CFN's 2007 Annual Ultimate
College Football Playoff
East Division - Finals
East
Finals
North |
South
|
West
Semifinals
North |
South
East |
West
Third
Round
North |
South
East |
West
Second
Round
North |
South
East |
West
First
Round
North |
South
East |
West
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Ultimate National Title
Seedings & Brackets
1. Oklahoma
2. Wisconsin
3. Georgia Tech
4. Florida
5. Penn State
6. Nebraska
7. Auburn
8. Maryland
9. Oregon
10. South Carolina
11. Virginia
12. Notre Dame
13. Utah
14. Hawaii
15. Southern Miss
16. Mississippi State
17. Kansas
18. Stanford
19. Connecticut
20. North Carolina
21. Memphis
22. New Mexico State
23. UNLV
24. San Diego State
25. UTEP
26. Ball State
27. Arkansas State
28. Florida Atlantic
29. Buffalo
30. Utah State |
No. 2 Wisconsin 24 ...
No. 5 Penn State 10
The Wisconsin defense knocked out Penn State starting QB Anthony Morelli
in the first quarter with a shoulder injury, and then teed off on the
running game.
UW QB Tyler Donovan dinked and dunked his way to 253 yards and ran for
56 yards in an efficient, if not spectacular, performance, with the
second scoring pass, a 29-yard strike to Paul Hubbard, putting the game
away early in the fourth quarter.
Penn State got out to a 3-0 lead, but on the Nittany Lions'
second drive, UW DE Kurt Ware got into the backfield untouched and
flattened Morelli, causing a fumble. Morelli dove for the ball and
recovered it, but suffered a separated shoulder when two Badgers dove
in.
From then on, Penn State struggled as backup quarterback Daryll
Clark threw three interceptions and was under pressure on seemingly
every play. He was able to connect with Deon Butler for a 17-yard
touchdown in the third quarter to cut the lead to 17-10, but that was
the only time he led the offense closer than the Badger 40.
"It wasn't all Daryll's fault," said Penn State head coach
Joe Paterno. "We didn't do a good enough job of protecting
him and we didn't do anything on the ground to get control of
the game."
It's not like the vaunted Badger running game
got off the round, either. P.J. Hill was held to 49 yards on 19
carries, but he was able to barrel in from two yards out for a
first quarter score and a 7-3 lead. This was the game for
Donovan.
Managing the game, Donovan didn't take chances,
didn't throw any dangerous passes, and did just enough on third
downs to keep the momentum on UW's side and keep Penn State from
ever getting into any sort of rhythm.
During his best stretch of the game, Donovan completed five of
seven passes and scampered for 11 yards on third and five on the
way to a second quarter scoring drive that culminated in a
four-yard scoring pass to Travis Beckum.
"Our defense seemed to have control of the game and the
running game wasn't able to run like we'd like it to," said
Donovan. "So as long as I made the throws that were there
and took what they gave me, I thought we'd be alright."
Overshadowed in the loss was a brilliant day from Penn State LB
Dan Connor, who made 14 tackles, three tackles for loss and a
sack. He kept Hill from breaking anything big all game long.
For the Badgers, Jonathan Casillas was the main cog in
the run defense making 12 stops and tripped up RB Austin Scott two times
when it appeared he had room to rumble. Scott finished with just 39
yards on 13 carries.
Player
of the Game - Wisconsin QB Tyler Donovan completed 19 of
29 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns and ran 11 times for 53 yards
Fun Stat - Turnovers: Penn State 4 - Wisconsin 0
East Champion - Wisconsin Badgers