The 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on August 30, 2007, progressed through the regular season and bowl season, and (aside from all-star exhibition games that followed) concluded with the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 7, 2008, where the top ranked Ohio State Buckeyes were defeated by the second ranked Louisiana State University Tigers, who became the BCS National Champions, topping all major year-end football polls. For just the second time in the BCS era, no teams finished the season undefeated, and only one automatic qualifying-conference team finished with one loss (No. 7 Kansas).
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Conference and program changes
No teams upgraded from Division I-AA, leaving the number of Division I-A schools fixed at 119.
- There was only one conference change in 2007, with Temple leaving the Independent ranks to become the 13th member of the MAC.
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Preseason rankings
Many publications release their predictions of the top teams prior to the beginning of the season. For 2007, numerous publications chose the University of Southern California as the top ranked team: Real Football 365, ESPN, Rivals.com, College Football News. They were also ranked first in the Coaches Poll and AP Poll. The Coaches Poll plays an important part in the season because the final ballot represents one-third of the ranking to determine which two teams play in the BCS National Championship Game. Rounding out the top five in the Coaches Poll were LSU, defending BCS National Champion Florida, Texas, and Michigan.
Rules changes
After coaches expressed their disapproval of the timing changes made in the 2006 season, the following changes were made:
- On kickoffs, the clock will not start until the ball is touched in the field of play.
- On change of possession, the clock will not start until the snap.
The attempt to reduce the time of games sought by those rules was successful, reducing the average college football page from 3:21 hours in 2005 to 3:07 hours in 2006. However, the reduced game time also reduced the average number of plays in a game by 13, 66 fewer offensive yards per game and average points per game by 5.
Other rules changes for the 2007 season include:
- Moving the kick-off yard-line from 35 to 30, which matches the yard-line used in the National Football League from 1994 to 2010, to reduce the number of touchbacks.
- Paring the 25-second play clock to 15 seconds after TV timeouts.
- Team time-outs for televised games are shortened from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.
- Allowing penalties against the kicking team on kickoffs to be assessed at the end of the runback, avoiding a re-kick, also matching the NFL rule.
- Once the umpire gives the ball to the kicker, the 25 second play clock starts.
- Kickoffs out of bounds are now penalized 35 yards from the spot of the kick or a re-kick with a five-yard penalty.
- Defenders cannot use any part of a teammate to jump over an opponent to block a kick.
Key matchups, upsets, and "The Curse of No. 2"
Year of the upset
The media has dubbed this season as the "Year of the Upset". An unranked or lower-ranked opponent defeated a higher-ranked team 59 times over the course of the regular season. This list does not include other upsets involving two unranked teams. A record-setting 13 unranked teams defeated top 5 teams during the regular season. The No. 2 ranked team lost 7 times throughout the year, as of December 1.
Games in which the lower-ranked or unranked team was the betting favorite are in italics.
A particularly telling statistic was pointed out by ESPN on November 10. At that point of the season, nine teams ranked in the top five of the AP Poll had lost to unranked teams (or in the case of Michigan, an FCS team). This had never happened in the history of the AP Poll, which was first conducted in 1936, in a season when at least 20 teams were ranked. The only other season to see more such upsets was 1967, which was one of seven seasons when the AP Poll ranked only 10 teams. Arizona added to the total on November 15 against Oregon, and Texas Tech made it 11 against Oklahoma two days later. The day after Thanksgiving saw unranked Arkansas beat LSU, bringing the total to 12. On December 1, Pitt defeated WVU 13-9, making the total 13.
The "Curse of the #2" was apparent this season. The first No. 2 team to lose was USC, 24-23 to Stanford. The next weekend, California lost to Oregon State, followed the next week by South Florida's loss to Rutgers. Boston College fell to Florida State, making the total four. Oregon then lost to Arizona, and Kansas lost to No. 4 Missouri. Maybe the most shocking loss of all was in the final week of the season, when West Virginia's loss to Pitt kicked them out of the national championship, bringing the total of victims of the curse to seven.
Note: Since 1996, there had not been a weekend when No. 1 and No. 2 lost on the same day. In 2007 alone, No. 1 and No. 2 fell three times during the season. The first time was when LSU fell to Kentucky in three overtimes, and Cal lost to Oregon State. Then, LSU stumbled again against Arkansas in three OTs, and Kansas followed with a loss to Missouri. In the final weekend of the season, not only did No. 2 West Virginia lose to Pitt, but, in the Big 12 Championship, Missouri fell to No. 9 Oklahoma, opening up the BCS Championship.
Conference standings
Note: In the Mid-American Conference, only division games count toward the divisional championship.
- Rankings indicate position in final 2007 AP Poll.
Conference championship games
All games played on December 1, 2007.
- Big 12 Conference (Big 12) - Oklahoma 38, Missouri 17, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
- Conference USA (CUSA) - UCF 44, Tulsa 25 at Bright House Networks Stadium, Orlando, Florida
- Mid-American Conference (MAC) - Central Michigan 38, Miami (Ohio) 10 at Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
- Southeastern Conference (SEC) - LSU 21, Tennessee 14 at the Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
- Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) - Virginia Tech 30, Boston College 16, at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida.
Other conference champions
- Big East: Connecticut, West Virginia - West Virginia received the BCS bid
- Big Ten: Ohio State
- Mountain West: BYU
- Pacific-10: Arizona State, Southern California - Southern California received the BCS bid
- Sun Belt: Florida Atlantic, Troy - Florida Atlantic won the New Orleans Bowl bid.
- Western Athletic Conference (WAC): Hawai?i
Bowl games
Bowl Championship Series
(winner listed in boldface)
Other January bowl games
December bowl games
Post-BCS All-Star Games
- Cornerstone Bancard Hula Bowl - January 12, Aloha Stadium, ?Aiea, Hawai?i - ?Aina (East) 38, Kai (West) 7.
- East-West Shrine Game - January 19, Robertson Stadium, Houston, Texas - West 31, East 17.
- Under Armour Senior Bowl - January 26, Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama - South 17, North 16.
- Western Refining Texas vs. The Nation Game - February 2, UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, Texas - Texas (players who went to high school or college in that state) 41, The Nation 14
Bowl Challenge Cup standings
+ Winner of the Bowl Challenge Cup - § NCAA record for bowl victories in a conference in one bowl season.
- The Sun Belt Conference (represented by Florida Atlantic University) is not eligible for the Bowl Challenge Cup as they only have one bowl berth. Conferences must have a minimum of three bids to be a part of the challenge. FAU defeated Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl.
Heisman Trophy voting
The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player
- Winner: Tim Tebow, So. Florida QB (1,957 pts)
- 2. Darren McFadden, Jr. Arkansas RB (1,703 pts)
- 3. Colt Brennan, Sr. Hawaii QB (632 pts)
- 4. Chase Daniel Jr. Missouri QB (425 pts)
- 5. Dennis Dixon, Sr. Oregon QB (178 pts)
Other major award winners
All-America selections
The Associated Press All-America team:
Offense
Defense
Milestones
The following teams and players set all-time NCAA Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) records during the season:
Coaching changes
Pre-season
Post-season
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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