| 2007 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 20, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Qualcomm Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | San Diego, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Brian Johnson (Utah) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Utah by 9[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Tom McCabe (MAC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | United States Naval Academy Band Pride of Utah Marching Band | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 39,129 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$750,000 per team | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, and Mark May[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 2.00[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2007 Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Utah Utes played on December 20, 2007, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. Utah defeated Navy 35–32 in a game that came down to the final seconds. The third edition of the Poinsettia Bowl was the first of 32 games in the 2007–2008 bowl season and the final game of the 2007 NCAA football season for both teams.
Coming into the game, both teams had win–loss records of 8–4. After beginning their season with a 4–4 record, the Navy Midshipmen defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in triple overtime and became bowl eligible after defeating the North Texas Mean Green for their sixth win of the season. The Utah Utes began the season with a 1–3 record, but won seven straight games when quarterback Brian Johnson returned from an injury. After finishing with the third best record in the Mountain West Conference, they accepted their invitation to the bowl game.
Both teams' offenses moved the ball down the field effectively during the game's first few drives, but neither team could make it into the end zone, leaving the game scoreless after one quarter. The Utes scored first in the second quarter, and the Midshipmen tied the game at 7–7 on their next drive. Navy added a field goal with 28 seconds left in the half to give the Midshipmen a 10–7 lead at halftime. After the Midshipmen scored another touchdown to increase that lead to 17–7, the Utes scored three unanswered touchdowns to gain a 28–17 lead. The Midshipmen narrowed that lead to three points after scoring another touchdown and two-point conversion, and after a series of defensive battles for both teams, the Utes scored again with 1:27 left in the game. Navy scored another touchdown on its next drive to bring the score to 35–32 and recovered an onside kick to retain possession with less than a minute left in the game. Midshipmen quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada's final pass down field, however, was intercepted, allowing the Utes to run out the remaining seconds and win the game with a final score of 35–32.
The win gave the Utah Utes their sixth straight bowl victory.