2008 YEAR IN REVIEW 2008 YEAR IN REVIEW 2008 Southern Conference Standings Conference Overall Team Won Lost Pct. PF PA Home Road Streak Won Lost Pct. PF PA Home Road Streak #Appalachian State 8 0 1.000 323 152 4-0 4-0 W12 11 3 .786 522 303 7-1 4-2 L1 Wofford 7 1 .875 311 193 4-0 3-1 W3 9 3 .750 438 298 6-0 3-3 L1 Elon 6 2 .750 212 172 3-1 3-1 L1 8 4 .667 323 256 4-2 4-2 L2 Furman 4 4 .500 169 187 3-1 1-3 L2 7 5 .583 303 267 5-1 2-4 L2 Georgia Southern 4 4 .500 261 234 0-4 4-0 W1 6 5 .545 350 326 2-4 4-1 W1 Samford 4 4 .500 181 154 1-3 3-1 W1 6 5 .545 274 207 3-3 3-2 W1 The Citadel 2 6 .250 211 248 2-2 0-4 W1 4 8 .333 328 394 4-2 0-6 L1 Western Carolina 1 7 .125 137 238 1-3 0-4 L2 3 9 .250 211 347 2-4 1-5 L2 Chattanooga 0 8 .000 94 315 0-4 0-4 L12 1 11 .083 153 455 1-5 0-6 L10 # - SoCon Champion; Earned automatic bid to NCAA FCS Playoffs 2008 NCAA Division I Football Championship FIRST ROUND QUARTERFINALS SEMIFINALS FINAL November 29 December 6 December 12 or 13 December 19 On campus On campus On campus Chattanooga, Tennessee #1 *James Madison (10-1) 3 p.m. (ET) *James Madison, 38-35 Wofford (9-2) 3:30 p.m. (ET) *James Madison, 31-27 ESPN Syndication/ESPN *Villanova (9-2) GamePlan/ESPN360.com 1 p.m. (ET) Villanova, 55-28 December 12 Colgate (9-2) Live on ESPN2/ESPN2HD/ #4 *Montana (11-1) ESPN360.com Montana, 35-27 Fri., Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. (ET) 2:05 (ET) *Montana, 31-13 Texas St. (8-4) 2 p.m. (ET) ESPN Syndication/ESPN *Cal Poly (8-2) GamePlan/ESPN360.com Montana, 24-13 9:05 (ET) Weber St., 49-35 Finley Stadium/Davenport Field Weber St. (9-3) Chattanooga, Tennessee Appalachian State safety Mark LeGree (13) tied a SoCon single- December 19 season record with 10 interceptions in 2008. LeGree and the #2 *Appalachian St. (10-2) Richmond, 24-7 8 p.m. (ET) Mountaineers were a perfect 8-0 in conference play, wrapping ESPN2/ESPN2HD/ESPN360.com Noon (ET) ESPNU/ESPNUHD *Appalachian St., 37-21 up their fourth-straight league title. South Carolina St. (10-2) Noon (ET) Richmond, 33-13 NATIONAL CHAMPION *Richmond (9-3) ESPN Syndication/ESPN GamePlan/ESPN360.com 1 p.m. (ET) Richmond, 38-10 December 13 Eastern Ky. (8-3) Live on ESPN/ESPNHD/ *Richmond, 21-20 #3 *UNI (10-2) ESPN360.com Sat., Dec. 13 at 4 p.m. (ET) 5:05 p.m. (ET) *UNI, 40-15 Maine (8-4) 7 p.m. (ET) ESPN Syndication/ESPN *Southern Ill. (9-2) GamePlan/ESPN360.com *UNI, 36-34 2 p.m. (ET) New Hampshire, 29-20 New Hampshire (9-2) *Denotes host institution. ESPN Gameplan QF telecasts will also be syndicated on numerous television outlets. Refer to www.NCAA.com/broadcast for more information. NCAA/8/13/08/ct Dane Romero ran for a league-best 23 touchdowns in 2008, including four in a first round playofff game against top-seeded James Madison, to lead Wofford to a 7-1 SoCon record. 2 2009 Southern Conference Football 2008 YEAR IN REVIEW 2008 YEAR IN REVIEW FCS Coaches Poll Sports Network Poll Appalachian State went undefeated in SoCon play and reached the second Appalachian State earned the No. 5 ranking in the final Sports Network Poll. round of the FCS Playoffs before finishing fifth in the final FCS Coaches Poll of Three Southern Conference teams earned Top 25 rankings at the end of the 2009. The Mountaineers were ranked number one on two occasions and were year while six of the nine league teams were ranked at some point during the never ranked lower than fifth all season. Three Southern Conference teams 2008 season. earned Top 25 rankings with another receiving votes in the final poll. The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS School (First-Place Votes) Record Points Previous under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and 1. Richmond (80) 13-3 2,000 7 the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). 2. Montana 14-2 1,903 5 3. James Madison 12-2 1,797 1 School (First-Place Votes) Record Points Previous 4. Northern Iowa 12-3 1,733 4 1. Richmond (24) 13-3 600 6 5. Appalachian State 11-3 1,711 2 2. Montana 14-2 559 5 6. Villanova 10-3 1,584 6 3. James Madison 12-2 540 1 7. Weber State 10-4 1,441 12 4. Northern Iowa 12-3 538 4 8. New Hampshire 10-3 1,434 10 5. Appalachian State 11-3 507 2 9. Wofford 9-3 1,331 8 6. Villanova 10-3 465 7 10. Cal Poly 8-3 1,315 3 7. New Hampshire 10-3 434 10 11. Southern Illinois 9-3 1,165 9 8. Cal Poly 8-3 419 3 12. Central Arkansas 10-2 1,072 11 9. Weber State 10-4 398 T12 13. South Carolina State 10-3 1,023 13 10. Southern Illinois 9-3 389 8 14. Liberty 10-2 791 14 11. Wofford 9-3 386 9 15. Harvard 9-1 716 15 12. Central Arkansas 10-2 313 11 16. Colgate 9-3 716 16 13. South Carolina State 10-3 298 T12 17. Elon 8-4 680 17 14. Harvard 9-1 237 14 18. Maine 8-5 597 20 15. Liberty 10-2 231 15 19. Eastern Kentucky 8-4 564 21 16. Maine 8-5 181 21 20. William & Mary 7-4 440 19 17. Colgate 9-3 176 16 21. McNeese State 7-4 420 18 18. Eastern Kentucky 8-4 160 22 22. Texas State 8-5 322 23 19. Elon 8-4 154 19 23. Jacksonville State 8-3 264 22 20. William and Mary 7-4 147 18 24. Grambling State 11-2 235 NR 21. McNeese State 7-4 138 17 25. Prairie View A&M 9-1 172 25 22. Jacksonville State 8-3 112 20 Others receiving votes: Tennessee-Martin 124, Albany 116, South Dakota State 23. Texas State 8-5 107 NR 91, Furman 55, Tennessee State 43 Brown 40, Massachusetts 32, Florida A&M 24. Grambling State 11-2 92 25 24, Jacksonville 19, Eastern Washington 17, Western Illinois 14, Holy Cross 13, 25. Prairie View A&M 9-1 69 23 Georgia Southern 12, North Dakota State 11, Northwestern State 7, Montana State 5, San Diego 4, Bethune-Cookman. Other receiving votes (pts. in parentheses): UT Martin (40), Florida A&M (33), Massachusetts (24), Furman (17), South Dakota State (15), Albany (10), Tennessee State (8), Holy Cross (2), Northwestern State (1). 2008 Sagarin Ratings 2008 FCS Coaches Poll voting panel: Stacy Adams (Valparaiso), Terry Allen (Mis- (by Conference) souri State), Rob Ash (Montana State), Al Bagnoli (Pennsylvania), David Bennett 1. Southeastern 78.31 20. Ivy 48.71 (Coastal Carolina), Bob Biggs (UC Davis), Don Brown (Massachusetts), Kevin Cal- 2. Big 12 77.86 21. Big South 46.45 lahan (Monmouth), Jack Crowe (Jacksonville State), Rich Ellerson (Cal Poly), Bob 3. Atlantic Coast 77.70 22. Ohio Valley 41.91 Ford (Albany), Henry Frazier (Prairie View), Tom Gilmore (Holy Cross), J.C. Harper 4. Pac-10 76.14 23. Northeast 39.10 (Stephen F. Austin), Anthony Jones (Alabama A&M), Kevin Kelly (Georgetown), 5. Big East 75.23 24. Mid-Eastern 36.62 Pete Lembo (Elon), Mike Lucas (Southeastern Louisiana), Mickey Matthews 6. Big Ten 73.21 25. Pioneer 35.03 (James Madison), Jay Mills (Charleston Southern), Oliver Pough (South Carolina 7. Mountain West 70.90 26. I-AA Independents 29.01 State), Tony Samuel (Southeast Missouri State), Jerome Souers (Northern Arizo- 8. Conference USA 65.88 27. Southwestern 28.95 9. I-A Independents 64.26 na), Dale Steele (Campbell), John Stiegelmeier (South Dakota State), Joe Taylor Southern Conference 10. Western Athletic 63.91 (Hampton), Buddy Teevens (Dartmouth), Dennis Wagner (Western Carolina). (out of 245 teams) 11. Mid-American 61.96 69 Appalachian State (11-3) 70.00 12. Colonial 60.84 77 Wofford (9-3) 65.97 13. Sun Belt 60.77 111 Elon (8-4) 60.92 14. Southern 57.08 119 Samford (6-5) 58.76 15. Big Sky 53.64 124 Furman (7-5) 58.01 16. Missouri Valley 49.80 126 Georgia Southern (6-5) 57.38 17. Southland 49.15 156 The Citadel (4-8) 51.84 18. Patriot 48.95 190 Western Carolina (3-9) 44.85 19. Great West 48.84 211 Chattanooga (1-11) 38.58 Appalachian State junior quarterback Armanti Edwards won the 2008 Walter Pay- ton Award in a landslide while leading ASU to its fourth-straight SoCon title. www.SoConSports.com 3 2008 YEAR IN REVIEW 2008 YEAR IN REVIEW Coaches All-Conference Team Media All-Conference Team Academic Awards Selected by the Southern Conference First Team Offense Sports Media Association (SCSMA) CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic QB Armanti Edwards Appalachian State All-District III RB Chris Evans Samford First Team Offense OL David Menocal, Furman RB Dane Romero Wofford QB Armanti Edwards Appalachian State OL Jon Bieschke Appalachian State RB Chris Evans Samford OL Ben Quick, Wofford OL Brad Coley Appalachian State RB Dane Romero Wofford DB Thomas Twitty, Furman OL David Harrison Elon OL Ben Quick Wofford DL Daniel Leagans, Furman OL Joel Bell Furman OL Joel Bell Furman OL Derek Wooten Wofford OL Derek Wooten Wofford FCS Athletic Directors Association OL Dan DeHaven The Citadel OL Jon Bieschke Appalachian State TE Ben Jorden Appalachian State Academic All-Star Team OL Mario Aciteli Appalachian State Pierre Banks, Appalachian State WR Andre Roberts The Citadel TE Ben Jorden Appalachian State WR Terrell Hudgins Elon Ben Quick, Wofford WR Andre Roberts The Citadel WR Terrell Hudgins Elon First Team Defense 2008 SoCon Academic All-Conference DL Dakota Walker Georgia Southern DL Mitch Clark Wofford First Team Defense Pierre Banks Appalachian State DL Jabari Fletcher Appalachian State DL Dakota Walker Georgia Southern Xan Thomas Appalachian State DL Terrence Reese The Citadel DL Jabari Fletcher Appalachian State Jabari Fletcher Appalachian State LB Jacque Roman Appalachian State DL Mitch Clark Wofford Brad Hardee Appalachian State LB Chris Covington Georgia Southern DL Patrick Hatcher Samford Orry Frye Appalachian State LB Jacque Roman Appalachian State LB Pierre Banks Appalachian State William Giles Chattanooga DB Cortez Gilbert Appalachian State LB Chris Covington Georgia Southern DB Mark LeGree Appalachian State LB Brandon Williams Furman Steven Smigelsky Chattanooga DB