2007 Alamo Bowl The 2007 Valero Alamo Bowl is a college football bowl game that was part of the 2007 – 2008 bowl season of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season . It was the 15th Alamo Bowl and the first Alamo Bowl sponsored by the Valero Energy Corporation . It was played on December 29 , 2007 in the 65 , 000 - seat Alamodome in San Antonio , Texas and nationally televised by ESPN . The game featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Texas A & M Aggies , who were both unranked in the national polls . The two teams had met once in the Alamo Bowl in 1999 , when Penn State shutout Texas A & M 24 – 0 . The Aggies were coached by interim head coach Gary Darnell , who had taken over after Dennis Franchione resigned , and the Nittany Lions were coached by Hall of Famer Joe Paterno , who marked the 2007 Alamo Bowl as the 500th game of his head coaching career . Leading into the game . This was the Aggies ' 30th bowl appearance , and their third in the Alamo Bowl . In their first Alamo Bowl game in 1995 , the 19th - ranked Aggies defeated the 14th - ranked Michigan Wolverines 22 – 20 . In their second appearance in 1999 , 13th - ranked Penn State defeated the 18th - ranked Aggies 24 – 0 . Both the 1995 and 1999 games are two of the five in Alamo Bowl history that attracted sellout crowds , with the 1999 game having the second largest crowd . One day after Texas A & M head coach Dennis Franchione resigned after the Aggies ' last regular season matchup against the Texas Longhorns on November 23 , 2007 , A & M athletic director Bill Byrne announced defensive coordinator Gary Darnell would coach the Aggies ' bowl game as the interim head coach . Two days later , Byrne hired Houston Texans offensive coordinator and former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman . Texas A & M officially accepted the invitation to play in the Alamo Bowl on December 2 , 2007 against the Penn State Nittany Lions , who accepted their invitation two days earlier on November 30 . This was the Nittany Lions ' 40th bowl appearance , and their second in the Alamo Bowl . The 2007 Nittany Lions , who finished 8 – 4 in their regular season , are led by 42nd - year head coach Joe Paterno , a 2007 College Football Hall of Fame inductee . With a 22 – 10 – 1 bowl game record , Paterno is the all - time winningest leader in bowl victories and appearances . He also holds the record for the most undefeated FBS seasons than any other coach in college football history . The 2007 Alamo Bowl marked Paterno ' s 34th bowl game appearance and 500th game as Penn State head coach . Prior to the game , among 119 Division I - A teams , the Aggies ' rushing offense ranked 13th , and their overall offense ranked 54th . Their total defense ranked 83rd , with a rushing defense ranked 57th and a passing defense ranked 104th . On the other hand , the Nittany Lions have an overall offense ranked 56th , with a 44th - ranked scoring offense . Their overall defense ranked 9th in the nation , with a 6th - ranked rushing defense and an 8th - ranked scoring defense . The defense also ranks 2nd in sacks forced . During the week of the game , Las Vegas casinos predicted Penn State to win by 5 . 5 points . A " Sunday News " sports writer of the " Lancaster Newspapers " predicted Penn State to win 23 – 13 . " College Football News " predicted a 34 – 20 victory for Penn State , while WhatIfSports . com simulated the game 1 , 001 times and predicted Penn State to win 29 – 17 . On December 27 , 2007 , two nights before the game , a Texas A & M yell leader made a controversial joke about Joe Paterno at a joint pep rally on the River Walk . The yell leader screamed " Joe Paterno ' s on his death bed ! And someone needs to find him a casket ! " on a microphone to an audience consisting of both Penn State and Texas A & M fans . Penn State fans became stunned at his remark and subsequently booed him . A & M officials apologized to Penn State officials and sent the yell leader home . Paterno responded by saying : " I think everybody has to take things with a grain of salt . . . . Some young guy went up there , trying to be funny . Maybe he ' s accurate , I don ' t know . " Paterno also expressed his indifference toward the comments , adding " Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you . " Game summary . Though the game attracted the largest audience in both stadium and bowl history , it only averaged a 2 . 7 television rating , the lowest for the bowl since the first game in 1993 and a 55 percent drop from the 2006 Alamo Bowl ' s record - breaking rating of 6 . 0 . The last regular season matchup between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants — which was broadcast around the same time as the 2007 Alamo Bowl — explains this anomaly , as the NFL game was broadcast on two television networks and attracted a total of 34 . 5 million viewers , the most for a regular season NFL game in more than 12 years . First quarter . Penn State won the coin toss and deferred to the second half . The Aggies dominated the first quarter . After a quick three and out in their first possession , they scored a touchdown on their second possession . Penn State converted on fourth - and - short to keep their drive temporarily alive , but they were forced to attempt a field goal , which went wide right . Penn State muffed a kick - return to give the Aggies possession inside the Penn State 20 - yard line . A & M lined up in an unbalanced look and scored another touchdown on a run up the middle . Both touchdowns were scored by Mike Goodson , equaling his total for the rest of the 2007 season . A & M gained 96 yards of total offense in the first quarter compared to 89 for Penn State . Second quarter . The Nittany Lions roared back in the second quarter . Their second quarter resurgence was not new as the Lions outscored their opponents 131 - 21 in the second quarter alone . With just over eleven minutes left in the half , Penn State faced fourth - and - three at the Texas A & M 30 - yard line . Anthony Morelli threw a pass to Deon Butler for a touchdown . The play was reviewed for more than six minutes and allowed to stand as called on the field . An Aggie fumble led to a second Penn State touchdown which tied the score at 14 – 14 . On that score , Daryll Clark dove towards the end zone and lost possession of the ball , but the on - field official ruled that he still had the ball when he crossed the plane of the goal line . The play was not reviewed . Penn State drove inside the A & M 10 - yard line but settled for a Kevin Kelly field goal with 19 seconds remaining in the half . The half - time score was 17 – 14 Penn State . The Nittany Lions outgained the Aggies 155 yards to 32 in the second quarter . Third quarter . In the third quarter , A & M made a field goal and Penn State answered with a touchdown , extending their lead to 24 – 17 . Fourth quarter . In the fourth quarter , with Penn State still leading 24 – 17 , the Aggies were facing fourth - and - inches close to the Penn State one - yard line . Instead of giving the ball to Jorvorskie Lane , who is typically very effective in short - yardage situations , the Aggie coaching staff elected to run an option play to the right side . The Penn State defense was ready for it and quarterback Stephen McGee went down for a loss . Lane was visibly upset that he was not used on the play ; he walked away from his teammates and was seen on the sidelines with tears running down his face . Penn State took over on downs but the Aggies forced a punt . A & M got the ball back near their 40 - yard line with less than three minutes to play in the game . The drive led the Aggies to punt on fourth - and - twenty with 2 : 09 remaining . The ball went into the end zone for a touchback so Penn State took over on their 20 - yard line . Penn State ran out the clock to preserve the win at 24 – 17 . Later Developments . Due to the 2012 Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal , the NCAA responded by enacting sanctions against Penn State . As part of the sanctions the NCAA vacated all Penn State wins from 1998 to 2011 , including the 2007 Alamo Bowl victory .