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2007 Mississippi State

8–⁠5 (4–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Sylvester Croom.

Schedule and results

Mississippi State in 2007, game by game: lost vs. No. 2 LSU 0–45; won at Tulane 38–17; won at Auburn 19–14; won vs. Gardner-Webb 31–15; lost at No. 16 South Carolina 21–38; won vs. UAB 30–13; lost vs. No. 25 Tennessee 21–33; lost at No. 9 West Virginia 13–38; won at No. 14 Kentucky 31–14; won vs. No. 21 Alabama 17–12; lost at Arkansas 31–45; won vs. Ole Miss 17–14; won vs. UCF 10–3+21−45Lost 0–45 vs. No. 2 LSU-45No. 2 LSUWon 38–17 at Tulane+21TulaneWon 19–14 at Auburn+5AuburnWon 31–15 vs. Gardner-Webb+16Gardner-WebbLost 21–38 at No. 16 South Carolina-17No. 16 South CarolinaWon 30–13 vs. UAB+17UABLost 21–33 vs. No. 25 Tennessee-12No. 25 TennesseeLost 13–38 at No. 9 West Virginia-25No. 9 West VirginiaWon 31–14 at No. 14 Kentucky+17No. 14 KentuckyWon 17–12 vs. No. 21 Alabama+5No. 21 AlabamaLost 31–45 at Arkansas-14ArkansasWon 17–14 vs. Ole Miss+3Ole MissWon 10–3 vs. UCF+7UCF
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 30vs2LSUL 0–⁠4524%
Sep 8atTulaneW 38–⁠1746%
Sep 15atAuburnW 19–⁠1422%
Sep 22vsGardner-WebbW 31–⁠1582%
Sep 29at16South CarolinaL 21–⁠3827%
Oct 6vsUABW 30–⁠1370%
Oct 13vs25TennesseeL 21–⁠3339%
Oct 20at9West VirginiaL 13–⁠3816%
Oct 27at14KentuckyW 31–⁠1424%
Nov 10vs21AlabamaW 17–⁠1248%
Nov 17atArkansasL 31–⁠4534%
Nov 23vsOle MissW 17–⁠1475%
Dec 29Bowls & playoffvsUCFLiberty BowlW 10–⁠339%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat UCF 10–⁠3 in the Liberty Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 44th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

Record
8–⁠5
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 6th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
279–⁠301
Coach
Sylvester Croom
Elo
1544 +112 this season
SP+ rating
2.0 No. 62 of 120; offense No. 100, defense No. 23, special teams No. 70
SRS
1.8 No. 58 of 119 in FBS
Recruiting class
No. 34
Offensive coordinator
Woody McCorvey
Defensive coordinator
Ellis Johnson
Offense
Pro-style
Defense
4–⁠2–⁠5

How good, play by play

  • Offense114th of 119
  • Defense9th of 119
EPA per playSuccessExplosivenessFBS rank
Offense-0.0637%0.82114th of 119
Defense-0.0536%0.939th of 119
How these are measured

Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season.

Drives and havoc

Points per trip inside the 40Average startHavoc
Offense-0.1own 332% allowed
Defense0.0own 352% caused

A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. From CollegeFootballData.com.

Top recruits in the 2007 class

Robert Elliott RB★★★★No. 160
Wesley Carroll PRO★★★No. 816
LaMarcus Williams DT★★★No. 816
Maurice Crutison OLB★★★No. 865
Karlin Brown OLB★★★No. 865

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2007 class by position

SignedStarsRating
Quarterbacks23.00.824
Running backs23.00.856
Receivers12.00.789
Offensive line33.00.818
Defensive line13.00.840
Linebackers42.80.805
Defensive backs13.00.820
Athletes and specialists12.00.793
Whole class152.80.819

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

All-SEC

1 first team, 3 second team

First team

Second team

  • Michael BrownOTCoaches-2
  • Titus BrownDEAP-2; Coaches-2
  • Jamar ChaneyLBCoaches-2

From Wikipedia’s 2007 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2007 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
LSU6–⁠212–⁠21
Georgia6–⁠211–⁠22
Tennessee6–⁠210–⁠412
Florida5–⁠39–⁠413
Auburn5–⁠39–⁠415
Arkansas4–⁠48–⁠5
Mississippi State4–⁠48–⁠5
Alabama4–⁠47–⁠6
Kentucky3–⁠58–⁠5
South Carolina3–⁠56–⁠6
Vanderbilt2–⁠65–⁠7
Ole Miss0–⁠83–⁠9

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.