USF (14-0) won the school’s third NAIA national championship in 2008 with a 23-27 win over No. 1 win over Carroll College. The No. 2 ranked Cougars, which had also won titles in 1996 and 2006, ended a 28- game winning streak by Carroll College, a team that had won five of the previous six national crowns. In the win, USF built a 10-0 lead when the defensive player of the game Kyle Cummings blocked a punt which was recovered in the end zone by Joe Moen. Offensive player of the game Lorenzo Brown had a 54-yard touchdown pass to Jon Ryan and rushed for 129 yards. In 2008, USF had one of the nation’s top defenses and accumulated seven shutouts, and except for a safety in a 34-2 win over Dordt, it would have been eight. In total, they held 11-of-14 opponents to seven points or less.
In the playoffs, the Cougars defeated No. 15 St. Ambrose, 28-0; No. 9 Langston University, 50-13; No. 3 St. Francis, 24-6 and No. 1 Carroll College, 23-7 for a differential of 125-to-26. USF, which averaged 404.6 yards per game, had a 36.5-to-5.9 points per game differential. In rushing defense, they held opponents to 14.7 yards per game and 0.6 yards per rush attempt. One of the more intriguing stats is that the USF defense gave up just 206 net yards on 349 carries for the entire 14-game season. In fact, the defense recorded 538 yards in losses, and held opponents to a measly 2.2 yards per play and 109.4 total yards per game. USF’s dominating defense recorded 35 sacks, intercepted 20 passes and recovered 11 fumbles.
The 2008 USF Football roster included: Marlong Lobban, Tyson Brown, Demetrius Washington, Dan Schmeichel, Nick Ramstad, Andrew Schoenfelder, Nick Benedetto, Alex Anderson, Lorenzo Brown, Mark Schaffer, Eric Fjeldheim, Drew Anderson, Bret Beachner, Eric Page, Brandon Boe, Dustin Bergmeier, Jeremy Barnes, Matt Lindgren, Cody Cavender, Joe Moen, Adam Halseth, Tony Pedri, Trevor Holleman, Dylan Fritz, Kyle Cummings, Adam Lopez, Lavell Jackson, Anthony Baldassari, Kristian Porter, Tyler Newman, Mark Sayler, Mitch Lupkes, Trevor Engelson, Jared Redding, Dominic Studzinski, Dane Driscoll, Eric Anderson, Doug Carlson, Brandon Andersen, Blake Andersen, Tyler Mousel, Rene Velasquez, Jordan Carlson, Mike Patterson, Michael Hill, Nathan Everett, T.J. Ross, Landon Laveranz, Jared Vlotho, Casey Peters, Justin Meidinger, Quintin Biermann, Spencer Sailors, Taylor Klein, Jon Ryan, Josh Dorr, Jade Larson, Scott LeBrun, Maxon Keating, Tim Voegeli, Tony Benedetto, Brandon Koolstra, Mike Hartley, Drew DeGroot, Kyle Lancaster, Brad Hartzler, Sean Santiago, Jake Hahne
The 2008 USF Football Coaching roster included: Head Coach - Kalen DeBoer, Chuck Morrell, Travis Beaver, Ross Cimpl, Shawn Flanagan, Eric Inama, Brad Maag, Shawn Schnabel, Ryan Schuler, Eric Smith, Kyle Staudt, Kyle Wasson, T.J. Wendt, Al Christensen, Erik Cimpl, Jacob Crowl, Jeff Fitzgerald, Stanley Green, Ryan Grubb, Al Hansen, Eric James, Ryan Lowmiller, Dan Moe, Jim Rawhouser, Kurtiss Riggs, Ismael Small
