2008 Georgia Bulldogs football team

2008 Georgia Bulldogs football
Capital One Bowl champion
Capital One Bowl, W 24–12 vs. Michigan State
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 13
Record	10–3 (6–2 SEC)
Head coach	Mark Richt (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Bobo (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Willie Martinez (4th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Sanford Stadium

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

The 2008 Georgia Bulldogs football team competed in American football on behalf of the University of Georgia in 2008. The Bulldogs competed in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). This was the Georgia Bulldogs' eighth season under the guidance of head coach Mark Richt. During the pre-game ceremonies on August 30, UGA VII was introduced at Sanford Stadium, replacing UGA VI, who died in June.

Georgia was ranked #1 in both the preseason coaches poll and AP poll, marking the first time Georgia has ever been #1 in the preseason version of either poll. However, they finished the season ranked below the top 10 in the AP poll.

Georgia entered the 2008 season with the longest active winning streak among the 66 BCS conference teams having won their last 7 games of the 2007 season. Among the 120 NCAA FBS teams, only BYU had a longer active winning streak (10 games). Georgia's winning streak ended at 11 games with its loss to Alabama in the 5th game of the 2008 season.

Rankings

See also: 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	1 (22)	2 (20)	2 (23)	3 (2)	3 (2)	11	10	10	9	8	14	13	13	13	17	16	13
Coaches	1 (22)	2 (20)	2 (18)	3 (2)	3 (2)	10	10	9	9	8	14	12	13	13	19	17	10
Harris	Not released					10	10	9	9	8	14	12	12	13	20	17	Not released
BCS	Not released								7	6	13	10	11	11	16	15	Not released

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	12:30 p.m.	Georgia Southern*	No. 1	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA	CSS PPV	W 45–21	92,746
September 6	3:30 p.m.	Central Michigan*	No. 2	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA	FSN	W 56–17	92,746
September 13	3:30 p.m.	at South Carolina	No. 2	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC (rivalry)	CBS	W 14–7	83,704
September 20	8:00 p.m.	at Arizona State*	No. 3	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	ABC	W 27–10	71,706
September 27	7:45 p.m.	No. 8 Alabama	No. 3	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (rivalry) (College GameDay)	ESPN	L 30–41	92,746
October 11	3:30 p.m.	Tennessee	No. 10	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (rivalry)	CBS	W 26–14	92,746
October 18	12:30 p.m.	No. 22 Vanderbilt	No. 10	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (rivalry)	Raycom	W 24–14	92,746
October 25	3:30 p.m.	at No. 11 LSU	No. 9	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA	CBS	W 52–38	92,904
November 1	3:30 p.m.	vs. No. 5 Florida	No. 8	Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 10–49	84,649
November 8	12:30 p.m.	at Kentucky	No. 14	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY	Raycom	W 42–38	70,626
November 15	12:30 p.m.	at Auburn	No. 13	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (Deep South's Oldest Rivalry)	Raycom	W 17–13	87,451
November 29	12:00 p.m.	No. 18 Georgia Tech*	No. 13	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate)	CBS	L 42–45	92,746
January 1, 2009	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 19 Michigan State*	No. 16	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Capital One Bowl)	ABC	W 24–12	59,681
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Georgia Southern

See also: Georgia Southern Eagles football

	1	2	3	4	Total
Georgia Southern	0	0	7	14	21
#1 Georgia	10	14	14	7	45

Georgia won its season opener over Georgia Southern, 45–21. Georgia led 38–0 in the 3rd quarter before replacing many of its starting players. Knowshon Moreno scored 3 touchdowns on eight rushing attempts. Georgia lost its #1 ranking after the game and would never regain it, losing it after this game in part to USC's 52–7 win over Virginia and the perception that Georgia's defense was questionable for allowing three touchdowns to a lesser opponent.

A. J. Green recorded his first career touchdown on a 3-yard pass from back-up quarterback, Joe Cox.

Central Michigan

See also: Central Michigan Chippewas football

	1	2	3	4	Total
Central Michigan	0	7	10	0	17
#1 Georgia	7	21	14	14	56

Georgia coasted to a second straight victory to start the season, beating Central Michigan, 56–17. Knowshon Moreno had 3 touchdowns and 168 yards on 18 carries. Moreno had a 52-yard touchdown run and added a highlight reel leap over Central Michigan defender Vince Agnew on a 29-yard run. Matthew Stafford added two touchdown passes, including a 54-yard bomb to Mohammed Massaquoi. Demarcus Dobbs picked off a Central Michigan pass late in the second quarter and ran 79 yards for a defensive touchdown.

South Carolina

See also: 2008 South Carolina Gamecocks football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Georgia	0	6	8	0	14
South Carolina	0	7	0	0	7

Georgia beat the South Carolina Gamecocks in a low-scoring game that was closer than many expected, finally prevailing 14–7. The young offensive line struggled with the South Carolina defense. Matthew Stafford completed 15 of 25 passes for 146 yards, but his biggest play came on a 30-yard 3rd quarter run to the South Carolina 4, setting up a Knowshon Moreno touchdown run on the next play. Moreno had 79 yards on 20 carries. A. J. Green led the Georgia receivers with 3 catches for 61 yards.

Arizona State

See also: 2008 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#3 Georgia	0	21	3	3	27
#24 Arizona State	0	3	7	0	10

Georgia scored three 2nd-quarter touchdowns to take a 21–3 lead at halftime against Arizona State. The 2nd half was rather uneventful, and Georgia rolled to an easy 27–10 win. Stafford had the most passing yards of his career (285), and A. J. Green had a breakout game with 159 yards on 8 catches. Moreno also added 2 touchdowns and 149 yards rushing on 23 carries. A. J. Green was named SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance.

Alabama

See also: 2008 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#10 Alabama	10	21	0	10	41
#3 Georgia	0	0	10	20	30

ESPN's College Gameday broadcast their show live from Athens before the Alabama game. The visit was the show's first broadcast from Athens since the Tennessee game in 1998. A. J. Green led all Georgia receivers with 6 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. This game was notable in that it was only the third ever "blackout" game where the team donned black jerseys and the majority of the fans wore black. However, unlike earlier two contests which were both big Georgia wins, the Crimson Tide dominated early in the game and built an insurmountable 31–0 halftime lead from which Georgia was unable to recover. After the disappointment of this game, the bulldogs would never have another blackout game until 2016 where they faced against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Tennessee

See also: 2008 Tennessee Volunteers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tennessee	0	7	7	0	14
#10 Georgia	10	10	0	6	26

Georgia ended a 2-game losing streak to Tennessee with a 26–14 win in Athens. Stafford had 310 yards passing in his first career 300-yard passing game. A 28-yard field goal by Blair Walsh capped off a 17 play, fourth quarter drive that ran 10 minutes and 55 seconds off the clock. The drive was the longest by an SEC team since LSU had an 11-minute, 2 second drive against Arizona State in 2005.

Vanderbilt

See also: 2008 Vanderbilt Commodores football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#23 Vanderbilt	0	7	7	0	14
#9 Georgia	7	7	7	3	24

Georgia beat the #23-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores, 24–14, on homecoming weekend. Knowshon Moreno had a season high 172 yards and 1 touchdown on 23 carries, and A. J. Green had 7 catches for 132 yards and 1 touchdown.

LSU

See also: 2008 LSU Tigers football team

#9 Georgia at #11 LSU

1 2 3 4 Total • Georgia 14 10 14 14 52 LSU 7 10 7 14 38 Date: October 25 Location: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist & Gary Danielson Source: [1]

Scoring summary 1 14:40 UGA Darryl Gamble 40-yard interception return (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 7-0 1 9:41 LSU Brandon LaFell 10-yard pass from Jarrett Lee (Colt David kick) Tied 7-7 1 3:10 UGA Fred Munzenmaier 1-yard run (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 14-7 2 14:55 UGA Kenneth Harris 5-yard pass from Matthew Stafford (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 21-7 2 11:37 LSU Colt David 51-yard field goal UGA 21-10 2 7:23 LSU Charles Scott 2-yard run (Colt David kick) UGA 21-17 2 1:36 UGA Blair Walsh 50-yard field goal UGA 24-17 3 8:21 UGA A. J. Green 49-yard pass from Matthew Stafford (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 31-17 3 3:55 UGA Knowshon Moreno 68-yard run (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 38-17 4 10:49 UGA Matthew Stafford 7-yard run (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 45-17 4 8:47 LSU Keiland Williams 6-yard pass from Jarrett Lee (Colt David kick) UGA 45-24 4 3:18 UGA Darryl Gamble 53-yard interception return (Blair Walsh kick) UGA 52-24 4 2:27 LSU Brandon LaFell 43-yard pass from Jarrett Lee (Colt David kick) UGA 52-31

Georgia beat the #11-ranked LSU Tigers, 52–38, in Tiger Stadium. Stafford was 17 of 26 passing for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also added 1 rushing touchdown. Knowshon Moreno rushed 21 times for 163 yards and 1 touchdown on a 68-yard 3rd quarter run. Linebacker Darryl Gamble, starting at middle linebacker position for the injured Dannell Ellerbe, twice intercepted LSU quarterback, Jarrett Lee, for touchdown returns of 40 and 53 yards. A. J. Green had 3 receptions for 89 yards, including a 49-yard 3rd-quarter touchdown.

Florida

See also: 2008 Florida Gators football team and Florida–Georgia football rivalry

	1	2	3	4	Total
#8 Georgia	0	3	0	7	10
#7 Florida	7	7	21	14	49

Florida routed Georgia, 49–10, in one of the most heavily hyped Florida–Georgia football rivalry games ever. Stafford struggled, going 18 of 33 for 265 yards passing with 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The loss was the largest margin of defeat in Mark Richt's 8-year head coaching career.

Kentucky

See also: 2008 Kentucky Wildcats football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Georgia	14	7	7	14	42
Kentucky	7	7	10	14	38

Georgia beat Kentucky, 42–38, after Matthew Stafford threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to A. J. Green with 1:54 left in the 4th quarter. Demarcus Dobbs then intercepted a last minute pass from Kentucky quarterback Randall Cobb to preserve the win for Georgia. Stafford had a career-high 376 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. Mohammed Massaquoi also had a career-high 191 receiving yards with 8 receptions and 1 touchdown.

Auburn

See also: 2008 Auburn Tigers football team and Deep South's Oldest Rivalry

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

Matthew Stafford threw a 17-yard, 4th-quarter touchdown pass to A. J. Green, and the Bulldogs stopped a late Auburn drive to win 17–13. The win marked Georgia's 3rd straight win against Auburn for the first time since winning 3 straight against Auburn from 1980 to 1982.

Georgia Tech

See also: 2008 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team and Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate

	1	2	3	4	Total
#23 Georgia Tech	12	0	23	10	45
#13 Georgia	14	14	0	14	42

A disappointing regular season for Georgia ended with an upset loss to bitter rival Georgia Tech, snapping Georgia's 7-game winning streak in the series. Georgia had a 28–12 halftime lead but Georgia Tech outscored Georgia 23–0 in the third quarter. Matthew Stafford led the Dawgs with a career-high of 407 yds passing and 5 tds. 3 of those went to Mohamed Massaquoi.

Capital One Bowl

Main article: 2009 Capital One Bowl

See also: 2008 Michigan State Spartans football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#15 Georgia	3	0	14	7	24
#18 Michigan State	3	3	0	6	12

The final game of the season would prove to be the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida against Michigan State. It would be Matthew Stafford's and Knowshon Moreno's last game at UGA. Stafford threw three touchdown passes in the 2nd half of game. The final touchdown of the game was caught by Knowshon Moreno cementing the win for Georgia in this bowl game.

Statistics

Team

Team Opp Scoring       Points per Game     First Downs       Rushing       Passing       Penalty     Total Offense       Avg per Play       Avg per Game     Fumbles-Lost     Penalties-Yards       Avg per Game

Team Opp Punts-Yards       Avg per Punt     Time of Possession/Game     3rd Down Conversions     4th Down Conversions     Touchdowns Scored     Field Goals-Attempts-Long     PAT-Attempts     Attendance       Games/Avg per Game

Scores by quarter

1 2 3 4 Total Georgia 79 120 94 116 409 Opponents 52 79 99 89 319

Offense

Rushing

Name	GP-GS	Att	Gain	Loss	Net	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Knowshon Moreno	13	250	1463	63	1400	5.6	16	68	107.7
Caleb King	11	61	278	31	247	4.0	1	27	22.5
Richard Samuel	11	26	137	4	133	5.1	1	27	12.1
Total	11.7	337	1878	98	1780	5.3	18	40.6	47.4
Opponents

Passing

Name	GP-GS	Effic	Att-Cmp-Int	Pct	Yds	TD	Lng	Avg/G
Matthew Stafford	13		383-235-10	61.4	3459	25	78
Joe Cox			15-11-0	73.3	151	2	21
Total
Opponents

Receiving

Name	GP-GS	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
A.J. Green	13	8	963	17.2	8	54	74
Mohammed Massaquoi	13	1	920	15.9	8	78	70.8
Michael Moore	13	82	451	15.6	2	46	34.7
Knowshon Moreno	13	24	392	11.8	2	37	30.2
Kris Durham	5	16	199	15.3	1	61	39.8
Demiko Goodman	13	85	133	12.1	1	21	10.3
Kenneth Harris	13	88	116	10.5	1	31	8.9
Aron White	13	81	88	29.3	2	48	6.8
Total
Opponents

Defense

Name	GP	Tackles				Sacks	Pass Defense		Interceptions				Fumbles		Blkd Kick
		Solo	Ast	Total	TFL-Yds	No-Yds	BrUp	QBH	No.-Yds	Avg	TD	Long	Rcv-Yds	FF
Total

Special teams

Name	Punting								Kickoffs
	No.	Yds	Avg	Long	TB	FC	I20	Blkd	No.	Yds	Avg	TB	OB
Total

Name	Punt Returns					Kick Returns
	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Total

Players

Head Coach Mark Richt dismissed two players on October 8, 2008. Donavan Baldwin, a safety, and Walter Hill, a wide receiver were removed from the team.

2008 Georgia Bulldogs by Position
Quarterbacks 6 Logan Gray – Freshman 11 Edward Dent – Freshman 7 Matthew Stafford – Junior 14 Joe Cox – Junior 15 Jonathan Batson – Sophomore 17 Jonathan deLaureal – Sophomore Running Backs 4 Caleb King – Freshman 22 Richard Samuel – Freshman 24 Knowshon Moreno – Sophomore 27 Dontavius Jackson – Freshman 30 Carlton Thomas – Freshman 25 Josh Cox – Freshman 37 Cortney Newmans – Freshman 45 Josh Bagby – Junior Fullbacks 15 Benjamin Boyd – Senior 36 Brannan Southerland – Senior 43 Kevin Lanier – Freshman 44 Josh Sailors – Freshman 46 Justin Fields – Sophomore 48 Fred Munzenmaier – Sophomore 49 Shaun Chapas – Sophomore 42 Cedric Lang – Freshman Wide Receivers 1 Mohamed Massaquoi – Senior 3 Taylor Bradberry – Freshman 5 Craig Sager – Sophomore 8 A. J. Green – Freshman 10 Zach Renner – Freshman 12 Tavarres King – Freshman 16 Kris Durham – Junior 20 Marquise Brown – Sophomore 23 Twoey Hosch – Freshman 26 Tony Wilson – Sophomore 28 Israel Troupe – Freshman 80 Walter Hill – Freshman 82 Michael Moore – Junior 83 Cornelius Washington – Freshman 85 Demiko Goodman – Senior 87 Veron Spellman – Junior 88 Kenneth Harris – Senior		Tight Ends 39 Dustin Banks – Freshman 47 Trenton Turner – Freshman 58 Casey Nickels – Sophomore 75 Kiante Tripp – Sophomore 81 Aron White – Freshman 83 Richard Lowe – Freshman 84 Bryce Ros – Freshman 86 Tripp Chandler – Senior' 89 Bruce Figgins – Sophomore Offensive Line 18 Derek Rich – Sophomore 54 Tanner Strickland – Freshman 60 Clint Boling – Sophomore 61 Ben Jones – Freshman 63 Chris Davis – Sophomore 67 Jonathan Owens – Junior 68 Ben Harbin – Freshman 71 Cordy Glenn – Freshman 72 Vince Vance – Junior 73 Chris Little – Freshman 74 Kevin Perez – Sophomore 76 Ben Harden – Freshman 77 Trinton Sturdivant – Sophomore 78 Josh Davis – Sophomore 79 Justin Anderson – Freshman		Defensive Line 41 Roderick Battle – Junior 42 Justin Houston – Freshman 53 Jeremy Longo – Freshman 55 Jeremy Lomax – Senior 56 Geno Atkins – Junior 58 Demarcus Dobbs – Sophomore 64 Matthew DeGenova – Freshman 66 Brandon Wheeling – Junior 68 Wes Jacobs – Senior 69 Andrew Gully – Senior 90 Corvey Irvin – Senior 91 Kade Weston – Junior 92 Neland Ball – Freshman 93 A.J. Harmon – Freshman 94 DeAngelo Tyson – Freshman 95 Jeff Owens – Senior 97 Brandon Wood – Sophomore 98 Ricardo Crawford – Sophomore 99 Jarius Wynn – Senior Linebackers 33 Dannell Ellerbe – Senior 35 Rennie Curran – Sophomore 37 Akeem Hebron – Sophomore 38 Marcus Dowtin – Freshman 43 Charles White – Freshman 44 Marcus Washington – Senior 45 Christian Robinson – Freshman 50 Darryl Gamble – Sophomore 51 Akeem Dent – Sophomore 52 Darius Dewberry – Junior 65 Devin Hollander – Junior Defensive Backs 18 Bacarri Rambo – Freshman 19 Sanders Commings – Freshman 25 Vance Cuff – Sophomore 29 Makiri Pugh – Freshman 30 Eric Elliot – Freshman 39 Nick Williams – Freshman 43 Stephen Braue – Junior		Cornerbacks 2 Asher Allen – Junior 3 Bryan Evans – Junior 11 Ramarcus Brown – Senior 16 Chad Gloer – Sophomore 20 Brandon Boykin – Freshman 23 Prince Miller – Junior 26 Christian Norton – Sophomore Safeties 5 CJ Byrd – Senior 6 Andrew Johnson – Sophomore 9 Reshad Jones – Sophomore 31 Quintin Banks – Sophomore 44 John Knox – Freshman 47 Andrew Williams – Senior Punters 13 Drew Butler – Freshman 32 Brian Mimbs – Senior 98 Trent Dittmer – Sophomore Kickers 57 Blair Walsh – Freshman 95 Jordan Stowe – Freshman 96 Andrew Jensen – Junior 99 Jamie Lindley – Freshman Long snappers 59 Bo Fowler – Senior 94 Billy Johnson – Freshman 95 Ty Frix – Freshman