The game featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Texas A&M Aggies, who were both unranked in the national polls.
[5] Two days later, Byrne hired Houston Texans offensive coordinator and former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman.
[9] 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.
[11] During the week of the game, Las Vegas casinos predicted Penn State to win by 5.5 points.
[12] A Sunday News sports writer of the Lancaster Newspapers predicted Penn State to win 23–13.
[15] 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.
"[18] Paterno also expressed his indifference toward the comments, adding "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you.
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.
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.
With just over eleven minutes left in the half, Penn State faced fourth-and-three at the Texas A&M 30-yard line.
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.
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.
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.