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The 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl was the 41st annual edition of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, formerly known as the Peach Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. It pitted the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets against the Louisiana State Tigers in a postseason American college football game in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Tech represented the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and their competitor was from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game was the final competition 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.
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Selection process
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.
In choosing the SEC opponent, 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. Just as in the ACC, the selection committee cannot select an SEC team with two fewer losses than the highest available team. 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.
Pre-game buildup
On December 3, 2008, Chick-fil-A Bowl representatives selected Georgia Tech 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. The SEC representative for the bowl, LSU, was announced on Sunday, December 7, 2008. 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.
Television coverage
ESPN broadcast the game for the 13th straight year.