2008 Auburn Tigers football team

The 2008 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University during 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Tommy Tuberville served his tenth and final season as head coach at Auburn. He was joined by a new defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads and new offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, who attempted to implement Tuberville’s new without the proper players suited for the spread offense in a failed effort to correct the Tigers' offensive struggles in 2007. Tuberville fired Franklin six games into the season.

2008 Auburn Tigers football
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWestern Division
2008 record5–7 (2–6 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorTony Franklin (1st season, Fired 10/8)
Steve Ensminger (interim)
Offensive schemeAir Raid
Defensive coordinatorPaul Rhoads (1st season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumJordan–Hare Stadium
(Capacity: 87,451)
2008 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Eastern Division
No. 1 Florida x$#  7 –1     13 –1  
No. 13 Georgia  6 –2     10 –3  
Vanderbilt  4 –4     7 –6  
South Carolina  4 –4     7 –6  
Tennessee  3 –5     5 –7  
Kentucky  2 –6     7 –6  
Western Division
No. 6 Alabama x%  8 –0     12 –2  
No. 14 Ole Miss  5 –3     9 –4  
LSU  3 –5     8 –5  
Arkansas  2 –6     5 –7  
Auburn  2 –6     5 –7  
Mississippi State  2 –6     4 –8  
Championship: Florida 31, Alabama 20
    1. – BCS National Champion
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Auburn played a seven-game home schedule at Jordan–Hare Stadium, while traveling to Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia for the Tigers' first ever meeting with the West Virginia Mountaineers.[1] The Tennessee Volunteers returned to the Tigers' schedule for the first time since Auburn defeated Tennessee twice in AU's undefeated 2004 season. LSU, Arkansas, and Georgia rounded out Auburn's home conference schedule.

Pre-Season

Rankings

The Tigers entered the season with high expectations, ranked highly by multiple polls in the preseason. The Associated Press Poll placed Auburn at #10[2] while the USA Today Coaches' Poll, a component of the Bowl Championship Series rankings, had Auburn at #11.[3] Other rankings include:

# 7 – Rivals.com[4]
# 8 – Athlon[5]
# 9 – Sports Illustrated[6]
# 9 – CollegeTop25 Consensus[7]
# 10 – ESPN[8]
# 13 – Lindy's[9]
# 14 – CollegeFootballNews/Scout.com[10]

Watchlists and honors

Pre-season All-SEC Teams

Coaches All-SEC 1st Team – DT Sen’Derrick Marks & P Ryan Shoemaker
Coaches All-SEC 2nd Team – RB Ben Tate, OL Tyronne Green, LB Tray Blackmon & DB Jerraud Powers
Coaches All-SEC 3rd Team – DE Antonio Coleman

Schedule

Auburn's schedule consisted of eight Southeastern Conference opponents (four home, four away) and four non-conference opponents. AU meets Tennessee-Martin and West Virginia for the first time. The WVU game, a mid-season inter-conference Thursday night matchup, is the first of a two-game home-and-home series between the two teams. Of the remaining ten opponents that the Tigers have previously faced, Auburn holds the all-time series lead against all but Alabama and LSU. Four opponents — #1 Georgia, LSU, West Virginia and Tennessee — were ranked in both the preseason USA Today and AP Polls. Alabama was also ranked in the AP Poll. Tennessee dropped out of the polls before playing Auburn; however, Vanderbilt would enter the polls by the time the Commodores played Auburn.

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 306:00 pmLouisiana–Monroe*No. 10
PPVW 34–087,451
September 611:30 amSouthern Miss*No. 9
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL
RaycomW 27–1387,451
September 136:00 pmat Mississippi StateNo. 9
ESPN2[14]W 3–252,911
September 206:45 pmNo. 6 LSUNo. 10
ESPN[14]L 21–2687,451
September 272:30 pmTennesseeNo. 15
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL (rivalry)
CBSW 14–1287,451
October 45:00 pmat No. 19 VanderbiltNo. 13
ESPNL 13–1439,773
October 114:00 pmArkansasNo. 20
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL
PPVL 22–2585,782
October 236:30 pmat West Virginia*
ESPN[14]L 17–3460,765
November 111:30 amat Ole Miss
RaycomL 7–1757,324
November 81:30 pmTennessee–Martin*
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL
W 37–2085,365
November 1511:30 amNo. 13 Georgia
RaycomL 13–1787,451
November 292:30 pmat No. 1 Alabama
CBSL 0–3692,138
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Game summaries

Louisiana-Monroe

Auburn's first possession only picked up 1 first down, but the punt put UL-Monroe in bad field position. On the first play, Auburn Defensive End Antonio Coleman made a huge hit on UL-Monroe's quarterback, forcing a fumble on the UL-Monroe 9-yard line, and the Defense picked it up and took it back for the Auburn Tigers' first touchdown. A few possessions later, Auburn Receiver and Punt Returner Robert Dunn returned a UL-Monroe punt for a TD with 0:04 left in the 1st Quarter. At halftime, Auburn had a 17–0 lead after a Wes Byrum field goal. On the opening kickoff of the 3rd quarter, UL-Monroe fumbled the ball and Auburn recovered, leading to a TD run from Brad Lester. Another field goal from Byrum would make the score 27–0 going into the 4th Quarter. Kodi Burns had left the game with a cut in his leg, so Chris Todd played the rest of the game. Later in the 4th, Todd would lead Auburn down the field with an excellent and suddenly effective passing game, ending in a 3-yard Touchdown pass to Chris Slaughter to seal the victory. It was the first shutout for Auburn since a 27–0 wins over Arkansas State on November 4, 2006. It was also the first time Auburn had scored on Offense, Defense, and Special Teams since the 2003 73–7 beating of UL-Monroe. Auburn finished with 406 yards of offense, 321 Rushing yards and 85 passing yards. Auburn picked up 19 first downs while UL-Monroe picked up 12.

1 2 3 4 Total
LA-Monroe 0 0 0 0 0
Auburn 14 3 10 7 34

Southern Miss

Southern Miss returned to the Plains for the first time since the 1993 perfect season. Prior to that meeting, the Tigers had lost consecutive 1-point losses to Southern Miss, then quarterbacked by Brett Favre.

Despite impressive offensive numbers in their opening game where Southern Mississippi put up 633 yards (427 rushing) in a 51–21 win over Louisiana-Lafayette, Larry Fedora's team did not have an answer for Auburn's tough defense. The Tigers won 27–13, improving their lead in the series all-time to 17–5.[15]

1 2 3 4 Total
Southern Miss 0 0 6 7 13
Auburn 0 14 10 3 27

Mississippi State
1 2 3 4 Total
Auburn 0 3 0 0 3
Mississippi State 0 0 0 2 2

LSU
1 2 3 4 Total
LSU 3 0 14 9 26
Auburn 0 14 0 7 21

Tennessee
1 2 3 4 Total
Tennessee 0 6 0 6 12
Auburn 7 7 0 0 14

Vanderbilt
1 2 3 4 Total
Auburn 13 0 0 0 13
Vanderbilt 0 7 7 0 14

Arkansas
1 2 3 4 Total
Arkansas 3 7 6 9 25
Auburn 7 6 7 2 22

West Virginia
1 2 3 4 Total
Auburn 3 14 0 0 17
West Virginia 0 10 10 14 34

Ole Miss
1 2 3 4 Total
Auburn 0 0 7 0 7
Ole Miss 0 10 0 7 17

Tennessee-Martin
1 2 3 4 Total
Tennessee-Martin 7 6 7 0 20
Auburn 13 7 7 10 37

Georgia
1 2 3 4 Total
Georgia 0 7 3 7 17
Auburn 6 0 0 7 13

Alabama
1 2 3 4 Total
Auburn 0 0 0 0 0
Alabama 3 7 19 7 36

Coaching staff
NamePositionYears
at AU*		Alma mater (Year)Note
Tommy TubervilleHead Coach9Southern Arkansas University (1976)Resigned following the season. Replaced Mike Leach as

Texas Tech head coach following 2009 season

Tony FranklinOffensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks0Murray State University (1979; M.S., 1989)Fired after week 6 of the season
Hugh NallOffensive line9University of Georgia (1983)
Eddie GranRunning backs, Special teams9California Lutheran (1987)
Steve EnsmingerTight ends5Louisiana State University (1982)Became Offensive Coordinator after week 6 of the season
Greg KnoxWide receivers, Recruiting Coordinator9Northeastern State (1986), Northeastern State (1990)
Paul RhoadsDefensive coordinator, secondary0Missouri Western (1989), Utah State (1991)Became Iowa State head coach following the season.
Don DunnDefensive tackles9East Tennessee State (1976), Union College (1980)
Terry PriceDefensive ends9Texas A&M (1992)Joined Rhoads at Iowa State initially,

but was hired by Ole Miss before 2009 season began.

James WillisLinebackers2Auburn University (2003)

*Entering season

Depth chart

Starters and backups.[16]

Rankings
See also: 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking Movement
PollPreWk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13Wk 14Final
AP 10 9 9 10 15 13 20 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Coaches 11 10 9 9 16 14 23 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Harris Not released 13 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
BCS Not released NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

Statistics

Team
TeamOpp
Scoring208216
  Points per Game17.318.0
First Downs198204
  Rushing10285
  Passing82101
  Penalty1418
Total Offense36353813
  Total Plays810777
  Avg per Play4.54.9
  Avg per Game302.9317.8
Fumbles-Lost23–1320–7
Penalties-Yards74–56859–500
  Avg per Game47.341.7
TeamOpp
Punts-Yards78-321281-3264
  Avg per Punt41.240.3
Time of Possession/Game30:1229:48
3rd Down Conversions65/18949/171
4th Down Conversions5/128/17
Touchdowns Scored2527
Field Goals-Attempts11–2011–20
PAT-Attempts23–2519–22
Attendance608,402301,911
  Games/Avg per Game7/86,9155/60,382

Scores by quarter
1 2 3 4 Total
Auburn 63 68 41 36 208
Opponents 16 60 72 68 216

Rushing
NameGP-GSAttGainLossNetAvgTDLongAvg/G
Ben Tate12–2159718546644.234955.3
Kodi Burns10–7985321214114.255841.1
Brad Lester11–880314252893.621926.3
Mario Fannin12–354255172384.413519.8
Eric Smith12–1219815834.00196.9
Tristan Davis10–48440445.51134.4
Neil Caudle2–014044.0042.0
Tim Hawthorne12–113033.0030.2
Robert Dunn12–4367−1−0.306−0.1
Montez Billings11–11207−7−3.500−0.6
TEAM7-9015−15−1.700−2.1
Chris Todd7–53347110−63−1.9012−9.0
Total12469202137116503.51258137.5
Opponents12408196229516674.1763138.9

Passing
NameGP-GSEfficCmp-Att-IntPctYdsTDLngAvg/G
Kodi Burns10–797.6594–179–752.51050252105.0
Chris Todd7–5106.6486–156–655.1903558129.0
Neil Caudle2–0133.764–5–080.03201616.0
TEAM7-0.000–1–00.00000.0
Robert Dunn12–40.000-0-00.00000.0
Total12102.01184–341–1354.01985758165.4
Opponents12113.81199–369–1153.921461944178.8

Receiving
NameGP-GSNo.YdsAvgTDLongAvg/G
R. Smith12–93033211.113327.7
Montez Billings11–112427711.503125.2
Mario Fannin12–32022311.125218.6
Tommy Trott11–22020110.103318.3
Robert Dunn12–41819310.722916.1
Chris Slaughter8–11517911.914222.4
Ben Tate12–215906.00277.5
Tim Hawthorne12–1820325.405816.9
Brad Lester11–87375.31163.4
Quindarius Carr11–066310.50285.7
Derek Winter8–04276.80113.4
Gabe McKenzie12–133311.00212.8
Darvin Adams10–03186.0091.8
Tristan Davis10–424221.00224.2
Terrell Zachery12–022412.00172.0
C. Olatunji2–022311.501611.5
James Swinton9–12147.00101.6
Eric Smith12–1231.5020.2
John Douglas3–1133.0031.0
Total12184198510.8758165.4
Opponents12199214610.81944178.8

Defense
Name GP-GS Tackles Sacks Pass Defense Fumbles Blkd
Kick		 Saf
SoloAstTotalTFL-YdsNo-YdsInt-YdsBrUpQBHRcv-YdsFF
Jerraud Powers2–295141–011
Antonio Coleman2–265113.0–152.0–1331
Merrill Johnson2–25491.0–61.0–611
Neiko Thorpe2–062821
Zac Etheridge2–24481–0
Craig Stevens2–252711–6
Chris Evans2–03473
Josh Bynes2–0167
Mike McNeil2–2246
S. Marks2–25163.5–101
Michael Goggans2–25161.0–211–9
Tray Blackmon2–23251.0–21.0–21
Courtney Harden2–0551
Walter McFadden2–24151.0–51
Mike Blanc2–22240.5–0
D'Antoine Hood2–0224
Gabe McKenzie2–0314
Zach Clayton2–0333.0–101.0–6
Mike Slade2–033
Tez Doolittle2–02131.0–4
Drew Cole2–0123
Antoine Carter2–02131
Jake Ricks2–01121.0–4
Darvin Adams2–0112
Kodi Burns2–111
Spencer Pybus1–0111–0
Eric Smith2–111
Robert Shiver2–011
R. Smith2–111
Total2806014016–585–272–0993–153
Opponents2846414810–312–82–175133–04

Special teams
Name Punting Kickoffs
No.YdsAvgLongTBFCI20Blkd No.YdsAvgTBOB
Clinton Durst70294742.158422181
Ryan Shoemaker724835.4510120
Wes Byrum26168164.713
Morgan Hull22137762.632
Total78321241.25842320148305863.745
Opponents81326440.35972425050308761.773
Name Punt Returns Kick Returns
No.YdsAvgTDLongNo.YdsAvgTDLong
Robert Dunn717124.4166
Marion Fannin12424.0024
P. Pierre-Louis11818.0018
Tristan Davis11414.0014
Total717124.416635618.7024
Opponents4174.2091021221.2030

[17]

References
  1. "2007 Auburn Football Media Guide – History". Auburn Athletic Department. Archived from the original on November 28, 2007. Retrieved December 14, 2007.
  2. "2008 NCAA Football Rankings – Preseason". AP. August 16, 2008. Archived from the original on August 19, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
  3. "2008 NCAA Football Rankings – Preseason". USA Today. August 1, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
  4. "Rivals.com 2008 Preseason Top 120 Countdown". rivals.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  5. "Preseason Top 25 - AthlonSports.com". Athlon Sports. Archived from the original on August 4, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  6. Mandel, Stewart (May 1, 2008). "College Football Power Rankings". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  7. "Consensus 2008 Pre-Season Rankings". CollegeTop25.com. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  8. Schlabach, Mark (June 25, 2008). "Bulldogs back at No. 1 in updated Top 25". ESPN. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  9. "Bulldogs top 2008 Lindy's preseason Top 25". Lindy's Sports. May 30, 2008. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  10. "CFN 2008 Pre-Preseason Rankings Top 25". CollegeFootballNews. January 15, 2008. Archived from the original on August 12, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  11. "Sen'Derrick Marks Named To Walter Camp Award Watch List". Auburn Athletic Department. August 18, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  12. "Antonio Coleman And Sen'Derrick Marks Named To Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List". Auburn Athletic Department. May 12, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  13. "Jason Bosley Named To Rimington Trophy Watch List". Auburn Athletic Department. May 7, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  14. "2008 Major College Football National TV Schedule". Associate Press. August 1, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
  15. "Auburn vs Southern Mississippi record". Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
  16. "Auburn Tigers Preview 2008 – Depth Chart". April 11, 2008. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  17. "Auburn Cumulative Season Statistics". Auburn Athletic Department. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
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