CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

2008 Vanderbilt

7–⁠6 (4–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Bobby Johnson.

Schedule and results

Vanderbilt in 2008, game by game: won at Miami (OH) 34–13; won vs. No. 24 South Carolina 24–17; won vs. Rice 38–21; won at Ole Miss 23–17; won vs. No. 13 Auburn 14–13; lost at Mississippi State 14–17; lost at No. 10 Georgia 14–24; lost vs. Duke 7–10; lost vs. No. 4 Florida 14–42; won at Kentucky 31–24; lost vs. Tennessee 10–20; lost at Wake Forest 10–23; won vs. No. 18 Boston College 16–14+21−28Won 34–13 at Miami (OH)+21Miami (OH)Won 24–17 vs. No. 24 South Carolina+7No. 24 South CarolinaWon 38–21 vs. Rice+17RiceWon 23–17 at Ole Miss+6Ole MissWon 14–13 vs. No. 13 Auburn+1No. 13 AuburnLost 14–17 at Mississippi State-3Mississippi Sta…Lost 14–24 at No. 10 Georgia-10No. 10 GeorgiaLost 7–10 vs. Duke-3DukeLost 14–42 vs. No. 4 Florida-28No. 4 FloridaWon 31–24 at Kentucky+7KentuckyLost 10–20 vs. Tennessee-10TennesseeLost 10–23 at Wake Forest-13Wake ForestWon 16–14 vs. No. 18 Boston College+2No. 18 Boston College
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 28atMiami (OH)W 34–⁠1348%
Sep 4vs24South CarolinaW 24–⁠1750%
Sep 13vsRiceW 38–⁠2168%
Sep 20atOle MissW 23–⁠1755%
Oct 4vs13AuburnW 14–⁠1347%
Oct 11atMississippi StateL 14–⁠1754%
Oct 18at10GeorgiaL 14–⁠2422%
Oct 25vsDukeL 7–⁠1076%
Nov 8vs4FloridaL 14–⁠4220%
Nov 15atKentuckyW 31–⁠2433%
Nov 22vsTennesseeL 10–⁠2062%
Nov 29atWake ForestL 10–⁠2334%
Dec 31Bowls & playoffvs18Boston CollegeMusic City BowlW 16–⁠1429%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Boston College 16–⁠14 in the Music City Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 5th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 57th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 5: 21
  2. Wk 6: 19
  3. Wk 7: 13
  4. Wk 8: 22
Record
7–⁠6
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 5th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 13
Points
249–⁠255
Coach
Bobby Johnson
Elo
1498 +33 this season
SP+ rating
-2.0 No. 71 of 120; offense No. 113, defense No. 27, special teams No. 38
SRS
3.8 No. 45 of 120 in FBS
Recruiting class
No. 76
Offensive coordinator
Ted Cain
Defensive coordinator
Bruce Fowler
Captains
Reshard Langford, Bradley Vierling and George Smith
Offense
Multiple
Defense
4–⁠3

How good, play by play

  • Offense111th of 120
  • Defense43rd of 120
  • Offense, opponent-adjusted113th of 120
  • Defense, opponent-adjusted50th of 120
EPA per playSuccessExplosivenessFBS rank
Offense-0.0635%0.92111th of 120
Defense0.0141%0.8843rd of 120
Opponent-adjusted-0.01 off
0.02 def		37% off
41% def		—113th off
50th def
How these are measured

Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season. The opponent-adjusted row (offense / defense) is CollegeFootballData.com’s WEPA, which accounts for who each team played.

Drives and havoc

Points per trip inside the 40Average startHavoc
Offense-0.1own 312% allowed
Defense0.0own 323% caused

A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. From CollegeFootballData.com.

Top recruits in the 2008 class

Taylor Loftley SDE★★★No. 825
John Cole WR★★★No. 857
Al Owens S★★★No. 951
Casey Hayward ATH★★★No. 1019
Michael Bryant OT★★★No. 1154

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2008 class by position

SignedStarsRating
Receivers22.50.818
Offensive line23.00.824
Defensive line43.00.820
Linebackers12.00.767
Defensive backs13.00.839
Athletes and specialists42.80.803
Whole class142.80.813

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

Drafted in 2009

The 2009 draft
Rd 4D.J. Moore CBChicago Bears

All-SEC

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 2008 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2008 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Alabama8–⁠012–⁠26
Florida7–⁠113–⁠11
Georgia6–⁠210–⁠313
Ole Miss5–⁠39–⁠414
South Carolina4–⁠47–⁠6
Vanderbilt4–⁠47–⁠6
LSU3–⁠58–⁠5
Tennessee3–⁠55–⁠7
Kentucky2–⁠67–⁠6
Auburn2–⁠65–⁠7
Arkansas2–⁠65–⁠7
Mississippi State2–⁠64–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.