2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl

2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl
PapaJohns.com Bowl logo
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Cincinnati Bearcats (7–5) (9–3) C-USA Big East 21 31 Head coach:  Jeff Bower Head coach:  Brian Kelly AP Coaches BCS 20 23 22
1 2 3 4 Total Southern Miss 7 0 7 7 21 Cincinnati 0 14 17 0 31
Date	December 22, 2007
Season	2007
Stadium	Legion Field
Location	Birmingham, Alabama
MVP	QB Ben Mauk, Cincinnati
Favorite	Cincinnati by 11[1]
Referee	Cooper Castleberry (Big 12)
Attendance	35,258
Payout	US$300,000 per team[2]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN2
Announcers	Pam Ward, Ray Bentley

The 2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl was a postseason college football match between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Cincinnati Bearcats at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The University of Southern Mississippi represented Conference USA (which Cincinnati was once a member of) and the University of Cincinnati represented the Big East Conference. The game resulted in a 31–21 Cincinnati victory, which did not cover their 11-point spread.^[1] The payout for both teams was $300,000, the lowest payout among all college football bowl games.^[3]

This was the final game for head coach Jeff Bower, ending his 17-season tenure at Southern Miss.^[4] Bower was forced to resign after their disappointing season.^[5] After Bower's resignation, the selection of Southern Miss for this bowl game was notable as Bower's first game as head coach of the Golden Eagles was also at Legion Field, in the All-American Bowl in 1990.

Cincinnati quarterback Ben Mauk passed for four touchdowns and 334 yards.^[5] Southern Miss quarterback Jeremy Young went 18-for-32 for 122 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.^[5] After being down 31–14 in the fourth quarter, Jeremy Young cut the lead with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Chris Johnson, but Southern Miss's rally fell short after they couldn't recover an onside kick or convert a fourth-and-1 play on their next possession.^[5] Only 35,258 people attended the game, less than half of Legion Field's capacity.^[6] Cincinnati distributed 8,352 tickets, a school record for bowl attendance, while Southern Mississippi distributed around 5,000 tickets.^[7] Cincinnati's win brought their record to 10–3, their first 10-win season since 1951. With the loss, Southern Miss's record ended at 7–5.^[8]

Game summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Southern Miss Cincinnati 1 5:23 5 plays, 59 yards 1:55 Southern Miss Shawn Nelson 10-yard touchdown reception from Jeremy Young, Justin Estes kick good 7 0 2 6:12 7 plays, 75 yards 2:19 Cincinnati Dominick Goodman 14-yard touchdown reception from Ben Mauk, Jake Rogers kick good 7 7 2 0:24 6 plays, 49 yards 1:23 Cincinnati Dominick Goodman 5-yard touchdown reception from Ben Mauk, Jake Rogers kick good 7 14 3 13:17 1 plays, 29 yards 0:09 Cincinnati Earnest Jackson 29-yard touchdown reception from Ben Mauk, Jake Rogers kick good 7 21 3 6:48 14 plays, 80 yards 6:29 Southern Miss Jeremy Young 1-yard touchdown run, Justin Estes kick good 14 21 3 4:08 8 plays, 58 yards 2:40 Cincinnati Antwuan Giddens 10-yard touchdown reception from Ben Mauk, Jake Rogers kick good 14 28 3 0:05 9 plays, 51 yards 2:28 Cincinnati 22-yard field goal by Jake Rogers 14 31 4 9:37 11 plays, 76 yards 5:28 Southern Miss Chris Johnson 5-yard touchdown reception from Jeremy Young, Justin Estes kick good 21 31 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 21 31

Final statistics

^{[9] [10]}

Statistical Comparison Eagles Bearcats 1st Downs 19 21 Total Yards 339 405 Passing Yards 122 334 Rushing Yards 217 71 Penalties 8–80 8–51 3rd Down Conversions 6–17 6–14 4th Down Conversions 1–4 1–2 Turnovers 3 4 Time of Possession 33:36 26:24		Eagles Individual Leaders Passing Player C/ATT^* Yds Pct TD INT J. Young 18/32 122 56.3 2 3 Rushing Player Car^a Yds Ave TD LG^b D. Fletcher 29 155 5.3 0 40 J. Young 17 55 3.2 1 20 T. Harrison 2 7 3.5 0 4 B. Barefoot 1 0 0.0 0 0 Receiving Player Rec^c Yds Ave TD LG^b D. Fletcher 7 50 7.1 0 16 T. Harrison 1 18 18.0 0 18 S. Nelson 3 18 6.0 1 10 T. Magee 2 15 7.5 0 13 C. Johnson 2 13 6.5 1 8 E. Morgan 2 8 4.0 0 4 G. Baptiste 1 0 0.0 0 0 ^* Completions/Attempts ^a Carries ^b Long play ^c Receptions	Bearcats Individual Leaders Passing Player C/ATT^* Yds Pct TD INT B. Mauk 30/52 334 57.7 4 3 Rushing Player Car^a Yds Ave TD LG^b B. Mauk 12 41 3.4 0 14 G. Moore 4 18 4.5 0 12 J. Ramsey 6 9 1.5 0 6 B. Glatthaar 1 7 7.0 0 7 B. Benton 1 0 0.0 0 0 Receiving Player Rec^c Yds Ave TD LG^b D. Goodman 7 95 13.6 2 20 C. Barwin 7 86 12.3 0 26 A. Giddens 7 64 9.1 1 23 E. Jackson 3 46 15.3 1 29 C. Howard 2 24 12.0 0 18 M. Barnett 2 17 8.5 0 10 G. Moore 1 3 3.0 0 3 B. Benton 1 (-)1 (-)1.0 0 0

^* Completions/Attempts ^a Carries ^b Long play ^c Receptions

References

1. World Features Syndicate via Long Beach Press-Telegram, December 19, 2007
2. "ncaafootball.com - Bowl Schedules/Results". Archived from the original on August 3, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
3. "New Mexico Bowl: Team expenses chip away payout profits : LoboZone : Albuquerque Tribune". Archived from the original on December 22, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
4. SportingNews.com - Your expert source for NCAA Football stats, scores, standings, and blogs from NCAA Football columnists^{[permanent dead link‍]}
5. "Mauk, Bearcats spoil Bower's final game at Southern Miss". ESPN.com. December 22, 2007. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-14-04.
6. "安心して飲み続けられるローヤルゼリー".
7. "Papajohns.com Bowl notebook- al.com". Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
8. "Papajohns.com Bowl Game Notes :: Cincinnati 31, Southern Miss. 21". Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
9. ESPN
10. Yahoo Sports