2008 Ole Miss Rebels football team

2008 Ole Miss Rebels football
Cotton Bowl Classic champion
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWestern Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 15
APNo. 14
Record9–4 (5–3 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorKent Austin (1st season)
Offensive schemePro-style, Wild Rebel
Defensive coordinatorTyrone Nix (1st season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumVaught–Hemingway Stadium
(Capacity: 60,580)
Seasons
← 2007
2009 →
2008 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
Eastern Division
No. 1 Florida x$#   7 1     13 1  
No. 13 Georgia   6 2     10 3  
Vanderbilt   4 4     7 6  
South Carolina   4 4     7 6  
Tennessee   3 5     5 7  
Kentucky   2 6     7 6  
Western Division
No. 6 Alabama x%   8 0     12 2  
No. 14 Ole Miss   5 3     9 4  
LSU   3 5     8 5  
Arkansas   2 6     5 7  
Auburn   2 6     5 7  
Mississippi State   2 6     4 8  
Championship: Florida 31, Alabama 20
  • # – BCS National Champion
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2008 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head coach was Houston Nutt, who served his first season in the position and replaced Ed Orgeron, who was fired after accumulating a 10–25 record at Ole Miss from 2005 to 2007. The Rebels played their seven home games in 2008 at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.

With an 8–4 regular-season record and a 5–3 mark in the SEC, head coach Houston Nutt revived a Rebel squad that was coming off four straight losing seasons and a 3–9 campaign with no conference wins in 2007. It marked the team's best improvement from one season to the next since former coach Johnny Vaught's debut in 1947. Projected to place fifth in the SEC Western Division in the pre-season, the Rebels finished second in the division, having defeated the previous two national champions on the road, #4 Florida and #18 LSU, and ended the regular season on a five-game win streak.

On December 8, the Associated Press announced that Rebels offensive tackle Michael Oher, defensive tackle Peria Jerry and kicker Joshua Sheene were selected for the first team of the Associated Press All-Southeastern team. Oher was a unanimous pick. Receiver Dexter McCluster was a second-team pick.[1] On December 9, the Southeastern Conference announced that Oher and Jerry were named to the first team of the All-SEC team selected by the 12 league coaches.[2] On December 10, the Southeastern Conference announced that Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt was named the Southeastern Conference coach of the year, sharing the award with Alabama's Nick Saban and Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson. Michael Oher was awarded the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, given to the league's top blocker.[3] The 2008 College Football All-America Team included Michael Oher and Peria Jerry.

  1. ^ "The Clarion-Ledger: 3 Rebels named to AP All-SEC first team".
  2. ^ Clarion Ledger [dead link]
  3. ^ Clarion Ledger [dead link]