The 2007 Champs Sports Bowl was the 18th edition of the college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

. It was part of the 2007-08 NCAA football bowl games season, and was played on December 28, 2007, at the Citrus Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The game pitted the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

against the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Background

In Mark Dantonio's first season with Michigan State, he led them to their first winning season since 2003. They won their first four games of the season, but went 1–5 to begin conference play, before wins over Purdue and #22 Penn State righted the ship, though they finished tied for 5th with Purdue and Indiana in the

. This was the fourth bowl game of the decade for the Spartans. Boston College won their first eight games of the season while rising from unranked to #2 in the polls before a match-up with Florida State. A 27–17 loss dropped them to #8 and a loss to Maryland the following week dropped them to #17, though they won their last two games (against #20 Clemson and Miami) to win the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In the ACC Championship Game, they faced off against #5 Virginia Tech, who beat them 30–16. This was the eighth bowl game of the decade for the Eagles.

Game summary

* Michigan State - Kellen Davis 18 yard pass from Brian Hoyer (Brett Swenson kick) * Boston College - Jon Loyte 1 yard pass from Matt Ryan (Steve Aponavicius kick) * Boston College - Rich Gunnell 29 yard pass from Matt Ryan (Steve Aponavicius kick) * Michigan State - Brett Swenson 39 yard field goal * Michigan State - Brett Swenson 23 yard field goal * Boston College - Steve Aponavicius 28 yard field goal * Boston College - Rich Gunnell 68 yard pass from Matt Ryan (Steve Aponavicius kick) * Michigan State - Deon Curry 14 yard pass from Brian Hoyer (Kellen Davis 2-point pass) Jamie Silva had 10 tackles, 7 solo while also having 2 interceptions and 4 punt returns for 37 yards en route to being named MVP.

Aftermath

Michigan State began a streak of 9 straight bowl appearances under Mark Dantonio (the longest streak in school history) while the Eagles went to two more bowls game in the decade. Both quarterbacks went on to lengthy NFL careers.

References

Champs Sports Bowl The Pop-Tarts Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Citrus Bowl and the Florida Classic ...

Cheez-It Bowl Michigan State Spartans football bowl games Boston College Eagles football bowl games American football in Orlando, Florida December 2007 sports events in the United States

2000s in Orlando, Florida {{Florida-sport-stub