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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/city-of-stars on 2025-02-11 16:32:56+00:00.

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For those of you who are unfamiliar with this series, Complete History of CFB is a project run by /u/TotalEconomist and /u/bakonydraco that aims to give a complete, detailed rundown of a selected season in college football.

The 2008 season was a year that exposed the cracks in the Bowl Championship Series. Seven P5 teams ended the season with one loss (in addition to undefeated Utah), re-igniting the debate over an expanded playoff. Once again it was left to the BCS formula of human polls and computer rankings to decide which losses mattered and which didn’t. Some of the major narratives that defined the season:

  • The year 2008 was all about Tim Tebow. College football’s ‘bigger-than-Jesus’ star made a heartfelt promise after the Gators’ loss to Ole Miss, then backed it up with a second national title in three years alongside the dazzling play of Percy Harvin and a stalwart defense.
  • What about the Utes? Kyle Willingham’s 2008 Utah squad was one of just two undefeated FBS teams, but never got a chance to play for the national title and had to settle for a Sugar Bowl victory over Nick Saban’s resurgent Crimson Tide.
  • The tiebreak system in the Big 12 South. One of the division’s strongest seasons began with Texas’ upset of top-ranked Oklahoma in Dallas, peaked with Michael Crabtree stunning top-ranked Texas with a last-second touchdown in Lubbock, and ended with the Longhorns watching two teams they beat by double digits play for the Big 12 title after a controversial tiebreaker.
  • The return of the Crimson Tide. Six years of futility against Auburn finally came to an end thanks to Nick Saban, who led Alabama to a 12-game winning streak behind a stingy defense, a pair of strong tailbacks in Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram, and an emerging star in freshman sensation Julio Jones.
  • What did Seattle do to deserve 2008? The misery of the Mariners and Supersonics’ last-place seasons was surpassed by that of the Huskies, who went 0-12 for the first time in program history and set a standard for awfulness that may never be surpassed in college football.
  • While the year wasn’t quite as chaotic as 2007, upstarts like Oregon State, Iowa and Ole Miss got their chance to shine on the big stage by knocking off established powers.
  • The year of the quarterback? Perhaps. With the spread offense catching fire in CFB, 2008 saw a host of star QBs putting up gaudy stats in the South, including Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Graham Harrell, Tim Tebow, Chase Daniel and Case Keenum.
  • Déjà vu in the ACC. Despite losing a significant chunk of talent to the draft, opening the year with a shocking stumble against ECU, and losing to both Miami and FSU, Frank Beamer’s Hokies did just enough to win a second straight ACC crown.
  • While the venerable Joe Paterno led Penn State to a Big Ten title in his 43rd season, many of his peers weren’t so lucky. Phil Fulmer, Tommy Tuberville, Tommy Bowden, Joe Tiller, and several other veteran coaches saw their tenures come to an end in 2008.
  • An Appalachian State four-peat? No chance. The upstate Richmond Spiders stunned the Mountaineers in the FCS playoff quarterfinals, and went on to win the first national title in program history.

Enjoy reading! And don’t hesitate to point out any errors or major omissions. Note: I highly recommend using Old Reddit to read the article, not New Reddit.

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Coming Up

  • 2009 — A Dynasty Begins