The 2007 Music City Bowl was the 10th edition of the

Music City Bowl The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998 in sports, 1998. Since 2020, it has been sponsored by ...

, and it was played on December 31, 2007. Part of the 2007–2008 bowl season, it featured the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

and 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 ...

. Sponsored by

Gaylord Hotels Gaylord Hotels is the large convention hotel brand of Marriott International. As of 2024, it consists of five large hotels with a total of 9,918 rooms, along with attached convention centers and one overflow support hotel property, in addition to ...

and

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (18891976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of (), meaning ...

, it was officially named the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone.

Background

Both teams entered the game with a 7–5 overall record and a 4–4 conference record; Florida State had been ranked as high as #19 in the season's AP polls, appearing in the rankings for two weeks that season. Kentucky had been ranked as high as #8 (twice) in the season's AP polls and had been ranked for eight weeks during the season. The Seminoles came into the game without 34 players due to various injuries, violations of team rules, and a large academic cheating scandal. For the Wildcats, this was déjà vu all over again, as they had played in the prior year's edition of the game, entered it with the same 7–5 overall record, and faced an

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 ...

team coached by a Bowden, namely the Clemson team coached by

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 ...

, son of longtime FSU head coach

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 ...

Game recap

In the first quarter, Kentucky scored first on a 14-yard

André Woodson Andre' Chandler Woodson Jr. (born April 25, 1984) is an American former professional football quarterback and college coach. He was selected by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL draft. Woodson played collegiately at the Univ ...

touchdown pass to tight end

Jacob Tamme Jacob Francis Tamme ( ; born March 15, 1985) is an American former professional American football, football tight end. He played college football at Kentucky Wildcats football, Kentucky and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth ro ...

. Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford then scored on a 6-yard touchdown run. Kentucky built a 14–7 lead in the second quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Woodson to Steve Johnson. Kentucky's defense then held Florida State to a turnover on downs inside the Kentucky five yard line, but immediately after that Florida State tied the game before halftime when Tony Carter intercepted a Woodson pass and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown. Kentucky struck first in the third quarter when Woodson threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Rafael Little. A 4-yard touchdown run by Tony Dixon boosted Kentucky's third quarter lead to 28–14. Florida State scored first in the fourth quarter with a 1-yard Weatherford touchdown run to make it 28–21. Woodson's 38-yard touchdown pass to Steve Johnson extended the Kentucky lead to 35–21. The game's final score was a 7-yard touchdown pass from Weatherford to Greg Carr to bring about the final tally: Kentucky 35, Florida State 28. The game appeared iced when Kentucky linebacker Micah Johnson intercepted a Weatherford pass with less than one minute remaining, but in attempting to return the interception Johnson fumbled the ball away and Florida State recovered. Florida State threw a pass into the end zone at the end of regulation but Kentucky defenders batted it down to seal the win. The attendance of 68,661 set a new record for the Music City Bowl. In Kentucky's 35–28 victory, 2006 game MVP André Woodson repeated as the 2007 MVP after throwing four touchdown passes. Florida State's Antone Smith gained a career-high 156 rushing yards; Kentucky's Rafael Little rushed for 152 yards and caught one touchdown pass, but he also fumbled twice. The win gave the Wildcats back-to-back bowl wins for the first time since 1952. It was also the first loss ever for the elder Bowden in a December bowl game.

References

{{Kentucky Wildcats bowl game navbox

Music City Bowl Florida State Seminoles football bowl games Kentucky Wildcats football bowl games

December 2007 sports events in the United States 2007 in Nashville, Tennessee