The 2007 Clemson football team represented

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

in the

2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 30, 2007, and ended on D ...

. The Tigers were led by head coach

Tommy Bowden Tommy Pearce Bowden (; born July 10, 1954) is an American former college football coach. He served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida Sta ...

and played their home games in Memorial Stadium.

Notable

Clemson played host to the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

on Labor Day, Monday, September 3, 2007 in both teams' season opener. The game was played before a primetime national audience on ESPN as the only college football game in that time slot. It was only Clemson's second regular season Monday night game, the last being in 1982 against the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. Clemson opened its season with 3 consecutive home game victories. This is the first time that there have been 3 consecutive home games to open the season since 2003 and only the eighth time since 1923. Clemson played against the 2006

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

champion Wake Forest in November and played the 2006

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

champion

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

for the first time. The 2007 season saw Clemson meeting Louisiana-Monroe and Central Michigan for the first time, with Clemson beating both of them. In the pre-season, incoming quarterback Willy Korn was named one of the top-10 impact freshman for 2007.Mark Schlabach
Illinois' Benn, ND's Clausen impact newcomers for 2007
ESPN.com, June 22, 2007.

Achievements

Clemson started 4–0, including a victory in the season and conference opener over the Florida State Seminoles in the ninth "Bowden Bowl", which pits father

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

, coaching the Seminoles, against his son, Tommy. Following their 4–0 start, Clemson gave up two losses to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech respectively. Following the two-game losing streak, the Tigers went on to another four-game winning streak. The team then finished the season with its toughest loss of the season (losing in the final seconds to Boston College, 20–17) and greatest triumph (defeating rival South Carolina 23–21 with a last-second field goal). With a record of 9–3, the Tigers received a bid to play in the

2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl The 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl was college football bowl game between the Clemson Tigers and the Auburn Tigers played in Atlanta, Georgia on December 31, 2007. With sponsorship from Chick-fil-A, it was the 40th edition of the game known throughout mos ...

. During the September 8th game against UL-Monroe, Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper threw five touchdown passes, setting a new school record for most touchdown passes thrown in a single game, a feat he has since duplicated. He currently holds numerous school records, including touchdown passes in a season (27). Harper need only throw for 122 yards, and leading rusher James Davis rush for 8 yards, for this to be the first Clemson team in history to have a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher, and 1,000 receiver (WR Aaron Kelly exceeded 1,000 for the year during game-winning drive against South Carolina). On December 2, 2007, it was announced that Clemson had accepted a bid to play in the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl opposite the Southeastern Conference's

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

. The game will be played December 31 in front of a national audience on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. It is Clemson's 7th appearance in the bowl, tying

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

for most appearances in the game. The Clemson Tigers enter the post-season ranked 15th nationally, while Auburn comes in 22nd. The game is particularly notable as it was

Walter Riggs Walter Merritt Riggs (January 24, 1873 – January 22, 1924) was the president of Clemson University from 1910 to 1924 and the "father of Clemson football" coaching the first football team for what was then Clemson College. Riggs was president of ...

who came to coach at Clemson from Auburn and who brought with him many traditions, including the Tiger mascot.

Schedule

Game summaries

No. 19 Florida State

Louisiana-Monroe

Furman

At NC State

At Georgia Tech

No. 15 Virginia Tech

Central Michigan

At Maryland

At Duke

Wake Forest

No. 18 Boston College

At South Carolina

Vs. No. 22 Auburn (Chick-fil-A Bowl)

Rankings

Depth chart

These are the projected starters and primary backups as of 4/9/07.

Coaching staff

– Head coach * Rob Spence – Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks *

Vic Koenning Victor Emanuel Koenning Jr. (born February 26, 1960) is a former professional American football player, and current Outside Linebacker coach at Louisiana–Monroe. He was the interim head coach at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in ...

– Defensive Coordinator/Defensive backs * Brad Scott – Assistant head coach/offensive line *

David Blackwell David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919 – July 8, 2010) was an American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and statistics. He is one of the eponyms of the ...

– Linebackers *Andre Powell – Running backs *

Billy Napier William Hall Napier (born July 21, 1979) is an American football coach currently serving as head coach at the University of Florida. From 2017 until 2021, he was head coach at the University of Louisiana, amassing a 40–12 record in four season ...

– Tight ends/recruiting coordinator *

Chris Rumph Chris Rumph (born December 21, 1971) is an American football coach who is currently the defensive ends coach at Clemson University. He previously served as the defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). ...

– Defensive line *

Dabo Swinney William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney (; born November 20, 1969) is an American college football coach, currently serving as the head football coach at Clemson Tigers football, Clemson University. Swinney took over as head coach of the Clemson Tiger ...

– Wide receivers *Ron West – Outside linebackers *Mike Dooley – Defensive video graduate assistant *Andy Ford – Defensive graduate assistant *Paul Hogan – Offensive graduate assistant *Willie Simmons – Offensive video graduate assistant

References

{{Clemson Tigers football navbox Clemson Clemson Tigers football seasons

Clemson Tigers football The Clemson Tigers football program are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the Atlantic Coast Con ...