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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
Record5–7 (2–6 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorTony Franklin (1st season; first six games)
Steve Ensminger (interim)
Offensive schemeAir Raid
Defensive coordinatorPaul Rhoads (1st season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumJordan–Hare Stadium
Seasons
← 2007
2009 →
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
  • # – 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

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Rankings

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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

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Pre-season All-SEC Teams

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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

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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

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Louisiana-Monroe

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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

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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

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

LSU

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

Tennessee

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

Vanderbilt

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

Arkansas

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

West Virginia

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

Ole Miss

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

Tennessee-Martin

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

Georgia

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

Alabama

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

Coaching staff

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Name Position Years
at AU*		 Alma mater (Year) Note
Tommy Tuberville Head coach 9 Southern Arkansas University (1976) Resigned following the season. Replaced Mike Leach as
Texas Tech head coach following 2009 season
Tony Franklin Offensive coordinator, Quarterbacks 0 Murray State University (1979; M.S., 1989) Fired after week 6 of the season
Hugh Nall Offensive line 9 University of Georgia (1983)
Eddie Gran Running backs, Special teams 9 California Lutheran (1987)
Steve Ensminger Tight ends 5 Louisiana State University (1982) Became Offensive Coordinator after week 6 of the season
Greg Knox Wide receivers, Recruiting Coordinator 9 Northeastern State (1986), Northeastern State (1990)
Paul Rhoads Defensive coordinator, secondary 0 Missouri Western (1989), Utah State (1991) Became Iowa State head coach following the season.
Don Dunn Defensive tackles 9 East Tennessee State (1976), Union College (1980)
Terry Price Defensive ends 9 Texas A&M (1992) Joined Rhoads at Iowa State initially,
but was hired by Ole Miss before 2009 season began.
James Willis Linebackers 2 Auburn University (2003)

*Entering season

Depth chart

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Starters and backups.[16]

Rankings

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See also: 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
AP109910151320—————————
Coaches111099161423—————————
HarrisNot released13—————————Not released
BCSNot released————————Not released

Statistics

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Team

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Team Opp
Scoring 208 216
  Points per Game 17.3 18.0
First Downs 198 204
  Rushing 102 85
  Passing 82 101
  Penalty 14 18
Total Offense 3635 3813
  Total Plays 810 777
  Avg per Play 4.5 4.9
  Avg per Game 302.9 317.8
Fumbles-Lost 23–13 20–7
Penalties-Yards 74–568 59–500
  Avg per Game 47.3 41.7
Team Opp
Punts-Yards 78-3212 81-3264
  Avg per Punt 41.2 40.3
Time of Possession/Game 30:12 29:48
3rd Down Conversions 65/189 49/171
4th Down Conversions 5/12 8/17
Touchdowns Scored 25 27
Field Goals-Attempts 11–20 11–20
PAT-Attempts 23–25 19–22
Attendance 608,402 301,911
  Games/Avg per Game 7/86,915 5/60,382

Scores by quarter

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

Offense

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Rushing

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Name GP-GS Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/G
Ben Tate 12–2 159 718 54 664 4.2 3 49 55.3
Kodi Burns 10–7 98 532 121 411 4.2 5 58 41.1
Brad Lester 11–8 80 314 25 289 3.6 2 19 26.3
Mario Fannin 12–3 54 255 17 238 4.4 1 35 19.8
Eric Smith 12–1 21 98 15 83 4.0 0 19 6.9
Tristan Davis 10–4 8 44 0 44 5.5 1 13 4.4
Neil Caudle 2–0 1 4 0 4 4.0 0 4 2.0
Tim Hawthorne 12–1 1 3 0 3 3.0 0 3 0.2
Robert Dunn 12–4 3 6 7 −1 −0.3 0 6 −0.1
Montez Billings 11–11 2 0 7 −7 −3.5 0 0 −0.6
TEAM 7- 9 0 15 −15 −1.7 0 0 −2.1
Chris Todd 7–5 33 47 110 −63 −1.9 0 12 −9.0
Total 12 469 2021 371 1650 3.5 12 58 137.5
Opponents 12 408 1962 295 1667 4.1 7 63 138.9

Passing

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Name GP-GS Effic Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/G
Kodi Burns 10–7 97.65 94–179–7 52.5 1050 2 52 105.0
Chris Todd 7–5 106.64 86–156–6 55.1 903 5 58 129.0
Neil Caudle 2–0 133.76 4–5–0 80.0 32 0 16 16.0
TEAM 7- 0.00 0–1–0 0.0 0 0 0 0.0
Robert Dunn 12–4 0.00 0-0-0 0.0 0 0 0 0.0
Total 12 102.01 184–341–13 54.0 1985 7 58 165.4
Opponents 12 113.81 199–369–11 53.9 2146 19 44 178.8

Receiving

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Name GP-GS No. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/G
R. Smith 12–9 30 332 11.1 1 33 27.7
Montez Billings 11–11 24 277 11.5 0 31 25.2
Mario Fannin 12–3 20 223 11.1 2 52 18.6
Tommy Trott 11–2 20 201 10.1 0 33 18.3
Robert Dunn 12–4 18 193 10.7 2 29 16.1
Chris Slaughter 8–1 15 179 11.9 1 42 22.4
Ben Tate 12–2 15 90 6.0 0 27 7.5
Tim Hawthorne 12–1 8 203 25.4 0 58 16.9
Brad Lester 11–8 7 37 5.3 1 16 3.4
Quindarius Carr 11–0 6 63 10.5 0 28 5.7
Derek Winter 8–0 4 27 6.8 0 11 3.4
Gabe McKenzie 12–1 3 33 11.0 0 21 2.8
Darvin Adams 10–0 3 18 6.0 0 9 1.8
Tristan Davis 10–4 2 42 21.0 0 22 4.2
Terrell Zachery 12–0 2 24 12.0 0 17 2.0
C. Olatunji 2–0 2 23 11.5 0 16 11.5
James Swinton 9–1 2 14 7.0 0 10 1.6
Eric Smith 12–1 2 3 1.5 0 2 0.2
John Douglas 3–1 1 3 3.0 0 3 1.0
Total 12 184 1985 10.8 7 58 165.4
Opponents 12 199 2146 10.8 19 44 178.8

Defense

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Name GP-GS Tackles Sacks Pass Defense Fumbles Blkd
Kick 		Saf
Solo Ast Total TFL-Yds No-Yds Int-Yds BrUp QBH Rcv-Yds FF
Jerraud Powers 2–2 9 5 14 1–0 1 1
Antonio Coleman 2–2 6 5 11 3.0–15 2.0–13 3 1
Merrill Johnson 2–2 5 4 9 1.0–6 1.0–6 1 1
Neiko Thorpe 2–0 6 2 8 2 1
Zac Etheridge 2–2 4 4 8 1–0
Craig Stevens 2–2 5 2 7 1 1–6
Chris Evans 2–0 3 4 7 3
Josh Bynes 2–0 1 6 7
Mike McNeil 2–2 2 4 6
S. Marks 2–2 5 1 6 3.5–10 1
Michael Goggans 2–2 5 1 6 1.0–2 1 1–9
Tray Blackmon 2–2 3 2 5 1.0–2 1.0–2 1
Courtney Harden 2–0 5 5 1
Walter McFadden 2–2 4 1 5 1.0–5 1
Mike Blanc 2–2 2 2 4 0.5–0
D'Antoine Hood 2–0 2 2 4
Gabe McKenzie 2–0 3 1 4
Zach Clayton 2–0 3 3 3.0–10 1.0–6
Mike Slade 2–0 3 3
Tez Doolittle 2–0 2 1 3 1.0–4
Drew Cole 2–0 1 2 3
Antoine Carter 2–0 2 1 3 1
Jake Ricks 2–0 1 1 2 1.0–4
Darvin Adams 2–0 1 1 2
Kodi Burns 2–1 1 1
Spencer Pybus 1–0 1 1 1–0
Eric Smith 2–1 1 1
Robert Shiver 2–0 1 1
R. Smith 2–1 1 1
Total 2 80 60 140 16–58 5–27 2–0 9 9 3–15 3
Opponents 2 84 64 148 10–31 2–8 2–17 5 13 3–0 4

Special teams

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Name Punting Kickoffs
No. Yds Avg Long TB FC I20 Blkd No. Yds Avg TB OB
Clinton Durst 70 2947 42.1 58 4 22 18 1
Ryan Shoemaker 7 248 35.4 51 0 1 2 0
Wes Byrum 26 1681 64.7 1 3
Morgan Hull 22 1377 62.6 3 2
Total 78 3212 41.2 58 4 23 20 1 48 3058 63.7 4 5
Opponents 81 3264 40.3 59 7 24 25 0 50 3087 61.7 7 3
Name Punt Returns Kick Returns
No. Yds Avg TD Long No. Yds Avg TD Long
Robert Dunn 7 171 24.4 1 66
Marion Fannin 1 24 24.0 0 24
P. Pierre-Louis 1 18 18.0 0 18
Tristan Davis 1 14 14.0 0 14
Total 7 171 24.4 1 66 3 56 18.7 0 24
Opponents 4 17 4.2 0 9 10 212 21.2 0 30

[17]

References

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  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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b c "2008 Major College Football National TV Schedule". Associated 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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