| 2007 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 21, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Louisiana Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | FAU QB Rusty Smith | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Memphis by 2½[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Dan Capron (Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 25,146[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$325,000 per team[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mark Jones, Bob Davie[4] | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2007 R+L Carriers New 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 Memphis Tigers of Conference USA, faced the Florida Atlantic Owls, winners of the Sun Belt Conference title for the first time in school history. Both teams had a regular-season record of 7–5.
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,[5] but the team carried on to a winning record and its first bowl appearance since the 2005 Motor City Bowl. The Owls have only played college football since 2001, and this game was their first bowl appearance. The seven years between the creation of the FAU college football team and this bowl appearance marked the quickest a team had ever appeared in a bowl game after its establishment.[citation needed] 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.