The 2008 Outback Bowl, part of the 2007–08 bowl game season, was played on January 1, 2008, at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It was the 22nd edition of the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

Summary

The opposing teams were the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

, and the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC). The Volunteers were runners-up in the SEC, having lost to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, 21–14, in the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the Eastern Division regular season champion again ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

on December 1. The Badgers were trying for a second straight 10-win season under head coach

Bret Bielema Bret Arnold Bielema (; born January 13, 1970) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a position he has held since the 2021 season. Bielema served as the head football coach at ...

. During the first half of the game, the inaugural

Joe Montana Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Co ...

Award, signifying the nation's top high school quarterback, was awarded to

Matt Barkley Matthew Montgomery Barkley (born September 8, 1990) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the USC Trojans, setting set the Pac-12 Conference season record for touchdown passes as a junior. Due to suffer ...

of Mater Dei High School in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

. Tennessee won, 21–17. Wisconsin had a chance to win the game in the final minute, but Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Donovan was intercepted on a desperation pass, sealing a Volunteers win. Game MVP

Erik Ainge Erik Douglas Ainge (born June 12, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers. He was selecte ...

completed 25 of his 43 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Wisconsin

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

P.J. Hill Parrish "P. J." Hill Jr. (born January 3, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers. Hill was a member of the NFL's ...

ran the ball 16 times for 132 yards.

Scoring

1 TEN TD 3 yd run by Gerald Jones (Daniel Lincoln Kick good) 7–0 TEN 1 WIS TD 6 yd run by Tyler Donovan (

Taylor Mehlhaff Taylor Mehlhaff (born August 25, 1985) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, earning first-team All-American honors i ...

Kick good) 7–7 Tie 2 TEN TD Josh Briscoe 29 yd pass from

(Lincoln Kick) 14–7 TEN 2 TEN TD

Brad Cottam Bradley Joseph Cottam (born November 28, 1984) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Early life Cottam played high school football at Evangelic ...

31 yd pass from

(Lincoln kick) 21–7 TEN 2 WIS TD Andy Crooks 4 yd pass from Tyler Donovan (Mehlhaff Kick) 21–14 TEN 3 WIS FG

27 yards 21–17 TEN

Aftermath

This would prove to be Tennessee coach

Phillip Fulmer Phillip Edward Fulmer Sr. (born September 1, 1950) is a former American football player, coach, and athletic director at the University of Tennessee. He served as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1992 to 2008, compiling ...

's final bowl game with the Vols, as the following season, he would resign as head coach.

References

{{Wisconsin Badgers bowl game navbox ReliaQuest Bowl

21st century in Tampa, Florida Tennessee Volunteers football bowl games Wisconsin Badgers football bowl games January 2008 sports events in the United States