The 2007-08 NCAA College Football Bowl Games post-season schedule followed the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS regular season in college football, which was one of the most inconsistent regular seasons in recent memory, where no school was immune from losing a game to fall from a top ranking.
The NCAA divided Division I into two divisions for football in 1978. The top level, originally known as "Division I-A" and officially changed to the "Football Bowl Subdivision" in 2006, includes teams that play in bowl games. The second level, originally known as "Division I-AA" and renamed the "Football Championship Subdivision" in 2006, consists of smaller schools and conferences, most of which play in a playoff system (although a few conferences, such as the Ivy League, choose not to participate in the playoff). The larger schools, who do not have a playoff system, concludes with a series of bowl games that have developed as a reward for teams that do well in the regular season.
The 2007-08 schedule was as large a lineup as the 2006-07 lineup – all as part of 36 post-season games (32 not counting the post-BCS all-star games) that started with the Poinsettia Bowl on December 20 , 2007 , and ended with the Texas vs. The Nation all-star game on February 2 , 2008 . In total, 64 schools out of the 119 schools in the Bowl Subdivision had played in the post-season. This was the result of the NCAA's decision to expand schedules to twelve regular season mainland games (not counting games either played in Hawaii or conference championships games in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference (SEC), Mid-American Conference (MAC) or Conference USA) and allow teams with a 6-6 record to be bowl eligible if either the team or their conference has negotiated a bowl contract.
Selection of the teams
For the 2007-08 season, NCAA bylaws stipulated that any team that finished with at least a 6-6 overall regular season record can only be selected to fill a conference tie-in bowl slot once all other available conference teams are chosen.
The Big Ten had ten teams who finished with a 6-6 or better regular season record, but only were allocated six slots not including BCS-qualifying Ohio State and Illinois. As a result, Northwestern and Iowa who finished with a 6-6 record did not qualify for a bowl game. Other teams that were left out of the bowl games were Louisville of the Big East; and the SEC's South Carolina, despite the fact that their conference had two BCS-qualifying teams (LSU and Georgia). The MAC's Ohio and Sun Belt members Troy and Louisiana-Monroe also failed to receive invitations. The Troy Trojans (at 8-4) were the most notable absentee from the bowl games, losing their season finale to Florida Atlantic on the last day of the season.
In contrast, Mountain West members TCU was invited to the Texas Bowl as the Big 12 could not fill all of its slots, because not enough teams were left after Kansas was chosen as an at-large team to join conference champion Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, Miami (Ohio) went 6-7, losing the MAC Championship Game. Had the RedHawks won, they would have been eligible. As a result, the NCAA on April 30 , 2008 later approved two new bowl games for the the 2008-09 post season: The EagleBank Bowl (née Congressional Bowl), which will be played at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC will pit an ACC team against either Army or Navy, while the new St. Petersburg Bowl, to be played at Tropicana Field in the Florida City namesake will pit Conference USA and Big East schools against one another.
Coaching changes
As a result of head coaching changes between the regular season and the bowl season, the following teams played their postseason contests with interim head coaches:
In addition, the following teams had coaches that either resigned or retired from their teams, but continued to work for their bowl games:
Notes
- Nutt left Arkansas to take the same job at Mississippi.
- Briles left Houston to take the same job at Baylor.
- Johnson left the Naval Academy to take the same job at Georgia Tech.
- Rodriguez left West Virginia to take the same job at Michigan.
Non-BCS Bowls
Poinsettia Bowl
Main article: 2007 Poinsettia Bowl
- Utah 35, Navy 32
In the first bowl game of the season, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on December 20 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, the Utes of the University of Utah from the Mountain West Conference defeated the independent (no conference affiliation) United States Naval Academy Midshipmen, 35-32. Each team got $750,000 payouts, as the Utes' share was divided amongst the members of their conference, while Navy kept the entire amount.
New Orleans Bowl
Main article: 2007 New Orleans Bowl
- Florida Atlantic 44, Memphis 27
At the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl held December 21 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Florida Atlantic University Owls of the Sun Belt Conference, in their first FBS appearance as conference champions, defeated the University of Memphis Tigers from Conference USA, 44-27. Both conferences got $325,000 in payouts in the first of three post-season games to be played in the Crescent City.
PapaJohns.com Bowl
Main article: 2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl
- (22) Cincinnati 31, Southern Miss 21
The Papajohns.com Bowl at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama on December 22 featured the University of Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big East Conference and the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles of Conference USA. This was the last game for 17-year coach Jeff Bower of Southern Miss who made his coaching debut at Southern Miss at Legion Field against Alabama. However, the Bearcats won the game 31-21, earning their first 10 win season in over five decades. Both conferences were paid $300,000 for the contest.
New Mexico Bowl
Main article: 2007 New Mexico Bowl
- New Mexico 23, Nevada 0
The New Mexico Bowl on December 22 was contested by the University of New Mexico Lobos of the Mountain West and the University of Nevada, Reno Wolf Pack of the Western Athletic Conference. On their home field of University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Lobos shutout the Wolf Pack, 23-0, to win their first postseason win since 1961. For the Wolf Pack, it was the first shutout they suffered since 1980. Both conferences got a stipend of $750,000 for each school's participation in the season's fourth bowl game.
Las Vegas Bowl
Main article: 2007 Las Vegas Bowl
- (17) Brigham Young 17, UCLA 16
The Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl was played on December 22 at Sam Boyd Stadium on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the only regular season rematch of the season, the Cougars of Brigham Young University, the Mountain West Conference champions, escaped with an 17-16 victory over the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins of the Pacific Ten Conference. The conferences each divided up checks for $1 million as receipt for their teams playing. The game was not decided until Eathyn Manumaluena blocked Kai Forbath's game-winning 28-yard field goal attempt as time expired, avenging a 27-17 loss back on September 8 at UCLA's home field, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Hawai ʻ i Bowl
Main article: 2007 Hawaii Bowl
- East Carolina 41, (24) Boise State 38
The Sheraton Hawai ʻ i Bowl at Aloha Stadium in ʻ Aiea, Hawai ʻ i, a suburb of Honolulu, saw the East Carolina University Pirates of Conference USA defeat the WAC's Boise State University Broncos, 41-38. Boise State came back from a 38-14 third-quarter deficit, tying the game when Marty Tadman returned a Pirates fumble for a touchdown with 1:25 left. The Pirates answered with a game-ending 34-yard field goal from Ben Hartman to win their first bowl game since 2000. The conferences of both schools received a check for $750,000 apiece.
The University of Hawai ʻ i Warriors, the traditional Hawai ʻ i Bowl team as per its "Hawai ʻ i guarantee" agreement, did not play in this season's contest since they qualified for a BCS bowl. Additionally, the game was held on December 23 instead of the traditional annual date of December 24 (Christmas Eve) due to ESPN's commitments to broadcast a Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and the San Diego Chargers.
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