2007 Conference USA Football Championship Game

2007 Conference USA Football Championship Game
2007 Conference USA Football Championship Game
Conference Championship
Tulsa Golden Hurricane	UCF Knights
(9–3)	(9–3)
25	44
Head coach: ; Todd Graham	Head coach: ; George O'Leary
Date	December 1, 2007
Season	2007
Stadium	Bright House Networks Stadium
Location	Orlando, Florida
MVP	Kevin Smith (RB, UCF)
Favorite	UCF by 7.5
Referee	Ed Ardito
Attendance	44,128
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Dave LaMont (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst) and Erin Andrews (sideline)

The 2007 Conference USA Football Championship Game was played on December 1, 2007, between the UCF Knights, the champion of C-USA's East Division, and the West Division champion, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, at Bright House Networks Stadium (now known as Spectrum Stadium) in Orlando, Florida. The game kicked off at 12:00 pm EST and was televised by ESPN.

2007 Conference USA football standings

Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
UCF x$	7	–	1	10	–	4
East Carolina	6	–	2	8	–	5
Memphis	6	–	2	7	–	6
Southern Miss	5	–	3	7	–	6
Marshall	3	–	5	3	–	9
UAB	1	–	7	2	–	10
West Division
Tulsa xy	6	–	2	10	–	4
Houston x	6	–	2	8	–	5
Tulane	3	–	5	4	–	8
Rice	3	–	5	3	–	9
UTEP	2	–	6	4	–	8
SMU	0	–	8	1	–	11
Championship: UCF 44, Tulsa 25
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Game summary

Under conference rules, the game was held at the home field of the team with the best record in conference play; since UCF finished C-USA play at 7–1, better than Tulsa's 6–2, the game was held at the Knights' home field.

Tulsa and UCF met at the C-USA Championship for the second time; Tulsa beat UCF at the Florida Citrus Bowl (now known as Camping World Stadium) in Downtown Orlando in 2005 by a score of 44–27.

Kevin Smith continued his dominance, running for 284 yards with 4 touchdowns. Tulsa kept it close in the first half as UCF's defense seemed slow to get started. In the second half, however, they only scored on a safety. Paul Smith, the Tulsa quarterback, threw for 426 yards and three touchdowns, but also gave up three interceptions. UCF won their first ever conference title in football.

Kevin Smith finished the game with 2,448 rushing yards on the season, second all-time for single-season rushing yards in FBS history. Only Barry Sanders, who rushed for 2,628 yards in 1989 for Oklahoma State, rushed for more yards in a single season.[1]

Teams

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Under Head Coach Todd Graham, Tulsa finished the 2007 regular season 9-3 (6-2) with a powerful offense averaging over 41 points per game, but their defense was a struggle all season letting up 33 points per game. Their offense was mostly powered by their talented quarterback Paul Smith who had 5,065 passing yards and 47 touchdowns on the season. Current Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn was in his first year as Tulsa's Offensive Coordinator.

UCF Knights

UCF was led to a 9-3 regular season record with a 7-1 conference record by Head Coach George O'Leary in 2007. UCF also had a prolific offense that averaged 35.9 points per game and were led by their Running Back Kevin Smith who had one of the best seasons a college football running back has ever had, rushing a record 450 times for 2,567 yards and 30 total touchdowns. UCF did most of their damage on the ground, as quarterback Kyle Israel threw for 2,173 yards and 15 touchdowns to his 11 interceptions.

Game Statistic Leaders

Passing Yards

TLSA

P. Smith28-55, 426 YDS, 3 TD, 3 INT

UCF

K. Israel6-13, 128 YDS

Rushing Yards

TLSA

T. Adams18 CAR, 41 YDS

UCF

K. Smith39 CAR, 284 YDS, 4 TD

Receiving Yards

TLSA

C. Clay6 REC, 112 YDS, 1 TD

UCF

R. Ross3 REC, 63 YDS

Team Statistics

Matchup	Tulsa	UCF
1st Downs	24	18
3rd down efficiency	8-21	3-10
4th down efficiency	3-5	0-0
Total Yards	470	436
Passing	491	134
Comp-Att	29-57	6-13
Yards per pass	7.7	9.8
Interceptions thrown	3	0
Rushing	32	308
Rushing Attempts	35	49
Yards per rush	0.9	6.3
Penalties	8-74	3-25
Turnovers	3	1
Fumbles lost	0	1
Interceptions thrown	3	0
Possession	19:40	16:14

Scoring Summary

FIRST QUARTER		TLSA	UCF
	FG 10:54 Michael Torres 28-yard field goal GOOD. ucf drive: 7 plays 47 yards, 02:38 ucf fg, 2:38	0	3
	PUNT 7:52 Michael Such punt for 43 yards, returned by Joe Burnett for 83 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. tulsa drive: 5 plays 1 yard, 03:02 tulsa punt, 3:02	0	9
	XP 9:55 Michael Torres extra point GOOD. ucf drive: 1 play 83 yards, 00:00 ucf td, 0:00	0	10
	PASS 4:58 Paul Smith pass complete to Charles Clay for 22 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. tulsa drive: 7 plays 65 yards, 02:54 tulsa td, 2:54	6	10
	XP 4:58 Jarod Tracy extra point GOOD. tulsa drive: 7 plays 65 yards, 02:54 tulsa td, 2:54	7	10
	PASS 1:56 Paul Smith pass complete to Jacob Collums for 8 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. tulsa drive: 5 plays 48 yards, 00:56 tulsa td, 0:56	13	10
SECOND QUARTER		TLSA	UCF
	RUSH 13:18 Kevin Smith rush for 3 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. ucf drive: 8 plays 69 yards, 03:38 ucf td, 3:38	13	16
	XP 13:18 Michael Torres extra point GOOD. ucf drive: 8 plays 69 yards, 03:38 ucf td, 3:38	13	17
	RUSH 10:03 Kevin Smith rush for 46 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. ucf drive: 2 plays 69 yards, 00:29 ucf td, 0:29	13	24
	XP 10:03 Michael Torres extra point GOOD. ucf drive: 2 plays 69 yards, 00:29 ucf td, 0:29	13	24
	PASS 7:38 Paul Smith pass complete to Trae Johnson for 27 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. tulsa drive: 6 plays 72 yards, 02:25 tulsa td, 2:25	19	24
	XP 7:38 Jarod Tracy extra point GOOD. tulsa drive: 6 plays 72 yards, 02:25 tulsa td, 2:25	20	24
	RUSH 3:29 Kevin Smith rush for 4 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. ucf drive: 9 plays 69 yards, 04:09 ucf td, 4:09	20	30
	XP 3:29 Michael Torres extra point GOOD. ucf drive: 9 plays 69 yards, 04:09 ucf td, 4:09	20	31
	FG 1:38 Jarod Tracy 32-yard field goal GOOD. tulsa drive: 9 plays 50 yards, 01:51 tulsa fg, 1:51	23	31
THIRD QUARTER		TLSA	UCF
	FG 4:01 Michael Torres 21-yard field goal GOOD. ucf drive: 6 plays 36 yards, 02:50 ucf fg, 2:50	23	34
	FG 0:03 Michael Torres 45-yard field goal GOOD. ucf drive: 7 plays 9 yards, 02:00 ucf fg, 2:00	23	37
FOURTH QUARTER		TLSA	UCF
	SF 10:56 Kyle Israel rush for a loss of 2 yards, fumbled in the endzone, recovered by Kyle Israel for a SAFETY. ucf drive: 1 play -2 yards, 00:05 ucf saf, 0:05	25	37
	RUSH 7:12 Kevin Smith rush for 74 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. ucf drive: 4 plays 89 yards, 02:12 ucf td, 2:12	25	44
	XP 7:12 Michael Torres extra point GOOD. ucf drive: 4 plays 89 yards, 02:12 ucf td, 2:12	25	44

References

[2] [3] [4]

"Tulsa can't contain Smith as UCF clinches first C-USA title". ESPN.com. The Walt Disney Company. December 1, 2007. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/central-florida/2007/splits/ 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2019-11-17
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/tulsa/2007.html 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2019-11-17
https://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=273352116 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2019-11-17

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Tulsa can't contain Smith as UCF clinches first C-USA title". ESPN.com. The Walt Disney Company. December 1, 2007. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2007.

[2] ttps://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/central-florida/2007/splits/ 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2019-11-17

[3] ttps://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/tulsa/2007.html 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2019-11-17

[4] ttps://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=273352116 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2019-11-17

2007 NCAA football conference championship games
Division I FBS	ACC Big 12 Conference USA MAC SEC
Division I FCS	SWAC

Conference USA Football Championship Game
Years	2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Venues	Citrus Bowl (2005) Robertson Stadium (2006, 2011) Bright House Networks Stadium (2007, 2010) Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium (2008, 2012) Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium (2009) Rice Stadium (2013) Joan C. Edwards Stadium (2014, 2020) Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium (2015, 2016) FAU Stadium (2017, 2019) Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium (2018) Alamodome (2021, 2022)
Broadcasters

UCF Knights football
Venues	Citrus Bowl (1979–2006) FBC Mortgage Stadium (2007–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Cincinnati South Florida
Culture & lore	Civil Conflict Knightro "Charge On" Marching Knights Kernkraft 400
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Alumni Statistical leaders
Seasons	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
National championship seasons in bold

Tulsa Golden Hurricane football
Venues	South Main Park (1912–1914) Association Park (1915–1917) McNulty Park (1919–1929) Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Houston Oklahoma State
Culture & lore	Captain Cane "Hurricane Spirit" The Sound of the Golden Hurricane Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023