Article:The 2007 NCAA D1 Football Playoff

Every year there is great debate about the NCAA Division 1 National Championship and whether there should be a playoff system. This year, thanks to the folks at Whatifsports.com, there will be a playoff. I took the top 16 teams from the final BCS poll before the bowl games and matched them up in a playoff. Here were the rankings.

1.        Ohio State

2.        LSU

3.        V Tech

4.        Oklahoma

5.        Georgia

6.        Mizzou

7.        USC

8.        Kansas

9.        WVU

10.     Hawaii

11.     Arizona State

12.     Florida

13.     Illinois

14.     BC

15.     Clemson

16.     Tennessee

I broke the temas up into 4 different sections as such:

1.        Ohio State; Tennessee; Kansas; Florida

2.        LSU; Clemson; USC; Arizona State

3.        V Tech; BC; Mizzou; Hawaii

4.        Okla; Illinois; Georgia; WVU

The first two rounds were played at the home field of the higher ranked team. The Final 4 and national championship were played at neutral stadiums.

= RESULTS =


 * 1) 1 Ohio State 44 v. # 16 Tennessee 19 - Chris Wells ran all over the Vols racking up 222 rushing yards.  Not be outdone, Todd Boeckman threw for 295 yards.


 * 1) 8 Kansas 30 v. #12 Florida 23 - Kansas shuts down Heisman winner Tim Tebow and eeks out a 4th quarter victory.


 * 1) 4 Oklahoma 20 v. #13 Illinois 17 - Illinois puts up a great fight and is primed for the upset with a 13-10 lead going into the 4th.  However, with no time left Oklahoma knocks in a 38 yard FG.


 * 1) 5 Georgia 33 v. #9 West Virginia 13 - Slaton and White had no impact on the game as Georgia dominated from kickoff.


 * 1) 2 LSU 28 v. #15 Clemson 20 – After falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter, LSU stormed back to dominate Clemson.  It was all done on the ground as Hester and Scott both broke 100 yards rushing and Keiland Williams was 7 yards short of the century mark.


 * 1) 7 USC 41 v #11 AZ State 16 – An upset in the making was quashed when USC erased a 9-0 deficit with 2 late 2 nd quarter TDs.


 * 1) 3 VT 32 v #14 BC  10 – Matt Ryan was picked 3 times as VT cruised 32-10.


 * 1) 6 Mizzou 26 v  #10 Hawaii  42 – The first upset of the playoffs as Hawaii’s passing game was too much for Mizzuo’s defense.  Colt Brennan threw for 5 TDS in the 42-26 upset.

= ELITE 8 =


 * 1) 1 Ohio State 23 v. # 8 Kansas 3 – Chris Wells dominated this game as Kansas didn’t get on the board until garbage time.


 * 1) 4 Oklahoma 34 v. #5 Georgia 36 – Georgia squeaked out the victory with a late 4 th quarter FG and a stout 4 th quarter defense that didn’t let Sam Bradford rally his team to victory.


 * 1) 2 LSU 9 v. # 7 USC 23  – The actual National Champs couldn’t get anything going as John David Booty led his Trojans to a huge upset victory.


 * 1) 4 VT 47 v. #10 Hawaii 27 – Hawaii’s dream season comes to an end as VT dominated from the opening kickoff on the way to the blowout victory.

= Final Four =


 * 1) 1 Ohio State v. #5 Georgia – The defending Champs manage to find a way to get to the championship game as a ten point 4 th quarter leads to the victory.


 * 1) 4 VT v. #7 USC – USC makes up for its disappointing (by USC standards) regular season with a stirring 20-7 victory.  USC jumped out to a 20 -0 lead in the first half and then held on for dear life at Virginia Tech couldn’t get points inside the 10 yard line twice in the 4 th quarter.

= NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP =

2007 USC Trojans at 2007  Ohio State Buckeyes



Final - 1/29/2008

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1st

|

2nd

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3rd

|

4th

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Total

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2007 USC Trojans

|

10

|

0

|

0

|

0

|

10

|

2007 Ohio State Buckeyes

|

3

|

16

|

7

|

0

|

26

|

Play-by-play:

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Scoring Summary

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1st Quarter

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USC

|

10:35

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FG

|

David Buehler 21 yds.

|

3-0

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OhioSt

|

7:15

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FG

|

Ryan Pretorius 33 yds.

|

3-3

|

USC

|

6:50

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TD

|

Vidal Hazelton 74 yd. pass from Booty (Buehler kick)

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10-3

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2nd Quarter

|

OhioSt

|

13:18

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FG

|

Ryan Pretorius 34 yds.

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10-6

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OhioSt

|

12:02

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FG

|

Ryan Pretorius 50 yds.

|

10-9

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OhioSt

|

1:33

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TD

|

Brandon Saine 23 yd. run (Pretorius kick)

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10-16

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OhioSt

|

0:25

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FG

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Ryan Pretorius 37 yds.

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10-19

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3rd Quarter

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OhioSt

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6:08

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TD

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Ray Small 17 yd. pass from Boeckman (Pretorius kick)

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10-26

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Team Statistics

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2007 USC Trojans

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2007  Ohio  State Buckeyes

|

First Downs

|

12

|

18

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- Rushing

|

4

|

9

|

- Passing

|

8

|

9

|

- Penalty

|

0

|

0

|

3rd Down Eff

|

4/21

|

6/19

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4th Down Eff

|

1/4

|

0/2

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Rushes-Yards

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38-98

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43-287

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Avg Rush

|

2.6

|

6.7

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Comp-Att-Int

|

20-42-0

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20-38-2

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Passing Yards

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207

|

198

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Sacks-Yards

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6-43

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3-19

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Fumbles-Lost

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2-1

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0-0

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Punts-Avg

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12-41.0

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7-41.3

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KR-Avg

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6-20.2

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3-16.7

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PR-Avg

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7-11.3

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12-8.8

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Penalties-Yard

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2-10

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3-15

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Time of Possession

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27:50

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32:10

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2007 USC Trojans Individual Stats

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Rushing

|



|

Att

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Yds

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20+

|

L

|

TD

|

'07 Chauncey  Washington

|

22

|

103

|

1

|

45

|

0

|

'07 Stafon Johnson

|

4

|

28

|

1

|

20

|

0

|

'07 C.J. Gable

|

1

|

3

|

0

|

3

|

0

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'07 John David Booty

|

11

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-36

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0

|

5

|

0

|

|



2007  Ohio State Buckeyes Individual Stats

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Rushing

|



|

Att

|

Yds

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20+

|

L

|

TD

|

'07 Chris Wells

|

31

|

282

|

4

|

58

|

0

|

'07 Brandon Saine

|

4

|

25

|

1

|

23

|

1

|

'07 Antonio Henton

|

1

|

-8

|

0

|

0

|

0

|

'07 Todd Boeckman

|

7

|

-12

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0

|

1

|

0

|

|



Receiving

|



|

Rec

|

Yds

|

20+

|

40+

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L

|

TD

|

'07 Vidal Hazelton

|

5

|

107

|

1

|

1

|

74

|

1

|

'07 Patrick Turner

|

4

|

33

|

1

|

0

|

25

|

0

|

'07 Fred Davis

|

5

|

23

|

0

|

0

|

18

|

0

|

'07 Anthony McCoy

|

1

|

16

|

0

|

0

|

16

|

0

|

'07 Stafon Johnson

|

1

|

13

|

0

|

0

|

13

|

0

|

'07 Chauncey  Washington

|

2

|

10

|

0

|

0

|

6

|

0

|

'07 David Ausberry

|

1

|

8

|

0

|

0

|

8

|

0

|

'07 Brad Walker

|

1

|

-3

|

0

|

0

|

-3

|

0

|

|



Receiving

|



|

Rec

|

Yds

|

20+

|

40+

|

L

|

TD

|

'07 Brian Robiskie

|

4

|

96

|

2

|

1

|

50

|

0

|

'07 Ray Small

|

4

|

45

|

0

|

0

|

19

|

1

|

'07 Brian Hartline

|

4

|

36

|

0

|

0

|

18

|

0

|

'07 Rory Nicol

|

4

|

19

|

0

|

0

|

8

|

0

|

'07 Chris Wells

|

1

|

1

|

0

|

0

|

1

|

0

|

'07 Dane Sanzenbacher

|

3

|

1

|

0

|

0

|

5

|

0

|

|



Passing

|



|

Comp.

|

Att.

|

Yards

|

TD

|

INT

|

'07 John David Booty

|

20

|

42

|

207

|

1

|

0

|

|



Passing

|



|

Comp.

|

Att.

|

Yards

|

TD

|

INT

|

'07 Todd Boeckman

|

19

|

35

|

198

|

1

|

2

|

'07 Antonio Henton

|

1

|

3

|

0

|

0

|

0

|

|



Defensive

|



|

Sacks

|

INT

|

|

'07 Sedrick Ellis

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Fili Moala

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Alex Morrow

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Kyle Moore

|

0

|

1

|

|

'07 Clay Matthews

|

0

|

1

|

|

|



Defensive

|



|

Sacks

|

INT

|

|

'07 Alex Barrow

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Robert Rose

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 James Laurinaitis

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Devon Torrence

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Nick Patterson

|

1

|

0

|

|

'07 Aaron Gant

|

1

|

0

|

|

|



Field Goals

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|

Made

|

Missed

|

'07 David Buehler

|

21

|

-

|

|



Field Goals

|



|

Made

|

Missed

|

'07 Ryan Pretorius

|

33,34,50,37

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-

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Player of the Game

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'07 Chris Wells (2007 Ohio State Buckeyes)

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So there you have it, ladies and gentleman. After a 16 team playoff, Ohio State is your National Champion.