Division Western Division AP No. 15 | Coaches No. 14 2007 record 9–4 (5–3 SEC) | |
Conference | ||
The 2007 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University during the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Head coach Tommy Tuberville returned for his ninth season at Auburn, the third longest tenure among SEC head coaches in 2007. He was joined by returning offensive coordinator Al Borges and returning defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Auburn played its eight-game home schedule at Jordan–Hare Stadium, the ninth largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA in 2007, seating 87,451. Conference foe Vanderbilt returned to the schedule while non-conference opponents South Florida and Tennessee Tech played the Tigers for the first time. The Tigers finished the season ranked #14 in the Coaches Poll and #15 in the AP Poll.
Contents
Pre-season
Senior quarterback Brandon Cox returned for his third and final season as a starter, finally healthy after being hampered the entire 2006 season with injuries. Cox was joined in the backfield by a stable of talented backs including Brad Lester, Ben Tate and freshman Mario Fannin.
Auburn returned one of the best defensive lines in the SEC, if not the country, anchored by senior nose tackle Josh Thompson (43 tackles), senior defensive end and sack-leader Quentin Groves, and sophomore(RS) sensation Sen'Derrick Marks, who moved to end from defensive tackle.
Prior to the season, a new $2.9 million, 30-foot-high (9.1 m), 74-foot-wide (23 m) high-definition(HD) Daktronics LED video display was installed in the south end-zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn was the first SEC school to install an HD video display and the second in the NCAA (after Texas' Godzillatron).
Rankings
Auburn was ranked #14 in the initial USA Today Coaches Poll, a component of the Bowl Championship Series, released on August 3, 2007. Auburn's initial position in the AP poll was #18. Other preseason rankings for Auburn include:
Watchlists and honors
Pre-season All-SEC Team
Schedule
The 2007 Tigers schedule was ranked the 5th hardest in the country by Sports Illustrated and 6th hardest by ESPN. The road schedule with all four opponents finishing in the Top 25 in 2006 including the defending BCS champion Florida Gators, was ranked as the 2nd toughest.
Post-season, Auburn's schedule difficulty was ranked #23 by the NCAA and #35 by Jeff Sagarin. Seven teams from Auburn's regular season schedule qualified for post-season bowls, with four winning their respective bowl including Sugar Bowl winner Georgia and BCS National Champion LSU.
Coaching staff
*Entering season
Depth chart
Starters and backups.
Post-season
Auburn's 8-win regular season qualified a post-season bowl and the Tigers were selected by the Chick-fil-A Bowl to face the ACC's Clemson Tigers, with both teams' defenses being ranked in the top 10. Auburn changed their offense for this game, moving to new offensive coordinator Tony Franklin's spread offense in eight practices. Auburn won the game in overtime with a 7-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kodi Burns. The 23–20 victory in 2007 was the first Peach Bowl to require overtime and Auburn now has a 3–1 record in the bowl. This bowl appearance marked Auburn's eighth consecutive appearance; the second longest streak in school history behind the 9-year stretch from 1982–1990.
National awards
Conference awards
Coaching changes
Following the close of the regular season, head coach Tommy Tuberville was offered a two-year contract extension that was verbally accepted on December 4, 2007. One week later, offensive coordinator Al Borges announced his resignation following a meeting late the previous week with Tuberville. On December 12, Auburn announced Tony Franklin, the offensive coordinator for the Troy Trojans, as Borges' replacement. With only 8 days of practice prior to the bowl, the new spread offense proved quite effective as Auburn posted 423 yards of offense (233 passing / 190 rushing), besting their season average in all offensive categories despite playing against the #6 defense in the nation.
Days following the Chick-fil-A Bowl, defensive coordinator Will Muschamp interviewed for and accepted the vacant defensive coordinator position with the Texas Longhorns. On January 17, 2008, Auburn named Pittsburgh's Paul Rhoads as the new defensive coordinator.