2008 Fiesta Bowl

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2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
BCS Bowl Game
37th Fiesta Bowl
West Virginia Mountaineers Oklahoma Sooners
(10–2) (11–2)
Big East Big 12
48 28
Head coach: 
Bill Stewart

(interim)		 Head coach: 
Bob Stoops
AP
CoachesBCS
1199
AP
CoachesBCS
334
1234 Total
West Virginia 6141414 48
Oklahoma 06913 28
DateJanuary 2, 2008
Season
Nielsen ratings
7.7
Fiesta Bowl
 < 2007  2009 > 

The 2008

Fox
.

Season summaries

Oklahoma

The 2007 Oklahoma Sooners football team enters the field for the first game of the season on 2007-09-01.

In the preseason, Oklahoma was picked by the Big 12 media to finish second in the conference.

Big 12 Championship Game.[15] In the Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma faced Missouri, then the number one ranked team in the nation. The two faced each other in the regular season in Norman, Oklahoma
with the Sooners winning 41–31. The Sooner defense dominated the game and the offense pulled away in the 2nd half. Oklahoma won 38–17 to claim their 5th Big 12 Conference Championship and 41st total conference championship.

West Virginia

West Virginia was picked by the Big East media to finish first in the conference

Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia, the #2 ranked Mountaineers suffered an upset when they were defeated by unranked Pittsburgh 9–13. West Virginia, who were a four touchdown favorite, played about half of the game without White after he dislocated his thumb late in the first half.[22] The loss meant West Virginia were Co-Champs of the Big East along with Connecticut but received the bowl bid since they defeated Connecticut 66–21 the previous week.[23]

Selection process

Beginning with the 1998 football season, when the Bowl Championship Series began, the winner of the Big 12 Conference was contractually assigned to play in the Fiesta Bowl, unless ranked in the top two in which they would play in the national championship game.[24] By winning the conference but not finishing ranked in the top two, Oklahoma was automatically assigned to the Fiesta Bowl. With Oklahoma guaranteed to play in the Fiesta Bowl, the bowl committee still had an at-large team to select.

Per the BCS selection procedure, the bowl games that lost teams to the national championship get first picks for a replacement.[25] The Rose Bowl, after losing top ranked Ohio State, selected Illinois. Next, the Sugar Bowl selected Georgia to replace the #2 LSU Tigers. For the second selection for each bowl, per the BCS selection procedure, the game played nearest the date of the national championship had the first pick.[25] For 2008, this was the Orange Bowl, which selected Kansas. Following the Orange Bowl's select, the Fiesta Bowl had the next pick following lastly by the Sugar Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl committee had a few teams to select from including Arizona State, Hawaiʻi, and Big East champion West Virginia.[26][27][28][29] The committee chose to invite West Virginia who almost made the national championship game before losing their last regular season game.[29] John Junker, CEO of the Fiesta Bowl, said "the selection we had was very simple."[29] If West Virginia had not been selected by the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl would have been forced to select them, as West Virginia was guaranteed a BCS bowl berth by virtue of winning the Big East.

Pre-game buildup

This game marked Oklahoma's fourth trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma defeated Wyoming in 1976 before losing to Arizona State in 1982 and in overtime to Boise State in 2007.[30] West Virginia made their second trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Their only other trip was in 1989 when they lost the national championship game to Notre Dame.[31] This was also the fourth time these two programs have played each other, but the first time in postseason. Oklahoma defeated West Virginia in 1958, by a score of 47–14, and in 1977, by a score of 51–10. West Virginia defeated Oklahoma in 1982 by a score of 41–27. All three games were in Norman, Oklahoma.[30]

The University of Phoenix Stadium, venue of the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

On December 16, 2007

Bill Stewart was named the interim football coach for the Fiesta Bowl on 2007-12-18 and was subsequently hired as the permanent coach.[33]

On 2007-12-17,

Virginia Tech, in the Orange Bowl. This would have pitted the #3 team against the #4 team. Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe contacted BCS officials (which includes the 11 conference heads and the athletic director of Notre Dame) to see if this could be done. Michael Slive, then the BCS commissioner and SEC commissioner, considered the idea but it was ultimately rejected. There was no word on which officials voted against the proposition. Beebe stated he did not agree with the decision, but respected the views of those against it. Castiglione stated that he hopes "at some point in time we can hear an explanation of why this wasn't possible given the fact the rules provided the opportunity if it was in everybody's best interest." Mandel said that two of his sources speculated that the commissioner "feared such a matchup might damage the legitimacy of the Ohio State-LSU title game." Slive said "there weren't such compelling circumstances as to merit a change."[34][35][36]

Oklahoma missed some key players on their defense.

big toe in the Big 12 Championship game and missed the bowl game.[37] His backup, Lendy Holmes, was ruled academically ineligible and also missed the bowl game.[38][39] Sophomore defensive tacke DeMarcus Granger was sent home after being arrested on the suspicion of shoplifting from a local mall.[40][41][42] On the day of the game, it was reported that wide receiver Malcolm Kelly was questionable due to a deep thigh bruise.[43] Because of the losses in the secondary, West Virginia stated they would consider passing more to take advantage of the less experienced players filling those positions.[44]

Each team received an allotment of 17,500 tickets. West Virginia was unable to sell about 7,500 of those tickets and returned them to the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma had also not sold out its entire allotment.

Pittsburgh.[45][46] West Virginia's returned tickets will go to local charities.[45]

On the day of the game, most betting houses had the Oklahoma Sooners as a 7–8 point favorite.[1]

Game summary

West Virginia tailback

Pat White to a wide-open Darius Reynaud
for a 21-yard touchdown to make it 20–6 at halftime.

The Oklahoma Sooners line up for the ill-fated onside kick in the third quarter.

Oklahoma came back in the second half early with a field goal, followed by a goal line touchdown run by Chris Brown. The Sooners went for a 2-point conversion after the touchdown, but Bradford's pass was incomplete, leaving the score at 20–15. The Mountaineers answered back with a 17-yard run by Noel Devine for the touchdown to put the Mountaineers up 27–15. The Mountaineers scored again to end the third quarter, this time on a 30-yard reverse run by Darius Reynaud, to put the Mountaineers up 34–15 going into the fourth quarter. The Sooners scored early again, off of a Bradford pass to Quentin Chaney, but yet again failed a 2-point conversion attempt. West Virginia continued to roll however, as White hooked up with receiver Tito Gonzales for a 79-yard touchdown pass to put the Mountaineers up 41–21. The pass is the longest offensive play in West Virginia school bowl history. Oklahoma scored again on a Bradford pass, this time to Juaquin Iglesias, but this time kicked the extra point to make the score 41–28. The Mountaineers sealed the game with six minutes left on a 65-yard touchdown run by Noel Devine, his second score of the game.

The West Virginia Mountaineers totaled 349 rushing yards in the victory, the most ever allowed by an Oklahoma defense in a bowl game. Pat White totaled 176 yards and two touchdowns passing while rushing for 150 yards. Noel Devine rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, while Owen Schmitt totaled 64 yards and a score on three carries. Sam Bradford recorded 242 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception passing for the Sooners. Allen Patrick rushed for 82 yards on 14 carries, while Chris Brown rushed for 50 yards and a score on 16 carries. Quentin Chaney grabbed 4 passes for 129 yards and a score while receiver Juaquin Iglesias returned seven kicks for 195 yards.

Postgame

After the game, Stewart was rewarded by the WVU athletic department by being named the team's permanent head coach. He was given a new five-year contract.

2008 NFL Draft
.

References

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  3. ^ 2007-2008 NCAA BCS Bowl Games and Payouts
  4. ^ "Big 12 Announces Media Preseason Football Poll" (PDF) (Press release). Big 12 Conference. July 19, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
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  29. ^ a b c Bagnato, Andrew (December 2, 2007). "Oklahoma, West Virginia Earn Fiesta Bowl". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 6, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
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  46. ^ Bogaczyk, Jack (December 14, 2007). "There are still plenty of good tickets for Fiesta Bowl, really". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
  47. ^ ESPN.com news services (January 3, 2008). "In Stewart, WVU's successor to Rodriguez right under their nose". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2008.
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