The 2007 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the 113th season of Sooner football. The team was led by two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award winner, Bob Stoops, in his ninth season as head coach. They played their homes games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. They were a charter member of the Big 12 Conference. Conference play began with an upset loss to the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, Colorado on September 29, and ended with a victory over the Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 Championship Game on December 1. The Sooners finished the regular season with an 11–2 record (6–2 in Big 12) while winning their fifth Big 12 title and their 41st conference title overall. They received an automatic berth to the Fiesta Bowl, where they lost to the West Virginia Mountaineers, 28–48. Following the season, Malcolm Kelly and Curtis Lofton were drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 NFL Draft, Reggie Smith was selected in the 3rd, and Allen Patrick was chosen in the 7th. Preseason On July 19, a preseason poll voted on by members of the media that cover the Big 12 was released. The Sooners were chosen to finish second in the Big 12 South behind Texas. They finished nine votes behind the Longhorns but 44 points above Texas A&M, the third team. This poll was released in anticipation of the Big 12 media day which began on July 23, 2007. Most publications had the Sooners ranked between five and ten in the preseason. Phil Steele's self-titled publication, which is considered by many to be the most accurate college football preseason prediction magazine, had the Sooners ranked number three in terms of how they would finish the year and how strong the team is going into the year. On August 2, 2007, Coach Bob Stoops announced at a rally that the names of players would be put back on the team's jerseys. They had been removed in a re-design before the 2006 season. The 2006 season was the last for quarterback Paul Thompson. With his departure came the race for the next quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners. The three players in contention for the coveted spot included true freshman Keith Nichol, redshirt freshman Sam Bradford and junior Joey Halzle (the only one of the three