Troy
Western Athletic Conference
Boise State

FCS

Big Sky
Montana and Weber State (shared)
Big South
Liberty
Colonial Athletic Association
James Madison
Great West Conference
Cal Poly
Ivy League
Brown and Harvard (shared)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois (shared)
Northeast Conference
UAlbany
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
Patriot League
Colgate
Southern Conference
App State
Southland Conference
Central Arkansas and Texas State (shared)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling

Division II and below

Lone Star Conference
Abilene Christian

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

27 playersAll 11 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 2008 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 2008 All-America teams page.

The 2008 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Defensive player of the year

Scholarship and character

Coaches

The champion’s staff

Every title staff

Florida 54 on the staff list

Support staff (44)

Strength and conditioning

  • Mickey Marotti director of strength and conditioning
  • Scott Holsopple assistant director of strength and conditioning
  • Mark Campbell coordinator, strength and conditioning
  • Frank Piraino coordinator, strength and conditioning

Operations and recruiting

  • Jon Clark director of football operations
  • Terry Jackson director of player and Community relations
  • Brian Voltolini director of football video, Software operations
  • Wayne Cederholm assistant director, video services
  • Nancy Scarborough executive assistant to head coach
  • Emily Heater Program assistant
  • Mark Pantoni Program assistant
  • Katie Plageman staff assistant
  • Amy Halpin staff assistant
  • Jason Storch football Academic Counselor
  • Tony Meacham football Academic Counselor
  • Dave Houts director of video services
  • Jeremy Foley director of athletics
  • Greg McGarity executive senior associate athletics director (Internal Affairs; supervises football with the AD)
  • Chip Howard associate athletics director – operations and Facilities (football game operations, team travel)

Sports medicine and nutrition

  • Anthony Pass associate director of sports Health, head athletic trainer, football
  • Kyle Johnston assistant athletic trainer, football
  • Meghan Fornoff assistant athletic trainer, football
  • Marty Huegel Physical Therapist
  • Brad Patterson Massage Therapist
  • Gerald Hazouri, MD team Ophthalmologist
  • Cheryl Zonkowski director, sports nutrition
  • Chris Patrick assistant athletic director for sports Health
  • Tim Shay Physical Therapist
  • Susan Tillman Physical Therapist
  • Anna Grout sports nutritionist
  • Joshua Chatman Graduate assistant (sports Health), Graduate Intern, 2008 athletic trainers
  • Ian Brokaw Intern, 2008 athletic trainers

Equipment

  • Jason Baisden football equipment manager
  • Jeff McGrew assistant equipment manager
  • Van Stuckey director of athletic equipment
  • Mike Spiegler associate athletics director – Auxiliary services (athletic equipment operations, football team travel)

Video, communications and other staff

  • Hiram de Fries football staff
  • Ross DeWitt director of Aviation
  • Keith Carodine senior associate athletics director – Student Life (football academic support)
  • Norm Carlson assistant athletics director – Historian
  • Steve McClain associate athletics director for communications (football media contact)
  • Susan Swiderski Learning Specialist, Office of Student Life (football support staff)
  • Buddy Wellman assistant coordinator, Compliance and Student services (football support staff)
  • Ann Hughes assistant director for Student services, Office of Student Life (football support staff)

The staff as the school listed it that season, roles in the source’s words (students and graduate assistants left out). Names link to coach pages where we have one, else to Wikipedia. Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages.

Final BCS standings

1Oklahoma12–⁠1
2Florida12–⁠1
3Texas11–⁠1
4Alabama12–⁠1
5USC11–⁠1
6Utah12–⁠0
7Texas Tech11–⁠1
8Penn State11–⁠1
9Boise State12–⁠0
10Ohio State10–⁠2
11TCU10–⁠2
12Cincinnati11–⁠2
13Oklahoma State9–⁠3
14Georgia Tech9–⁠3
15Georgia9–⁠3
16BYU10–⁠2
17Oregon9–⁠3
18Michigan State9–⁠3
19Virginia Tech9–⁠4
20Pittsburgh9–⁠3
21Missouri9–⁠4
22Ball State12–⁠1
23Northwestern9–⁠3
24Boston College9–⁠4
25Ole Miss8–⁠4

The last standings of the season, released December 7: the Bowl Championship Series’ formula of polls and computer rankings that matched No. 1 and No. 2 in the title game, 1998–⁠2013. From Wikipedia’s season rankings article (CC BY-SA); records as it lists them.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 20, 2008Wake Forest 29, Navy 19EagleBank Bowl
Dec 20, 2008Colorado State 40, Fresno State 35New Mexico Bowl
Dec 20, 2008South Florida 41, Memphis 14St. Petersburg Bowl
Dec 20, 2008Arizona 31, 20BYU 21Las Vegas Bowl
Dec 21, 2008Southern Miss 30, Troy 27New Orleans Bowl
Dec 23, 200811TCU 17, 9Boise State 16Poinsettia Bowl
Dec 24, 2008Notre Dame 49, Hawai’i 21Hawai’i Bowl
Dec 26, 2008Florida Atlantic 24, Central Michigan 21Motor City Bowl
Dec 27, 2008West Virginia 31, North Carolina 30Meineke Car Care Bowl
Dec 27, 2008Florida State 42, Wisconsin 13Champs Sports Bowl
Dec 27, 2008California 24, Miami 17Emerald Bowl
Dec 28, 2008Louisiana Tech 17, Northern Illinois 10Independence Bowl
Dec 29, 2008Rutgers 29, NC State 23PapaJohns.com Bowl
Dec 29, 200819Missouri 30, 24Northwestern 23Alamo Bowl
Dec 30, 2008Maryland 42, Nevada 35Humanitarian Bowl
Dec 30, 2008Rice 38, Western Michigan 14Texas Bowl
Dec 30, 200816Oregon 42, 14Oklahoma State 31Holiday Bowl
Dec 31, 2008Houston 34, Air Force 28Armed Forces Bowl
Dec 31, 200825Oregon State 3, 23Pittsburgh 0Sun Bowl
Dec 31, 2008Vanderbilt 16, 18Boston College 14Music City Bowl
Dec 31, 2008Kansas 42, Minnesota 21Insight Bowl
Dec 31, 2008LSU 38, 15Georgia Tech 3Chick-fil-A Bowl
Jan 1, 2009Iowa 31, South Carolina 10Outback Bowl
Jan 1, 200917Georgia 24, 21Michigan State 12Capital One Bowl
Jan 1, 2009Nebraska 26, Clemson 21Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 20095USC 38, 6Penn State 24Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 2009Virginia Tech 20, 13Cincinnati 7Orange Bowl
Jan 2, 200922Ole Miss 47, 8Texas Tech 34Cotton Bowl
Jan 2, 2009Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19Liberty Bowl
Jan 2, 20097Utah 31, 1Alabama 17Sugar Bowl
Jan 3, 2009UConn 38, Buffalo 20International Bowl
Jan 5, 20093Texas 24, 10Ohio State 21Fiesta Bowl
Jan 6, 2009Tulsa 45, 12Ball State 13GMAC Bowl
Jan 8, 20092Florida 24, 4Oklahoma 14BCS National Championship

Rule book changes

Every rule book

The 2008 NCAA rule book against the one before: 3 new, 39 changed, 1 renumbered and 2 retitled articles.

Rule 1: The Game, Field, Players and Equipment

  • Changed Rule 1-1-1 (General Provisions The Game)
  • Changed Rule 1-1-5 Team Captains (General Provisions The Game)
  • Changed Rule 1-3-2 Administration and Enforcement (The Ball Specifications)

Rule 2: Definitions

  • Changed Rule 2-2-4 When Ball Is Ready for Play (The Ball: Live, Dead, Loose Live Ball)
  • Changed Rule 2-3-3 Chop Block (Blocking Blocking)
  • Changed Rule 2-8-2 Forward Progress (Forward, Beyond and Forward Progress Forward, Beyond)
  • Changed Rule 2-13-1 (Huddle)
  • Changed Rule 2-15-9 Field Goal Attempt (Kicks Legal and Illegal Kicks)
  • Changed Rule 2-27-1 (Team and Player Designations Teams A and B)
  • Retitled Rule 2-27-7 Runner and Ball Carrier (Team and Player Designations Teams A and B)
  • Changed Rule 2-29-2 Play Clock (Timing Devices Game Clock)
  • Changed Rule 2-30-3 Scrimmage Kick Play (Play Classification Forward Pass Play)
  • Changed Rule 2-30-4 Running Play (Play Classification Forward Pass Play)

Rule 3: Periods, Time Factors and Substitutions

  • Changed Rule 3-2-4 Timing Devices (Playing Time and Intermissions Length of Periods and Intermissions)
  • Changed Rule 3-4-2 Illegal Delay of the Game (Delays Delaying the Start of a Half)

Rule 4: Ball in Play, Dead Ball, Out of Bounds

  • Changed Rule 4-1-1 Dead Ball Becomes Alive (Ball in PlayDead Ball)
  • Changed Rule 4-1-3 Ball Declared Dead (Ball in PlayDead Ball)
  • Changed Rule 4-1-4 Ball Ready for Play (Ball in PlayDead Ball)
  • Changed Rule 4-1-5 Play-Clock Count (Ball in PlayDead Ball)
  • Changed Rule 4-2-4 Out of Bounds at Forward Point (Out of Bounds Player Out of Bounds)

Rule 5: Series of Downs, Line to Gain

  • Changed Rule 5-2-7 Foul Between Series (Down and Possession After a Penalty Foul During Free Kick Down)

Rule 6: Kicks

  • Changed Rule 6-1-3 Touching and Recovery of a Free Kick (Free Kicks)
  • New Rule 6-1-8 Fouls By Kicking Team (Free Kicks)
  • Changed Rule 6-3-5 Catch or Recovery by Receiving Team (Scrimmage Kicks Behind the Neutral Zone)
  • New Rule 6-3-13 Fouls By Kicking Team (Scrimmage Kicks Behind the Neutral Zone)
  • Changed Rule 6-5-1 (Fair Catch Dead Where Caught)

Rule 7: Snapping and Passing the Ball

  • Changed Rule 7-3-2 Illegal Forward Pass (Forward Pass Legal Forward Pass)
  • Changed Rule 7-3-7 Incompleted Pass (Forward Pass Legal Forward Pass)

Rule 8: Scoring

  • Changed Rule 8-3-3 Fouls During a Try Before a Change of Team Possession (Try Down How Scored)
  • Changed Rule 8-3-4 Fouls During a Try After a Change of Team Possession (Try Down How Scored)
  • Changed Rule 8-3-5 Fouls After a Try (Try Down How Scored)

Rule 9: Conduct of Players and Others Subject to the Rules

  • New Rule 9-1-3 Initiating Contact/Targeting an Opponent (Contact and Interference Fouls Flagrant Fouls)
  • Renumbered Rule 9-1-4 Roughing or Running Into Kicker or Holder (Contact and Interference Fouls Flagrant Fouls) was Rule 9-1-3
  • Changed Rule 9-1-5 Illegal Interference (Contact and Interference Fouls Flagrant Fouls)
  • Changed Rule 9-1-6 Game Administration Interference (Contact and Interference Fouls Flagrant Fouls)
  • Changed Rule 9-3-6 When Ball Is Loose (Blocking, Use of Hands or Arms Who May Block)

Rule 10: Penalty Enforcement

  • Changed Rule 10-1-4 Offsetting Fouls (Penalties Completed How and When Completed)
  • Changed Rule 10-1-6 Live-BallDead-Ball Fouls (Penalties Completed How and When Completed)
  • Changed Rule 10-1-7 Interval Fouls (Penalties Completed How and When Completed)
  • Changed Rule 10-2-2 Procedures (Enforcement Procedures Spots)

Rule 11: The Officials: Jurisdiction and Duties

  • Changed Rule 11-8-1 (Back Judge Basic Responsibilities)

Rule 12: Instant Replay

  • Changed Rule 12-3-3 Miscellaneous (Reviewable Plays Side Line, Goal Line, End Line)
  • Retitled Rule 12-3-4 Limitations on Reviewable Plays (Reviewable Plays Side Line, Goal Line, End Line)
  • Changed Rule 12-5-2 When to Stop a Game (Initiating the Replay Process Game Stop)
  • Changed Rule 12-6-2 Time Restrictions (Reviewing an On-field Ruling Procedures)

Only the first sentence of each article is compared, so a change deeper in an article (most penalty clauses, the overtime procedure) doesn’t show here, and a change that shows may be rewording. No rule text is kept: only numbers and headings. Rule books: NCAA, via Pierce’s provision dataset (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0).