From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2008 SEC Championship Game
2008 SEC Championship Game
2008 Dr. Pepper SEC Championship Game Announcers:
Announcers: Verne Lundquist play-by-play
Gary Danielson color
Conference Championship Tracy Wolfson sideline
Nielsen ratings 10.4 [2]
SEC Championship Game
The 2008 Dr Pepper SEC Championship Game was played
on December 6, 2008 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta,
Georgia to determine the 2008 football champion of the
2008 SEC Championship logo.
Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the
Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Gators
Alabama Crimson Tide Florida Gators were classified as the home team. Before this game was
played, the designated "home team", chosen on an al-
(12–0) (11–1)
ternating basis, was 9–7 (10-7 after Florida’s win in this
20 31 game) in SEC Championship Games. The SEC East is 10–6
in SEC Championship games (11-6 after Florida’s win),
Head coach: Head coach:
Nick Saban Urban Meyer with the Florida Gators accounting for six of the 10 vic-
tories. (seven after this game) Before this game, Alabama
AP Coaches BCS AP Coaches BCS had represented the SEC West five times in the confer-
ence championship game with a 2–3 record. The Crimson
1 1 1 2 4 4
Tide have faced the Gators in every SEC Championship
1 2 3 4 Total game they have competed in.[3]
The game was televised by CBS Sports and kicked off
Alabama 10 0 10 0 20
at 4:00 pm EST.
Florida 7 10 0 14 31
Selection process
Date December 6, 2008
2008 SEC football standings
Season 2008
Conf Overall
Stadium Georgia Dome
Team W L W L
Location Atlanta, Georgia
Eastern Division
MVP QB Tim Tebow, Florida
#1 Florida 7 – 1 13 – 1
Favorite Florida by 10 [1] x†
National anthem Million Dollar Band #13 6 – 2 10 – 3
The Pride of the Sunshine Georgia
Referee Thomas Ritter Vanderbilt 4 – 4 7 – 6
Halftime show Million Dollar Band South 4 – 4 7 – 6
The Pride of the Sunshine Carolina
Attendance 75,892 Tennessee 3 – 5 5 – 7
United States TV coverage Kentucky 2 – 6 7 – 6
Network CBS Western Division
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2008 SEC Championship Game
#6 8 – 0 12 – 2 Florida. In their last 8 games, the Gators scored no less
Alabama than 38 points and had an average margin of victory of
x‡ 39.6. Key victories included #4 LSU (51–21), #6 Georgia
#14 Ole 5 – 3 9 – 4
(49–10), #25 South Carolina (56–6), and #20 Florida State
Miss (45–15). Florida finished the regular season with an 11–1
record and a #2 ranking in the AP Poll.
LSU 3 – 5 8 – 5
Arkansas 2 – 6 5 – 7
Game hype and difference in
Auburn 2 – 6 5 – 7
style
Mississippi 2 – 6 4 – 8
State After the match-up between Alabama and Florida was set
on November 8, when Alabama defeated LSU and Flori-
Championship: Florida 31, Alabama 20 da defeated Vanderbilt, the game began to receive a lot
† – BCS representative as champion of hype in sports media. Many college football analysts
‡ – BCS at-large representative called the game a "play-in game" for the BCS National
x – Division champion/co-champions Championship, easily making it one of the most antici-
Rankings from AP Poll
pated games of the year.
Analyst cited the differences in the teams’ styles as
The SEC Championship Game matches up the winner of a major point of interest. Florida’s style of football came
the Eastern and Western divisions of the Southeastern directly from Urban Meyer’s offensive-minded philoso-
Conference. The game was first played in 1992, when the phy of a fast-paced offense and defense, generally using
conference expanded from 10 to 12 teams with the ad- smaller, quicker players. They run a form of the spread
dition of Arkansas and South Carolina. The SEC was the offense, using speed to spread the field, which results in
first conference in college football to have a conference quick drives and higher scoring games. The Gators use a
championship game. Four other conferences currently basic 4-3 defense and again use speedy players to try to
have conference championship games (Big 12, ACC, gain an advantage on their opponent.
CUSA, and MAC). Alabama on the other hand run an almost complete
opposite style of football, led by Nick Saban’s defensive-
Regular season minded philosophy of physical domination on both sides
of the ball, generally using bigger, more physical players.
Main articles: 2008 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
The Tide run a smash mouth offensive scheme utilizing a
and 2008 Florida Gators football team
physical offensive line and power running backs to con-
Alabama entered Nick Saban’s second year as head coach
trol the line of scrimmage, which results in slower drives,
with an AP preseason ranking of 24. After finishing the
an advantage in time of possession and lower scoring
2007 season 7–6, including a win in the Independence
games. On defense the team runs out of a base 3-4 de-
Bowl, the Crimson Tide brought in one of the nation’s
fense, utilizing quick and physical linebackers to allow
top recruiting classes and was expected to improve in
more flexibility in stopping multiple offensive forma-
2008. The team started off strong in the Chick-fil-A Col-
tions and schemes.
lege Kickoff with a convincing 34-10 win over #9 Clem-
son. Four weeks later they shocked the nation by de-
feating #3 Georgia 41–30 in Athens after building a 31–0 Game summary
halftime lead. The rest of the season included a 27–21
overtime victory over #16 LSU in Nick Saban’s first game
in Baton Rouge against his old team, as well as a 36–0
shutout of Auburn to end Alabama’s 6-game losing streak Scoring summary
to their in-state rival. The Crimson Tide finished the reg-
ular season with a 12–0 record and a #1 ranking in the
BCS, AP, and Coaches’ Polls.
External links
Only two years removed from a national champion- • SEC ’08 Football Championship from SECSports.com
ship, Florida entered the season with high hopes and
an AP preseason ranking of 5. The Gators went 9–4 in
2007, and they had many key players returning, includ-
References
ing Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. After a 3-0 start, [1] http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/
the team suffered a devastating home loss to Ole Miss. odds/las-vegas/line-movement/alabama-@-
However, this loss was later seen as a turning point for florida.cfm/date/12-6-08
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2008 SEC Championship Game
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring Information[4] Score
Length Time Alabama Florida
1 8:17 9 plays, 4:28 Florida Carl Moore 3–yard reception from Tim Tebow, Jonathan 0 7
59 yards Phillips kick good
7:23 2 plays, 0:54 Alabama Glen Coffee 11–yard rush, Leigh Tiffin kick good 7 7
82 yards
3:28 5 plays, 2:15 Alabama Leigh Tiffin 30–yard field goal 10 7
12 yards
2 8:59 8 plays, 3:51 Florida Jonathan Phillips 19–yard field goal 10 10
67 yards
2:59 9 plays, 4:20 Florida David Nelson 5–yard reception from Tim Tebow, 10 17
57 yards Jonathan Phillips kick good
3 6:20 15 plays, 6:53 Alabama Mark Ingram 2–yard rush, Leigh Tiffin kick good 17 17
91 yards
0:08 10 plays, 3:40 Alabama Leigh Tiffin 27–yard field goal 20 17
65 yards
4 9:21 11 plays, 5:47 Florida Jeff Demps 1–yard rush, Jonathan Phillips kick good 20 24
62 yards
2:50 8 plays, 4:37 Florida Riley Cooper 5–yard reception from Tim Tebow, 20 31
65 yards Jonathan Phillips kick good
Final Score 20 31
[2] al.com:Alabama-Florida on CBS earns best ever [4] "Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Florida Gators Box
rating for an SEC championship game Score". ESPN. 2008-12-06.
[3] "Relive Past SEC Championship Games". http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/
Southeastern Conference. http://secsports.com/ boxscore?gameId=283410057. Retrieved
index.php?change_well_id=2&url_article_id=54. 2008-12-06.
Retrieved 2008-12-06.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2008_SEC_Championship_Game&oldid=469425348"
Categories:
• SEC Championship Game
• Alabama Crimson Tide football
• Florida Gators football
• 2008 Southeastern Conference football season
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