page_title: 2008 BCS National Championship Game
section_title: Pre-game buildup
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 BCS National Championship Game / Pre-game buildup
caption_attribution_description: English: LSU Tigers football bus during championship week 2008
context_page_description: The 2008 BCS National Championship Game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday, January 7, 2008, and featured the No. 1 and No. 2 college football teams in the United States as determined by the BCS Poll to decide the BCS National Championship for the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  The game featured No. 1 Big Ten champion Ohio State Buckeyes hosting No. 2 SEC champion LSU Tigers. It also featured the second postseason matchup between head coaches Jim Tressel and Les Miles in five years. The first occurrence was the 2004 Alamo Bowl, when Tressel's Buckeyes defeated Miles' Oklahoma State Cowboys, 33–7.
context_section_description: After intense media speculation, including a report on ESPN which indicated that he was on the verge of taking the Michigan job, LSU head coach Les Miles announced just before the SEC championship game on December 1 that he was staying.  Shortly thereafter, he agreed to a contract extension at LSU.  Additionally, LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini accepted the head coaching job at Nebraska the day after the SEC title game. With the blessing of Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, Pelini returned to Baton Rouge to prepare for the BCS championship game.
  As for the Buckeyes, two cornerbacks, Donald Washington and Eugene Clifford, were reported to be suspended for this game for violating team rules.  However, Ohio State's athletic director said on December 27 that the reported suspension of Washington was erroneous.
caption: LSU Tigers football team bus at New Orleans Marriott viewed from Sheraton New Orleans
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot TX1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:01:04 11:18:34", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5120", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:01:04 11:18:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:01:04 11:18:34", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "139/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "13/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3334", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "96000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "96000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}