The 2007–08 NCAA football bowl games concluded the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS regular season in college football.
A total of 32 team-competitive plus four all-star postseason games were played. While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the second consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games. To fill the 64 available bowl slots from the 119 schools in the Bowl Subdivision, a total of seven teams (11% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—all seven had a .500 (6-6) season.
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.ESPN - College Football Standings, NCAA College Football Standings, NCAA Football Standings As a result, the NCAA on April 30, 2008, later approved two new bowl games for the 2008–09 post season: The EagleBank Bowl (née Congressional Bowl), which will be played at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. 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:
Team Bowl Season coach Interim head coach Result 2008 head coach Arkansas Cotton Houston Nutt Reggie HerringESPN - Several of Nutt's Arkansas assistants to join him at Ole Miss - College FootballLost Bobby PetrinoESPN - Petrino resigns Falcons post after 13 games, goes to Arkansas - College Football Georgia Tech Humanitarian Chan Gailey Jon TenutaESPN - Johnson accepts offer to become Yellow Jackets coach - College FootballLost Paul Johnson Houston Texas Art Briles Chris ThurmondESPN - Briles next in line to try to resurrect Baylor football - College FootballLost Kevin SumlinESPN - Source: Houston hires Sumlin, eighth minority coach in FBS - College Football Navy Poinsettia Paul Johnson Ken NiumataloloESPN - Niumatalolo named new head coach at Navy - College FootballLost same Texas A&M Alamo Dennis Franchione Gary DarnellESPN - Sherman succeeds Franchione as Texas A&M coach - College FootballLost Mike Sherman UCLA Las Vegas Karl Dorrell DeWayne WalkerESPN - Fired Dorrell won't coach UCLA in Las Vegas Bowl - College FootballLost Rick Neuheisel West Virginia Fiesta Rich Rodriguez Bill StewartESPN - Conversations: Associate head coach to prepare Mountaineers for Fiesta BowlWon Same
In addition, the following teams had coaches that either resigned or retired from their teams, but continued to work for their bowl games: Team Bowl Current coach Result 2008 head coach Michigan Capital One Lloyd Carr Won Rich RodriguezESPN - New Michigan coach Rodriguez says leaving WVU 'difficult decision' - College Football Southern Mississippi PapaJohns.com Jeff Bower Lost Larry FedoraESPN - Southern Miss. makes hiring of Fedora official - College Football
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.
Schedule -Non-BCS bowlsDateTimeGameSiteResultRef. Dec 20 9:00 p.m. Poinsettia Bowl Qualcomm StadiumSan Diego, CA Utah 35, Navy 32 Dec 21 8:00 p.m. New Orleans Bowl Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, LA Florida Atlantic 44, Memphis 27Dec 22 1:00 p.m. PapaJohns.com Bowl Legion FieldBirmingham, AL No. 20 Cincinnati 31, Southern Miss 21 4:30 p.m. New Mexico Bowl University StadiumAlbuquerque, NM New Mexico 23, Nevada 0 8:00 p.m. Las Vegas Bowl Sam Boyd StadiumLas Vegas, NV No. 19 BYU 17, UCLA 16 Dec 23 8:00 p.m. Hawaii Bowl Aloha StadiumHonolulu, HI East Carolina 41, No. 24 Boise State 38 Dec 26 7:30 p.m. Motor City Bowl Ford FieldDetroit, MI Purdue 51, Central Michigan 48 Dec 27 8:00 p.m. Holiday Bowl Qualcomm StadiumSan Diego, CA No. 17 Texas 52, No. 12 Arizona State 34Dec 28 5:00 p.m. Champs Sports Bowl Florida Citrus BowlOrlando, FL No. 14 Boston College 24, Michigan State 21 8:00 p.m. Texas Bowl Reliant StadiumHouston, TX TCU 20, Houston 13 8:30 p.m. Emerald Bowl AT&T ParkSan Francisco, CA Oregon State 21, Maryland 14Dec 29 1:00 p.m. Meineke Car Care Bowl Bank of America StadiumCharlotte, NC Wake Forest 24, Connecticut 10 4:30 p.m. Liberty Bowl Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, TN Mississippi State 10, UCF 3 8:00 p.m. Alamo Bowl AlamodomeSan Antonio, TX Penn State 24, Texas A&M 17 Dec 30 8:00 p.m. Independence Bowl Independence StadiumShreveport, LA Alabama 30, Colorado 24Dec 31 12:30 p.m. Armed Forces Bowl Amon G. Carter StadiumFort Worth, TX California 42, Air Force 36 2:00 p.m. Sun Bowl Sun BowlEl Paso, TX Oregon 56, No. 23 South Florida 21 2:00 p.m. Humanitarian Bowl Bronco StadiumBoise, ID Fresno State 40, Georgia Tech 28 4:00 p.m. Music City Bowl LP FieldNashville, TN Kentucky 35, Florida State 28 5:30 p.m. Insight Bowl Sun Devil StadiumTempe, AZ Oklahoma State 49, Indiana 33 7:30 p.m. Chick-fil-A Bowl Georgia DomeAtlanta, GA No. 22 Auburn 23, No. 15 Clemson 20Jan 1 11:00 a.m. Outback Bowl Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL No. 16 Tennessee 21, No. 18 Wisconsin 17 11:30 a.m. Cotton Bowl Cotton BowlDallas, TX No. 7 Missouri 38, No. 25 Arkansas 7 12:00 p.m. Gator Bowl Jacksonville Municipal StadiumJacksonville, FL Texas Tech 31, No. 21 Virginia 28 1:00 p.m. Capital One Bowl Florida Citrus BowlOrlando, FL Michigan 41, No. 9 Florida 35 Jan 5 12:00 p.m. International Bowl Rogers CentreToronto, Canada Rutgers 52, Ball State 30 Jan 6 8:00 p.m. GMAC Bowl Ladd–Peebles StadiumMobile, AL Tulsa 63, Bowling Green 7BCS bowlsDateTimeGameSiteResultRef.Jan 1 4:30 p.m. Rose Bowl Rose BowlPasadena, CA No. 6 USC 49, No. 13 Illinois 17 8:30 p.m. Sugar Bowl Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, LA No. 4 Georgia 41, No. 10 Hawaii 10 Jan 2 8:00 p.m. Fiesta Bowl University of Phoenix StadiumGlendale, AZ No. 11 West Virginia 48, No. 3 Oklahoma 28 Jan 3 8:00 p.m. Orange Bowl Dolphin StadiumMiami Gardens, FL No. 8 Kansas 24, No. 5 Virginia Tech 21 Jan 7 8:00 p.m. BCS National Championship Game Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, LA No. 2 LSU 38, No. 1 Ohio State 24 Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game. All times are in Eastern Time.
Non-BCS Bowls NOTE: Rankings used are the final regular season BCS Rankings whenever noted, all payouts are in US Dollars, season records are prior to the bowl game.
Poinsettia Bowl
Utah (8–4) 35, Navy (8–4) 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
Florida Atlantic (7–5) 44, Memphis (7–5) 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
(22) Cincinnati (9–3) 31, Southern Miss (7–5) 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
New Mexico (8–4) 23, Nevada (6–6) 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 had 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
(17) Brigham Young (10–2) 17, UCLA (6–6) 16
The Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl was played on December 22 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada. In the only regular season rematch of the season, the Cougars of Brigham Young University, the Mountain West Conference champions, escaped with a 17–16 victory over the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins of the Pacific-10 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.
Hawaii Bowl
East Carolina (7–5) 41, (24) Boise State (10–2) 38
The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, 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 Hawaii Warriors, the traditional Hawaii Bowl team as per its "Hawaii 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.
Motor City Bowl
Purdue (7–5) 51, Central Michigan (8–5) 48