2008 Florida State Seminoles football team

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The 2008 Florida State Seminoles football team will represent Florida State University during the 2008 college football season. Florida State entered the 2008 season coming off a 2007 season that ended with an overall record of 7-6. When the Seminoles also went 7-6 in 2006, that season was head coach Bobby Bowden's worst since going 6-5 in 1981. The Seminoles were without as many as 12 scholarship players for the first three games of the season because of suspensions carrying over from the previous season for violating team rules, although it has not been disclosed how many of those were involved with an academic cheating scandal at the school. Junior wide receiver Preston Parker was suspended for the first two games of the season, after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges.

2008 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Atlantic Division
Boston College xy		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 21 Florida State x		5	–	3					9	–	4
Maryland		4	–	4					8	–	5
Wake Forest		4	–	4					8	–	5
Clemson		4	–	4					7	–	6
NC State		4	–	4					6	–	7
Coastal Division
No. 15 Virginia Tech xy$		5	–	3					10	–	4
No. 22 Georgia Tech x		5	–	3					9	–	4
North Carolina		0	–	4					0	–	5
Miami (FL)		4	–	4					7	–	6
Virginia		3	–	5					5	–	7
Duke		1	–	7					4	–	8
Championship: Virginia Tech 30, Boston College 12
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant North Carolina vacated 8 wins, including 4 ACC wins Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

September 66:00 pmWestern Carolina*

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL

Sun Sports PPV / ESPN GameplanW 69-0 73,024  September 133:45 pmChattanooga*

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL

ESPNUW 46-7 71,596  September 207:00 pmNo. 18 Wake ForestNo. 25

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL

ESPN2L 3-12 79,235  September 273:30 pmvs. Colorado*

• Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
• Jacksonville, FL (River City Showdown)

ABCW 39-21 46,716  October 43:30 pmat Miami

• Dolphin Stadium
• Miami Gardens, FL

ABC (ESPN2 in some markets)   October 167:30 pmat NC State

• Carter-Finley Stadium
• Raleigh, NC

ESPN   October 25Virginia Tech

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL

  November 1at Georgia Tech

• Bobby Dodd Stadium
• Atlanta, GA

  November 8Clemson

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL (Bowden Bowl X)

  November 15†Boston College

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL

  November 22at Maryland

• Byrd Stadium
• College Park, MD

  November 29Florida*

• Doak Campbell Stadium
• Tallahassee, FL

 

Game Capsules

Please Note

• The records in parenthesis indicates the opposing team's record at the time Florida State played them, NOT Florida State's record.
• All pregame lines are based on what the game opened at and does not include any betting influence.

Western Carolina (1-0)

Pregame Line: Lines are not released when an FCS team plays an FBS team.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Western Carolina	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State	7	21	27	14	69

The start of the game was delayed almost an hour and a half due to lightning in the area, and then almost another hour during the 1st quarter. The first player to touch the ball for FSU, to start the 2008 season, was Tony Carter who promptly returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown and the game's first score. Sophomore Christian Ponder started his first game at quarterback. Ponder completed 11 of 17 passes for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns. At the start of the second drive in the second half (when FSU was up 35-0), sophomore D'vontrey Richardson came into the game. Richardson went 5 for 6 through the air with one touchdown and also had two rushing touchdowns, one for over 50 yards. With several players serving suspensions due to the school wide "academic scandal" (several students and athletes were caught sharing answers in an online music class), the Seminoles had 28 freshman play in the game. Two of those freshman had touchdowns in the victory over the Catamounts.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (1-1)

Pregame Line: Lines are not released when an FCS team plays an FBS team.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tennessee-Ch	7	0	0	0	7
Florida State	21	9	9	7	46

In his second start as a collegiate athlete, Christian Ponder threw for 183 yards and three first-half touchdowns before being relieved by D'vontrey Richardson in the 3rd quarter. Richardson threw for 117 yards with one touchdown. Richardson also had a 55-yard rushing touchdown, the longest scoring run for a quarterback in the school's history. The previous record was held by Richardson himself, set in the previous week with a 52-yard touchdown run. Junior Wide Receiver, Corey Surrency, led Florida State in receiving with 87 yards and two touchdowns on just three receptions. Florida State's defense allowed their first score of the season after a 62-yard passing touchdown thrown by Chattanooga quarterback Tony Pastore. This was also the first score by Chattanooga against Florida State all-time, dating back to 1984, the first and only previous meeting between the two schools in which the Seminoles won in a shutout by 37 points.

#18 Wake Forest (2-0)

Pregame Line: FSU -4

	1	2	3	4	Total
(18) Wake Forest	3	0	6	3	12
(24) Florida State	0	0	3	0	3

Defense, kicking game help No. 18 Wake Forest clip No. 24 Florida State

Colorado (3-0)

Pregame Line: FSU -6

	1	2	3	4	Total
Colorado	7	0	0	14	21
Florida State	7	12	6	14	39

This game was played in Jacksonville, Florida with Florida State as the home team.

@ Miami (2-2)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida State	7	17	10	7	41
Miami	0	3	19	17	39

Game Notes here

@ N.C. State (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0
N.C. State	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

Virginia Tech (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Virginia Tech	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

@ Georgia Tech (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0
Georgia Tech	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

Clemson (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Clemson	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

Boston College (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boston College	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

@ Maryland (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0
Maryland	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

Florida (x-x)

Pregame Line:

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State	0	0	0	0	0

Game Notes here

Rankings

See also: 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking Movement

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Final
AP	31	30	28	24	41	35
Coaches	30	31	28	25	-	32
Harris	Not released
BCS	Not released

Statistics

Team

Team Opp Scoring  157  40   Points per Game  39.25  10 First Downs  24  12   Rushing  11  3   Passing  12  6   Penalty  1  3 Total Offense  561  176   Avg per Play  9.8  3.0   Avg per Game  561  176 Fumbles-Lost  2-0  3-1 Penalties-Yards  8-58  6-37   Avg per Game  58  37

Team Opp Punts-Yards  2-93  8-272   Avg per Punt  46.5  34 Time of Possession/Game  27:44  32:16 3rd Down Conversions  3  3 4th Down Conversions  0  0 Touchdowns Scored  10  0 Field Goals-Attempts-Long  0-1-0  0-1-0 PAT-Attempts  9-10  0-0 Attendance  73024  0   Games/Avg per Game  1/73024  0/0

Scores by quarter

1 2 3 4 Total Florida State 42 59 45 35 181 Opponents 17 3 6 17 43

Offense

Rushing

Name	GP-GS	Att	Gain	Loss	Net	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Joe Smith
TEAM
Total
Opponents

Passing

Name	GP-GS	Effic	Att-Cmp-Int	Pct	Yds	TD	Lng	Avg/G
Joe Smith
TEAM
Total
Opponents

Receiving

Name	GP-GS	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Joe Smith
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

Projected 2008 Depth Chart

Offensive

• QB - Christian Ponder so
• TB - Antone Smith sr
• FB - Seddrick Holloway jr
• WR - Preston Parker jr
• WR - Greg Carr sr
• TE - Jonathan Hannah jr
• LT - Rodney Hudson so
• LG - Evan Bellamy so
• C - Ryan McMahon so
• RG - Will Furlong fr
• RT - Antwane Greenlee fr

Defense

• DE - Neefy Moffett sr
• DE - Everette Brown jr
• DT - Budd Thacker jr
• DT - Paul Griffin sr
• LB - Derek Nicholson sr
• LB - Kendall Smith so
• LB - Toddrick Verdell jr
• CB - Tony Carter sr
• CB - Michael Ray Garvin sr
• S - Myron Rolle jr
• S - Darius McClure sr

Special Teams

• K - Zack Hubby so
• P - Shawn Powell fr
• K,P - Graham Gano was expected to start at both positions, but had a knee injury during two a days. He is expected back by the Colorado game.