2007 BCS National Championship Game The 2007 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game was an American football game played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale , Arizona , on January 8 , 2007 . The BCS No . 2 Florida Gators defeated the No . 1 Ohio State Buckeyes , 41 – 14 . The Buckeyes secured a spot by finishing the 2006 regular season undefeated and ranked No . 1 in the BCS . It was the first time the Buckeyes and Gators had ever met on the football field . The 12 – 1 Florida Gators earned a spot after defeating Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game in early December , and jumping from No . 4 to No . 2 in the final BCS Ranking s , passing No . 3 Michigan and previous No . 2 USC . The game was the first BCS National Championship Game to be televised on the FOX network . Pre - game buildup . The Ohio State Buckeyes were the No . 1 ranked team for the entire 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season , anchored by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Troy Smith . The Buckeyes were 12 – 0 with several wins over ranked opponents : the defending national champions , then No . 2 Texas Longhorns , then No . 24 Penn State Nittany Lions , then No . 13 Iowa Hawkeyes , and their then undefeated Big Ten Conference rival , then No . 2 Michigan . The win over Michigan to finish the regular season essentially guaranteed the Buckeyes a spot in the National Championship game . Who they would play remained a highly - debated question . Despite the loss to Ohio State , Michigan remained No . 2 in the polls , followed by No . 3 Southern California ( USC ) , No . 4 Florida , and No . 5 Notre Dame . The next week , with both No . 1 Ohio State and No . 2 Michigan ' s regular season complete , No . 3 USC defeated then No . 5 Notre Dame . Fourth - ranked Florida defeated unranked in - state rival Florida State . With the victory over Notre Dame , USC passed Michigan in the polls , taking over the BCS No . 2 spot . Michigan fell to No . 3 with Florida remaining No . 4 and Notre Dame falling to No . 10 . The last week of the regular season was dynamic for the national championship race . Third - ranked Michigan remained idle . Fourth - ranked Florida faced No . 9 Arkansas in the SEC Championship , while No . 2 USC faced unranked , in - city rival UCLA . Both Florida and Michigan cheered as USC fell to UCLA 13 – 9 . Florida defeated Arkansas to claim the 2006 SEC Championship Title . USC ' s loss knocked them out of contention , leaving No . 3 Michigan and No . 4 Florida as the most likely teams to earn the No . 2 ranking and face Ohio State for the BCS National Championship . The final BCS poll passed Florida over Michigan to take the No . 2 spot while Michigan remained unchanged at No . 3 , with . 0101 points separating the two teams . This small difference was a result of the human polls ( the Coaches Poll and Harris Interactive Poll ) ranking Florida above Michigan while the computer polls had the two teams tied for second . Controversy over No . 2 : Rematch or new opponent ? There were many theories how Florida jumped Michigan in the final poll . Some sportswriters theorized that it was not a matter of which was the better team , claiming Florida had an advantage in the polls because they had played the last two weeks while Michigan had not , or that voters were swayed due to Florida coach Urban Meyer ' s " campaign " to get Florida into the BCS National Championship Game . The fact that the difference in the final BCS Poll was due to human voters , not computer rankings , gives some credence to these theories . Other theories suggest that since Michigan did not win their conference title , they did not deserve to play for the BCS National Championship , or that a rematch between Michigan and Ohio State was not favored by the poll voters . The controversy was largely resolved when USC defeated Michigan 32 – 18 in the 2007 Rose Bowl , and Florida beat top - ranked Ohio State 41 – 14 in the BCS Championship Game . Game summary . First half . The Buckeyes got off to a fast start when receiver Ted Ginn Jr . returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown , giving Ohio State a 7 – 0 lead only 16 seconds into the game . During the celebration following the return , Ginn was injured and would miss the remainder of the game . The Gators quickly rebounded , however , leading a quick 46 - yard drive for a score , capped off by a 14 - yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak to Dallas Baker . After stuffing the Ohio State offense to a quick punt , Florida drove 36 yards for a touchdown on a 4 - yard run by Percy Harvin . On their next possession , the Gators once again drove in for a score , going 71 yards on 10 plays and getting it in the end zone on a 2 - yard run by DeShawn Wynn on the first play of the second quarter . Ohio State came back for a score of their own with an 18 - yard touchdown run by Antonio Pittman to bring the score to 21 – 14 . After a Florida field goal , Ohio State coach Jim Tressel took a gamble by going for a fourth - and - one from the Buckeyes ' own 29 - yard line . The Gator defensive line stopped Chris Wells in his tracks and the ball was turned over on downs . Chris Hetland , Florida ' s much - maligned kicker who was only 4 - of - 13 for the year , hit his second field goal of the night , making the score 27 – 14 , and with just over two minutes left to play in the half , it appeared that would be the score heading to the break . As Ohio State started from their own 20 , quarterback Troy Smith dropped back to pass and was hit by Florida lineman Jarvis Moss , jarring the ball loose . Florida recovered on the Buckeye 5 - yard line and punched it in with a one yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tim Tebow to Andre Caldwell . The half ended and the teams went off the field with Florida leading 34 – 14 . Second half . The second half saw a much more defensive game , with no scoring in the third quarter . The Gator offense used up the clock , while the defense continued to stifle Ohio State ' s purportedly explosive attack . The lone score of the half came with just over 10 minutes left in the game , when Tim Tebow ran in a one yard touchdown score , bringing the tally to 41 – 14 , which was the final score . Chris Leak was named the offensive player of the game , and Derrick Harvey earned the defensive honors . The Gators held the Buckeye offense to only 82 total yards for the game , and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith completed only four passes for 35 yards and an interception . The Gators also dominated in time of possession , limiting the Ohio State offense to just over 19 minutes .