2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl

The 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Louisiana State Tigers and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets played in Atlanta, Georgia on December 31, 2008. With sponsorship from Chick-fil-A, it was the 41st edition of the game known throughout most of its history as the Peach Bowl. LSU was from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and their opponent represented the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It was the final game of the 2008 football season for each team. The game payout was a combined $6.01 million, the sixth-largest among all college football bowl games and the third-largest non-BCS bowl game payout.^[5]

2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl
41st Peach Bowl
LSU Tigers Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7–5) (9–3) SEC ACC 38 3 Head coach:  Les Miles Head coach:  Paul Johnson AP Coaches BCS 14 15 14
1 2 3 4 Total LSU 7 28 3 0 38 Georgia Tech 3 0 0 0 3
Date	December 31, 2008
Season	2008
Stadium	Georgia Dome
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
MVP	QB Jordan Jefferson, LSU (Offensive) LB Perry Riley, LSU (Defensive)
Favorite	Georgia Tech by 3.5[1]
Referee	Jerry McGinn (Big East)[2]
Halftime show	Spirit of South Paulding Marching Band[3]
Attendance	71,423[2]
Payout	US$3 million per team[4]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire
Nielsen ratings	3.4[citation needed]
Chick-fil-A Bowl  < 2007  2009 >

Selection process

In choosing the SEC team, the Chick-fil-A Bowl selection committee has the right to select the first SEC school after the Bowl Championship Series, Cotton Bowl Classic, Capital One Bowl, and Outback Bowl make their selections. The selection committee cannot select an SEC team with two fewer losses than the highest available team.^[6] The bowl earned the right to select these teams via its multimillion-dollar payout system, which guarantees a certain amount of money to the participating conferences. Prior to 2006, the Chick-fil-A Bowl (then known as the Peach Bowl) matched the No. 5 team in the SEC versus the No. 3 team in the ACC. After the bowl increased its payout to $2.8 million per squad, it then was given the second pick from the ACC, with the Gator Bowl dropping to third.^[7]

Beginning with the 2006 game, the Chick-fil-A Bowl had purchased the right to select the highest-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team after representatives from the Bowl Championship Series made their selection. According to the official selection rules still used today, the team chosen to represent the ACC must be within one conference victory of the remaining highest-ranked conference team or be ranked more than five spaces ahead of the ACC team with the best Conference record available in the final BCS Standings.^[8]

Pre-game buildup

On Sunday, December 7, 2008, the SEC representative for the bowl, LSU, was announced. The Chick-fil-A Bowl representatives selected Georgia Tech on December 3, to represent the ACC in the 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl. Georgia Tech sold out its allotment of 17,500 tickets in less than four business days leaving the Chick-fil-a bowl with only 1,000 tickets remaining.^[5][9] The Chick-fil-A bowl sold all available tickets to the game, making it the 12th consecutive sellout in the combined history of the Peach and Chick-fil-A Bowls.^[10]

Television coverage

ESPN broadcast the game for the 13th straight year.^[5]

Scoring summary

Scoring Play	Score
1st Quarter
LSU - Charles Scott 2-yard TD run (Colt David kick), 11:58	LSU 7-0
GT - Scott Blair 24-yard FG, 1:03	LSU 7-3
2nd Quarter
LSU - Scott 4-yard TD run (David kick), 12:08	LSU 14-3
LSU - Scott 1-yard TD run (David kick), 8:27	LSU 21-3
LSU - Richard Dickson 25-yard TD pass from Jordan Jefferson (David kick), 5:21	LSU 28-3
LSU - Keiland Williams 17-yard TD run (David kick), 1:27	LSU 35-3
3rd Quarter
LSU - David 53-yard FG, 1:56	LSU 38-3

References

1. "NCAAF Line History - Football Betting Odds". Archived from the original on December 12, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
2. "LSU vs Georgia Tech (Dec 31, 2008)". LSU Athletics Media Relations. December 31, 2008. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
3. "High School Band Chosen for Chick-fil-A Bowl". WXIA. December 19, 2008. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
4. "SportingNews.com - Your expert source for NCAA Football stats, scores, standings, and blogs from NCAA Football columnists". Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
5. "No. 15 Georgia Tech Accepts Bid to Chick-fil-A Bowl". 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
6. "SEC Bowl Tie-Ins" Archived 2007-11-09 at the Wayback Machine SECsports.com, Accessed October 29, 2007.
7. "Georgia-Va Tech In Peach Bowl Just About Set" AOL Sports^{[permanent dead link]} The Fanhouse, AOL Sports, November 30, 2006. Accessed October 30, 2007.
8. "Bowl Selection Process for Atlantic Coast Conference teams" Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Atlantic Coast Conference, theacc.com, November 13, 2006. Accessed October 29, 2007.
9. "Sold Out: Georgia Tech sells allotment of Chick-fil-A Bowl tickets". December 9, 2008. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
10. "Ga. Tech tweaks offense for bowl game vs. LSU". SportingNews. 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2008.