2007 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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Date | December 21, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Louisiana Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | FAU QB Rusty Smith | ||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Memphis by 2½ | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 25,146 | ||||||||||||||||||
Payout | US$325,000 per team | ||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2007 R+L CarriersNew Orleans Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game. Part of the 2007-08 NCAA football bowl games season, it was played on December 21, 2007 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
The Florida Atlantic Owls, winners of the Sun Belt Conference title for the first time in school history, faced the Memphis Tigers of Conference USA. Both teams had a regular-season record of 7-5.
The Owls have only played college football since 2001 and the 2007 New Orleans Bowl was their first bowl appearance in history. The seven years between the creation of the FAU college football team and its first bowl appearance in the New Orleans Bowl marked the quickest a team had ever appeared in a bowl game after its establishment. Florida Atlantic led the NCAA in turnover margin. FAU head coach Howard Schnellenberger led the Miami Hurricanes to a National Championship in 1983. At the time of the 2007 New Orleans Bowl, Schnellenberger was the third-oldest head coach in Division I football. The game was Memphis's third bowl game in four years. The Tigers' season was marked by the murder of defensive end Taylor Bradford on September 30, but the team carried on to a winning record and its first bowl appearance since 2005.
The 2007 New Orleans Bowl kicked off at 8:00 p.m. EST at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game was broadcast nationally in the United States on ESPN2.