Broadcaster Charles Davis reflects on covering 2007 Fiesta Bowl OT thriller

Editor's note: One in an occasional series of stories sharing Fiesta Bowl memories from those who played in or covered the annual bowl game.

The 2007 Fiesta Bowl overtime game between that year's Big 12 champion Oklahoma Sooners and WAC champion Boise State Broncos put the latter map in college football. Boise State upset the blue-blood Oklahoma in overtime at State Farm Stadium, 43-42.

That game also established former NFL player-turned-TV sportscaster Charles Davis as a fixture in the broadcast booth covering the sport. Long before he became an NFL on CBS analyst, Davis covered that bowl game on Fox.

The Republic spoke to Davis about his memories of that overtime thriller.

Q: What was you and your CBS colleagues’ initial reaction that you were going to cover the 2007 Fiesta Bowl?

A: “I never really wondered about the reaction at all. We were fortunate enough that this was 2007 when I did the Fiesta Bowl and the national championship game there (in State Farm Stadium). It was part of the BCS and it didn’t matter to me about anything else. We were doing two of the better games that you were going to find. They were BCS bowl games and the game we did, the first one which was Boise State-Oklahoma. And then we had the national championship game which was Florida-Ohio State, a little bit of controversy on that one because a whole bunch of people thought Michigan should’ve gotten a second shot at Ohio State. They had a fantastic game in the regular season, and Florida kind of snuck in winning the SEC (title).”

Q: What do you remember the most about the 2007 Fiesta Bowl’s anticipation?

A: “I just remember the buildup to the Fiesta Bowl obviously was true David and Goliath, and Oklahoma wasn’t your typical Oklahoma. It had an issue with the quarterback (Rhett Bomar) that was supposed to start the season and NCAA sidelined him for the year, he lost his eligibility. They moved the quarterback from the year before (Paul Thompson) to wide receiver in the spring, and then when this happened in the fall, they asked him to play quarterback again and all he had done in the offseason was train to be a receiver. Adrian Peterson got hurt midway through the season. … He made it back for the bowl game.

When Oklahoma came in and really battled their way through, but it was still Oklahoma-Boise State. There’s no way to create that matchup other than to say David versus Goliath. And don’t forget that was Chris Petersen’s first year as a head coach (at Boise State until 2013, then went coached at Washington through 2019). They’ve always had successful programs, coaches have always done a nice job at Boise and bounced to bigger jobs. Houston Nutt had gone through there and bounced up to Arkansas. Dirk Koetter had come through had done a nice job, and he bounced to Arizona State. And now here’s Chris Petersen. First-year head coach, 12-0, how many people in the country know anything about him? They don’t. They’re like, ‘What? How long ago were they a junior college?’ (laughs) It’s just one of those things where you could not have lined up and named five or three Boise State players if you could ask people across the country because that’s the way it was."

Q: What specific plays or the style of play for both teams during that Fiesta Bowl?

Boise played their hearts out but Oklahoma showed a lot of heart, too. Coming back when it looked like they were dead, and then that first carry of overtime, Peterson goes right them and scores. And then I just remember, in my head, this is my first BCS game and I was the sidekick on the crew. The crew was Thom Brennaman, play-by-play; Barry Alvarez, analyst; I was the second analyst; Chris Myers was on the sideline. So I was the add-in. I just remember when Peterson went through them, I thought to myself, ‘Boise State is done. They’ve punched all they can punch. If they score, if he’s got a finger on the pulse of this team, he’s gotta go for two(-point conversion). You don’t keep slugging with Oklahoma now, they’re starting to get stronger. And sure enough they score, and then of course we get the Statue of Liberty (play) and it’s all over, and all the other great plays that they pulled to stay in it, all that other stuff.

And then at the end the great wedding proposal with (Boise State running back) Ian Johnson and his girlfriend who was a cheerleader. I always tease Chris Myers and say, ‘Chris, you were right in the middle of it. I think you actually asked her to marry you as opposed to Ian. Get the hell out of the way, man. Let the man ask the question.’ But what got lost in it that (the Sooners) were Goliath, Oklahoma played their hearts out because they could’ve faded on that one quickly. The way that game went they could’ve said, ‘You know something? This isn’t our night. We’re gone.” And the late pick, I think there’s a pick-six, and now they go ahead, and here comes Boise with the hook-and-lateral, and it was craziness. Just a lot of fun.

Previous Fiesta Bowl memory stories in our series: Danny White | Colt McCoy | Isaiah Simmons | Trace McSorley, Byron Murphy Jr., Ezekiel Turner | Dave Pasch

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: NFL on CBS analyst Charles Davis reflects on covering 2007 Fiesta Bowl