Champions Minnesota–Duluth | ||
Regular season August 30 – November 8, 2008 Playoffs November 15 – December 15, 2008 National Championship Braly Municipal Stadium
Florence, AL Harlon Hill Trophy Bernard Scott, Abilene Christian | ||
The 2008 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 30, 2008, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 15, 2008 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs defeated the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, 21–14, to win their first Division II national title.
Contents
The Harlon Hill Trophy was awarded to Bernard Scott, running back from Abilene Christian.
Postseason
The 2008 NCAA Division II National Football Championship playoffs involved 24 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football.
The tournament began on November 15, 2008 and concluded on December 13, 2008 with the 2008 NCAA Division II National Football Championship game at Braly Municipal Stadium near the campus of the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama.
In the championship game the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats, 21-14.
Playoff format
The first-round games were conducted on the campus of one of the competing institutions as determined by the NCAA Division II Football Committee. Two teams in each super regional earned first-round byes. The first-round winners advanced to face a bye team in their super regional. Second-round winners met in the quarterfinals and quarterfinal winners advanced to play in the semifinals.
First-round, second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games were played on the campus of one of the competing institutions as determined by the NCAA Division II Football Committee. The home team at the championship was determined by the Division II Football Committee and the Shoals National Championship Committee.
National television coverage
The championship game was played at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama and broadcast live on ESPN2 on December 16.
The semifinal games were broadcast on ESPN2 (North Alabama vs. Northwest Mo., 4pm EST) and ESPN Classic (California (PA) vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 12pm EST) on December 6.
The Superregional championship (quarterfinal) games were broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic on November 29.