CFN's 2007 Annual Ultimate
Playoff
South Division - Round One
South
First
Round
North |
East |
West
-
Ultimate National Title
Seedings & Brackets
1. LSU
2. Louisville
3. UCLA
4. Clemson
5. Rutgers
6. West Virginia
7. TCU
8. Arkansas
9. Arizona State
10. Texas Tech
11. Purdue
12. Wake Forest
13. NC State
14. Michigan State
15. Vanderbilt
16. Northwestern
17. Cincinnati
18. Indiana
19. Western Michigan
20. San Jose State
21. Tulsa
22. Toledo
23. Marshall
24. Kent State
25. Ohio
26. Louisiana Tech
27. Tulane
28. North Texas
29. UL Lafayette |
No. 16
Northwestern 27
... No. 17 Cincinnati 24
Northwestern overcame a 24-14 fourth quarter deficit with a 21-yard
field goal from Stefan Demos, a 29-yard touchdown catch from Ross Lane,
and with :39 to play, a 34-yard Demos field goal for the game-winner.
The Wildcat offense moved the ball well all game long, only to come away
empty time and again as Demos missed three first half field goals and
the offense turned it over twice inside the red zone. Cincinnati's
offense wasn't consistent, but it took advantage of good field position
to get two touchdown catches from Connor Barwin and a three-yard run
from QB Dustin Grutza.
Player
of the Game - Northwestern RB Tyrell Sutton ran 31 times
for 166 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 29 yards
Fun Stat - Punt return average: Cincinnati 14.1
yards - Northwestern 1.1 yards
2nd Round - No. 16
Northwestern vs. No. 1 LSU
No. 10 Texas Tech 52 ... No.
23 Marshall 19
Any questions about how quickly the Texas Tech passing game would
rebound after the loss of several key receivers were quickly answered as
L.A. Reed caught three first half touchdown passes and Michael Crabtree
ripped off a brilliant 83-yard score off a short pass. Marshall's
offense wasn't close to being able to keep up as the Red Raiders got out
to a 28-0 lead forcing the Herd to throw on almost every play. Bernard
Morris ended up throwing three touchdown passes for the Herd, but it
wasn't nearly enough.
Player
of the Game - Texas Tech WR L.A. Reed caught 11 passes
for 183 yards and three touchdowns
Fun Stat - Pass attempts: Texas Tech 51 - Marshall
41
No. 6 West Virginia 62 ... No.
27 Tulane 20
New Tulane head coach Bob Toledo's debut couldn't have gone much worse,
as West Virginia scored touchdowns on its first seven possessions and
added a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown from Ridwan Malik on
the way to a 45-3 lead. Pat White ran for two touchdowns, threw for two,
and Steve Slaton tore off touchdown dashes from 62 and 22 yards out
before sitting down just after halftime.
Player
of the Game - In just over a half, West Virginia QB Pat
White ran nine times for 110 yards and two touchdowns and completed 7 of
9 passes for 151 yards and two scores
Fun Stat - Total yards: West Virginia 619 - Tulane
378
2nd Round - No. 10 Texas
Tech vs. No. 6 West Virginia
No. 9 Arizona State 17 ... No. 24
Kent State 7
It wasn't exactly the Dennis Erikson debut the Sun Devil fans were
hoping for, but their team came through when it had to in the second
half. Kent State held a 7-0 lead going into halftime on a 14-yard Eugene
Jarvis touchdown run, and a great performance by a defense that held
every time the Sun Devils threatened. Eventually, the ASU offensive line
wore down the Golden Flashes, and Ryan Torian took advantage with
touchdown runs from 29 and 33 yards out. KSU's offense turned it over
three times in the second half and failed to get in scoring range on the
other drives. A 34-yard field goal from Thomas Weber finally gave ASU a
little breathing room.
Player
of the Game - Arizona State LB Mike Nixon made 16 tackles
with three tackles for loss, an interception and a forced fumble
Fun Stat - Third down conversions: Arizona State 3
of 11 - Kent State 1 of 9
No. 8 Arkansas 31 ... No. 25 Ohio 10
If you liked passing, this wasn't the game for you. Arkansas doesn't
have much of an air attack to begin with, and with top receiver Marcus
Monk out with an injury, it was all running game, all the time as Darren
McFadden ripped off 178 yards and two touchdowns and Felix Jones added
169 yards and two scores. The passing that was displayed came from
McFadden, who completed two of his three passes when lined up under
center. Down 14-0 after a 21-yard McFadden dash, Ohio went on its best
march of the day, finishing up with a nine-yard Kalvin McRae scoring
run. But with no Bobcat air attack to worry about, the Hog defense teed
off on McRae and the running game all game long.
Player
of the Game - The Arkansas RB combination of Darren
McFadden and Felix Jones combined for 347 yards and four touchdowns on
36 carries
Fun Stat - Combined rushing yards between the two
teams: 698 - Combined passing yards: 82
2nd Round - No. 9
Arizona State
vs. No. 8 Arkansas
No. 12 Wake Forest 19 ... No.
21 Tulsa 17
Sam Swank connected on four of his five field goal attempts with a
51-yard fourth quarter bomb proving to be the difference. The Demon
Deacons had no problems moving the ball, but drive after drive bogged
down, forcing Swank to come through. Kenneth Moore caught a 23-yard
touchdown pass in the third quarter to give Wake Forest a 13-3 lead, but
Tulsa's offense finally got on track with two straight touchdown drives,
highlighted by a spinning, 36-yard touchdown dash from Courtney Tennial.
But the Golden Hurricane failed to get past midfield on its final three
drives, and Swank hit two field goals to pull ahead for the win.
Player
of the Game - Wake Forest PK Sam Swank hit field goals
from 35, 39, 22 and 51 yards and missed from 49
Fun Stat - Total yards: Wake Forest 493 - Tulsa 259
No. 4 Clemson 52 ... No. 29 UL
Lafayette 15
Clemson got up 21-0 on two touchdown runs from James Davis and a 55-yard
dash from C.J. Spiller, and then used the lead to work on the passing
game. Instead of taking it easy and running the ball, the Tigers opened
things up, letting Cullen Harper bomb away to prepare for the next
round. While Harper was inconsistent, he threw touchdown passes to Aaron
Kelly and Tyler Grisham, while hot-shot freshman Willy Korn went 8 of 9
for 134 yards with a touchdown pass to La'Donte Harris. UL Lafayette was
down 31-0 before finally getting on the board with a Michael Desormeaux
14-yard run.
Player
of the Game - Clemson RB James Davis ran 13 times for 143
yards and two touchdowns in the first half
Fun Stat - Total yards: Clemson 629 - UL Lafayette
230
2nd Round - No. 12 Wake Forest vs. No. 4
Clemson
No. 15 Vanderbilt 31 ... No. 18
Indiana 14
Vanderbilt QB Chris Nickson completed 13 of his first 15 passes with
two touchdown passes for Earl Bennett on the way to a 21-0 halftime
lead. Indiana's offense came up short early on with two missed field
goals and two turnovers in the red zone, but it finally got on track
in the second half with a 25-yard touchdown catch from James Hardy.
Vanderbilt answered with a 39-yard Bryant Hahnfeldt field goal, but
Indiana struck back with a 91-yard Marcus Thigpen kickoff return for
a score to make cut the lead to 24-14 just as the fourth quarter
started. Vandy ruined all the IU momentum by going 77 yards in 11
plays, finishing with a two-yard Cassen Jackson-Garrison touchdown
run. The drive took 6:19 off the clock and effectively ended the
game.
Player
of the Game - Vanderbilt QB Chris Nickson completed 20 of
30 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns and ran nine times for 63
yards
Fun Stat - Penalties: Indiana 12 for 104 yards -
Vanderbilt 2 for 15 yards
2nd Round -
No. 15 Vanderbilt vs. No. 2 Louisville
No. 11 Purdue 45 ... No. 22
Toledo 42
Purdue appeared to have things well in hand with a 45-21 lead with just
over seven minutes to play, and then Aaron Opelt went nuts. The Rocket
quarterback completed his final 13 passes with a 36-yard touchdown pass
to Nick Moore, then following a Purdue three and out, a 69-yard
touchdown pass to Stephen Williams, and then after a Purdue turnover,
the Rockets capitalized with 21-yard touchdown catch from Andrew Hawkins
to pull within three with 51 seconds to play. Purdue escaped after
recovering the onside kick. The finish overshadowed a brilliant day by
the Purdue pitch-catch combination of Curtis Painter to Dorien Bryant.
The two hooked up for four touchdowns, while Painter threw for a fifth
score to Selwyn Lymon.
Player
of the Game - Purdue QB Curtis Painter completed 33 of 45
passes for 359 yards and five touchdowns, and WR Dorien Bryant caught 13
passes for 221 yards and four scores
Fun Stat - Total yards: Purdue 519 - Toledo 506
No. 5 Rutgers 38
... No. 26 North Texas 0
New head coach Todd Dodge was supposed to kick start the offense, but
Rutgers had other ideas, holding the Mean Green to just 58 net yards
helped by nine sacks. The Scarlet Knight offense was efficient early on,
with Mike Teel throwing two touchdown passes and Ray Rice running for
two short scores on the way to a 28-0 halftime lead, and coasted from
there.
Player
of the Game - Rutgers DE Jamaal Westerman made seven
tackles, four sacks and forced two fumbles
Fun Stat - Net rushing yards: Rutgers 293 - North
Texas -51
2nd Round -
No. 11 Purdue vs. No. 5 Rutgers
No. 20 San Jose State 21 ... No. 13
NC State 3
In Tom O'Brien's debut as the Wolfpack head coach, NC State turned the
ball over six times and failed to get in the red zone after the first
quarter. San Jose State took advantage of great field position for its
three scores, with Yonus Davis running for a 12-yard score following a
Toney Baker fumble, and getting two touchdown passes from Adam Tafralis
following two Christopher Owns interceptions.
Player
of the Game - San Jose State CB Christopher Owens made
six tackles, picked off two passes and broke up two others
Fun Stat - Turnovers: NC State 6 - San Jose State 0
No. 7 TCU 34 ... No. 26
Louisiana Tech 0
TCU's defense lived up to its reputation, and then some, generating
seven sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and holding Louisiana Tech to four
first downs and 109 total yards of offense. The Horned Frog offense was
efficient, with Marcus Jackson playing an error-free game and throwing
touchdown passes to Donald Massey and Walter Bryant. Aaron Brown ran for
79 yards and two first half scores before leaving the game with a minor
knee injury. He would've played had the outcome been in doubt.
Player
of the Game - TCU DE Tommy Blake made 11 tackles, with
five for loss and three sacks
Fun Stat - Third down conversions: TCU 5 of 10 -
Louisiana Tech 0 of 10
2nd Round - No. 20 San Jose State vs. No. 7 TCU
No. 14 Michigan State 24 ... No. 19
Western Michigan 20
Western Michigan gave Michigan State all it could handle in Mark
Dantonio's head coaching debut in East Lansing, but the running tandem
of Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick proved to be too much for the Bronco
defensive front. The WMU defensive pressure made life impossible for MSU
QB Brian Hoyer, who threw three interceptions and was sacked five times.
The Bronco offense kept the pressure on with touchdown catches from
Branden Ledbetter and Jamarko Simmons for a 14-10 halftime lead, but
could only manage two Mike Jones field goals in the second half. MSU
controlled the ball for over 20 minutes in the second half, with Ringer
finishing off a long third quarter drive with a ten-yard touchdown run,
and Caulcrick pounding six-yard run with just over five minutes to play
to pull ahead for good.
Player
of the Game - The Michigan State rushing tandem of Javon
Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick combined to rush for 252 yards and two
touchdowns on 43 carries
Fun Stat - Time of possession: Michigan State 41:33
- Western Michigan 18:27
2nd Round -
No. 14 Michigan State vs. No. 3 UCLA
