2007: The Bizarro Season

When someone uses the argument that "every game matters" in college football, no season is a better example of that than 2007.  That year, from the very first week, no team was safe, especially if they were ranked #2.  It was an exciting - and ever changing - road to the national title, with new twists and turns every week.

Still, ten years later, I'm not even sure if everyone is aware of just how crazy that season was.  SB Nation calls it the best college football season ever.  It certainly is a standard that I have measured every season since against.

When you get to the post-school stage of your life, time takes on a new meaning.  Where the ten years from, say, my senior year of high school back to second grade seemed like an eternity, the ten years since college football's craziest season doesn't seem like so long ago.  In some ways, it feels like the same modern era, but there have been many significant changes.  (Not to mention that every single college football team roster has gone through two full regenerations, and most of a third.)

Here's what the college football world of 2007 looked like:

• The BCS title game was its own fifth BCS bowl for only the second season, rotating around the sites of the other four bowl games instead of just being one of those bowls.  It was also the second year of the FOX BCS television contract.  So, while the coverage might have been subpar, at least you could still see the biggest bowl games on network television.
• The Mega Conference Realignment was still three years away.  So, the Big Ten had 11 (with no championship game), the Big 12 had 12 (and a championship game), the SEC and ACC were holding at 12, and we still had the Pac-10 instead of the Pac-12 (with no championship game).
• Stanford and Baylor were still the doormats of their respective conferences, as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III were still in high school (they would both join the college ranks for the 2008 season).  Although, 2007 was Jim Harbaugh's first season at Stanford, and Art Briles was given the reins at Baylor near the end of the season.  On that note, no one knew that Jim Harbaugh was crazy, and folks still respected Art Briles.
• The SEC had only appeared in (and won) 3 of the previous 9 BCS title games.  No one was aware that they were just starting a 7 year winning streak, and 8 year appearance streak.
• Boise State had just burst on the scene as the cool "BCS Buster", having upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in the previous season.
• Versus was still a channel, but rather limited in availability.  In 2011, it would be merged with NBC Sports, and eventually become NBCSN.
• The Big Ten was the only conference with their own network, which was a brand new development (see game #1 below).
• ESPN360.com was just starting to stream live events.  It would eventually become ESPN3 a few years later, and largely just become a supplement to the WatchESPN app.

We'll be taking the AP rankings from Wikipedia, so keep this link handy.

The top ten teams to start the season were USC, LSU, West Virginia, Texas, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, and Louisville.  For those keeping score, that's one Pac-10, two SEC, two Big East, two Big Ten, two Big 12, and one ACC.  (If we had those teams now, it would be one Pac-12, two SEC, two Big Ten, 3 Big 12, and two ACC.)

Week 1 - September 1
The college football season began on a Thursday night, with the usual slate of week one cupcakes.  (This was before the Kickoff Game became a thing.)  Two more games were played on Friday night, but Saturday, September 1 was when the season really took off.

ESPN College Gameday was in Blacksburg for a very somber week one kickoff, honoring the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre, leading into the noon ESPN game.  I was there, and seriously, there was no way anyone could have had a dry eye after that pregame show.  The season was very highly anticipated by the Hokie faithful, not so much because of what heights the team could reach, but just because we needed football, dammit.  Anyway, VT was playing East Carolina for what was the first game of what feels like a thirty year deal.  They didn't play spectacularly, but still managed a 17-7 win.

1.) Appalachian State at #5 Michigan  - This is the game that started the roller coaster of the 2007 season.  No one thought too much of this game coming in.  Sure, App State was ranked #1 in the FCS at the time, but when you're playing a top five team from the FBS, it doesn't really matter.  This game was only supposed to be an interesting footnote in Big Ten history, as it was the first game ever broadcast on the Big Ten Network.  (Yes, this was the first season that any conference had their own TV channel.)

But the season changed as App State blocked a last second game winning field goal attempt by Michigan.  Michigan became the first ranked FBS team to lose to an FCS team, ever.  (Sadly, they would not be the last.)

After the week was over, Michigan fell out of the polls, and everyone thought it was just a fluke.  No one realized at the time that it was just the beginning of the roller coaster.

Final:  App State, 34-32

Week 2 - September 8
The top ten got shuffled a little bit with the Michigan loss:  USC, LSU, West Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Cal.

Week 2 was usually the week where the big name out of conference match-ups occurred.  This let the teams get through an FCS or other cupcake opponent in week 1 to tune up, and then be ready for the headliner the following week.

2.) #22 Boise State at Washington - Boise State was looking to repeat their Cinderella season of 2006 as the BCS buster, but failed to put up the points against Washington.  With their weak conference schedule, they quickly fell out of contention for the BCS buster, as well falling out of the rankings.

Final:  Washington, 24-10

3.) South Carolina at #11 Georgia - This SEC match ended with South Carolina beating Georgia for only the second time in the Mark Richt era.  South Carolina's previous win in the annual series had been in 2001, during Richt's first conference game as Georgia's coach.  Where UGA had run up 5 touchdowns against Oklahoma State in week 1, they couldn't even score a single TD in this game, which definitely affected the SEC East race as well as the national title picture.  This game would come back to haunt Georgia, who would later lose to the eventual division winner Tennessee.

Final:  South Carolina, 16-12

4.) #9 Virginia Tech at #2 LSU - The game of the week was the payoff of a home-and-home series that had started at Lane Stadium in 2002 (interestingly enough, my very first VT game).  VT won the first game (against Nick Saban, no less) by a score of 26-8.  The return trip was supposed to be in 2004 (Saban's last year), but got bumped when VT was offered the game against USC at FedEx Field.

Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, they experienced their own type of "#2 Curse", as their offense couldn't produce anything, and QB Sean Glennon had the pocket presence of a cinderblock (which happened more often than anyone preferred to see).  Sometime in the second half, Frank Beamer burned the redshirt of promising true freshman Tyrod Taylor in an effort to do something.  The gamble paid off so far as to get VT a touchdown, and a little hope for the future.  But I'm still not sure it wouldn't have been better to take the potential shutout and possible rough season, in exchange for a redshirt senior Tyrod Taylor in 2011.  But then looking at the domino or butterfly effect, having Tyrod for an extra year might have covered up other issues later on, which might have delayed the decline during the final years of Beamer's career.  Therefore, Beamer might not have retired when he did, and Justin Fuente might not have been available to be the new VT coach.  But we're getting a decade ahead of ourselves here.

While this game wasn't an upset, the lopsided score was a surprise.  The outcome would come into play very significantly later on in the season, and would continually haunt the Hokies as they started rising near the top of the polls in November.

Final:  LSU, 48-7

Week 3 - September 15
5.) Duke at Northwestern  - Since 2000, Duke had only won 9 games.  Their last win prior to the 2007 season was against FCS foe VMI in week 3 of 2005.  Their last FBS win was in 2004 against Clemson.  Duke came into this game at 0-2, while Northwestern came in at 2-0.  It was selected to be the primetime game on BTN.

And of course, Duke beat Northwestern.  Overall, this game had very little meaning in the shape of the college football season, but it provided Duke with their only win of the season.  Northwestern ultimately ended the season at 6-6.  Back in those days, 6-6 was not a guarantee for a bowl, as Northwestern learned the hard way, when they spent the holidays at home.

Final:  Duke 20, NW 14

Week 4 - September 22
6.) Syracuse at #18 Louisville - It's easy to forget that there were a few years after Virginia Tech and Miami left the conference that the Big East was actually pretty decent.  It could be argued that the post-VT/Miami configuration of the conference reached its peak in 2006, when three teams entered November undefeated (Louisville, WVU, and Rutgers).  Unfortunately, those three teams did a round robin on each other, and two of them (WVU and Rutgers) picked up additional losses in the final month of the season, keeping the conference outside of the national title picture.

All three of those teams entered 2007 ranked, but quickly showed that the fortunes of the conference would not be repeated.

In this case, Louisville had lost to in-state rival Kentucky the week before, but still had a good shot of taking control of the Big East, especially as they were playing Syracuse, a team that lost a lot over the previous two years.  (Those few wins were later vacated due to an academic scandal.)  But Syracuse decided to show up for this game and play spoiler in their only conference win of the year.  Louisville never seemed to recover, mainly alternating wins with losses for the rest of the season to just barely obtain bowl eligibility at 6-6.

Final:  Syracuse 38, Louisville 35.

Week 5 - September 29
7.) #5 West Virginia at #18 South Florida - (September 28)  In a Friday night match of unbeatens to end the first month of the season, West Virginia fell to conference rival South Florida, who would jump up an impressive 12 spots in the polls up to #6.

Final:  South Florida, 21-13

8.) #3 Oklahoma at Colorado - Two years prior, Colorado had been division champs.  In 2006, they went 2-10.  This game was the conference opener for both teams, and homecoming for Colorado.  Oklahoma came into the game as the highest scoring team in college football.

Final:  Colorado, 27-24

Week 6 - October 6
9.) #10 Oklahoma vs. #19 Texas - Both Big 12 teams were coming off of their first losses of the season, and both of them were in conference.  That made this rivalry game doubly important, as the loser (0-2 in conference) would most likely be out of contention for the Big 12 South division.

Final:  Oklahoma, 28-21

10.) #12 Georgia at Tennessee - Georgia lost their second game of the season, and both were to an unranked conference (and divisional) opponent.  Due to this loss, Georgia ended up 6-2 in conference, which was the same record that Tennessee obtained.  Therefore, the Volunteers advanced to the SEC title game thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Had Georgia been able to win either of these two games, they could have gone to Atlanta in December, which certainly would have greatly affected the final rankings regardless of outcome.

Final:  Tennessee, 35-14

11.) Stanford at #2 USC - USC entered this game with a six year winning streak at home, with their last loss coming in 2001 from Stanford. 

You can probably see where this is going, but it gets better.

Stanford was 1-3 coming into this game, their only win against San Jose State, one of those football teams out west that exists just for Pac-10 teams to have out of conference games that count towards bowl eligibility.  Plus, their starting quarterback was on the bench for medical reasons.  The QB for this game only had three passes in his college career.

Naturally, Stanford came out on top in a close game that was not widely seen, since it was on Versus.

This game was a significant turning point for the season.  It was the beginning of the #2 Curse.  By the end of the season, seven teams ranked #2 would lose.  Many of those teams would not only lose during the week they attained that ranking, but they would also go on to lose multiple games, completely jeopardizing their season.  It had to be especially bitter for USC, who had actually been ranked #1 all season long until this week, when LSU jumped over them.

Final:  Stanford, 24-23.

Week 7 - October 13
12.) #1 LSU at #17 Kentucky - The Wildcats have never been known as a football power in the SEC.  However, this season, they were doing rather well, already 5-1 at the midpoint of the season.  Who knew that the #1 team would provide them bowl eligibility in overtime?

Final:  Kentucky, 43-37, 3OT

13.) Oregon State at #2 California - The season was looking good for the Cal Golden Bears, who were entering their Homecoming game at 5-0, and primed to take over the #1 spot after the LSU loss earlier in the day.

However, the #2 Curse struck Cal hard.  Not only did they lose this game, but they went on to lose all but one of their remaining games, just barely making bowl eligibility.

Final:  Oregon State, 31-28

This was the first time in 11 years that the top two teams in the AP poll both lost on the same day.

Week 8 - October 20
14.) #2 South Florida at Rutgers - (October 18)  At this point of the season, it was clear that the Big East would not have the same fortune they had the previous season.  Still, Rutgers only had two losses (1 in conference), but still had a shot at getting to a good bowl game, or even winning the conference.  South Florida was undefeated including wins over Auburn, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Naturally, Rutgers had to pull the upset.  South Florida would go on to lose their next two games (both in conference), which completely took them out of contention for anything.

Final:  Rutgers, 30-27

Week 9 - October 27
15.) #2 Boston College at #9 Virginia Tech - (October 25) This Thursday night home game was supposed to be good for Virginia Tech.  First, VT was a dominant force on Thursday night, only having lost once at home during that telecast.  (It had been just once ever, until an away loss the previous season.)  Second, the "#2 Curse" had already been established over the previous three weeks. 

Unfortunately for Tech, there was only one team to ever beat them on Thursday nights . . . Boston College.  Also, the Hokies had already faced an opponent ranked #2 and lost.  So, superstition was actually not in their favor.

For most of the game, things were going well as Tech held on to a 10-0 lead until the final three minutes of the game.  Then, Matt Ryan kickstarted the BC offense and managed to score two touchdowns, and left the rain drenched Lane Stadium with a rare Thursday win.

This was VT's second and final regular season loss, both of which came from the team ranked #2 at the time.

Surprisingly, for an ACC game, this game had more implications for the BCS title than the ACC title.  Being a cross-divisional game, a loss wouldn't have set either team back too far as long as they continued to take care of business in their own division.

Final:  Boston College, 14-10

Week 10 - November 3
16.) Florida State at #2 Boston College - While Boston College was able to escape the #2 Curse in week 9, they weren't so fortunate here.  To add insult to injury, they would also go on to lose in week 11.  However, they would still keep the lead in their division, giving them a chance at a conference title.

Final:  Florida State, 27-17

17.)  Navy at Notre Dame - This game did not have any meaning for the national title picture, but it sure contributed to the craziness of the season.  However, in yet another triple overtime thriller this season, Navy was able to overcome a 43 year losing streak to Notre Dame.  Notre Dame also set several bad records due to their losing season.

Final:  Navy, 46-44 (3OT)

Week 11 - November 10
The key games this week did not contribute to the national title picture directly, but they were still memorable for other reasons.

18.)  Florida State at #11 Virginia Tech - Hokie fans still have a distaste for FSU after the 1999 national title game, and it didn't help that the Seminoles always seemed to have our number every other time we had played, including another bowl game and the first ACC Championship Game.  The last time Tech had beaten FSU was in 1975, so FSU had a 12 game winning streak going.  This was the first time that both teams would meet in the regular season as conference foes.

And somehow VT pulled out a convincing win, keeping their slim national title hopes alive.

Final:  Virginia Tech, 40-21

19.) Illinois at #1 Ohio State - While I was rushing the field at Lane Stadium, the Buckeye faithful were still standing shocked in their stadium, believing they had just watched their national title aspirations fade away.  Heck, their Big Ten championship chances took a hit too.

This Buckeye loss also meant that Kansas was last remaining unbeaten BCS team.

Final:  Illinois, 28-21

20.)  #21 Virginia at Miami - This game was memorable for all of the wrong reasons.  It was the last game Miami was playing in their old stadium.  They had all sorts of famous alumni on hand (I specifically remember seeing The Rock on the sidelines), and loads of fireworks saved up for celebration.

And then UVA came in and dropped a 48 point shutout on the Hurricanes.  Now, as a Hokie fan, I can't stand UVA, but I also don't have much love for Miami . . . so this game was pretty funny for me, especially as VT was scheduled to play Miami the following week (while UVA was on a bye).  Interestingly enough, by both teams beating Miami, it set up the 2007 Commonwealth Cup as a de facto winner-take-all Coastal Division championship game.

Final:  Virginia, 48-0

Week 12 - November 17

21.) #2 Oregon at Arizona - (November 15) The #2 Curse struck Oregon so hard during this Thursday night game, that it literally crippled the rest of their season.  Not only did their Heisman front runner QB Dennis Dixon leave with an injured ACL and end his season, but the Ducks also proceeded to lose the rest of their regular season games.

Final:  Arizona 34, Oregon 24.

22.) #3 Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Thanks to the insanity of the season, Oklahoma found themselves back in the #3 spot.  However, since the Ducks had lost on Thursday, you could say that Oklahoma was currently the #2 team, and the #2 Curse appeared to be creeping in on them.  Sooners QB Sam Bradford left the game with a concussion, and two other Sooners suffered season ending injuries.

Final:  Texas Tech, 34-27

Week 13 - November 24

23.) Arkansas at #1 LSU - (November 23) Rivalry weekend started with a bang early as LSU got upset on a Friday.  LSU dropped to 10-2, and of course, because it was 2007, both of their losses came in triple overtime.

Final:  Arkansas, 50-48 (3OT)

24.) #19 Tennessee at Kentucky - It doesn't matter who's playing or for what, when a game gets to triple overtime, it's good.  When it gets to quadruple overtime, it's legendary.  While Tennessee earned a spot in the SEC title game with this win, this game is on the list more for the insane length.  In a season full of upsets, constant turnover in the polls, and unprecedented occurrences happening on a weekly basis, why not add in a game with 4 OTs?

Final:  Tennessee, 52-50 (4OT)

25.) #2 Kansas vs. #3 Missouri - This end of season rivalry game had much more on the line than bragging rights.  Kansas came into the game as the last of the unbeatens (except for Hawaii in the WAC, but their weak schedule was keeping them down).  Missouri only had one loss.  The winner was guaranteed a trip to the Big 12 Championship game, as well as the inside track to the BCS Championship game, and most likely a #1 ranking due to LSU's loss the day before.

Final:  Missouri, 36-28

Back in week 7, we noted that it was the first time in 11 years that #1 and #2 both lost on the same day.  And here we are, just six weeks later, and it's happened again.  That was the type of season that 2007 was.  (Granted, this weekend has a bit of an asterisk since LSU played on Friday, but that's just a scheduling quirk.)

Week 14 - December 1
As the final week of the season started, Missouri (11-1) and West Virginia (10-1) were atop the polls, aiming for a BCS title showdown.  The other teams behind them still remotely in contention were #3 Ohio State (11-1), #4 Georgia (10-2), #5 LSU (10-2), #6 Virginia Tech (10-2), #7 Kansas (11-1), #8 USC (9-2), and #9 Oklahoma (10-2). 

Ohio State was idle, since there was no Big Ten championship back then.  Pretty much, all they needed was for one of the two teams ahead of them to lose.  Since they only had one loss, all of the two loss teams could only hope to reach the #2 spot by virtue of everyone ahead of them losing.

Georgia and Kansas were idle due to losing to the wrong team in their divisions and missing out on their respective conference title games.  It would be very hard for either team to make a case when they weren't playing.

And so began the most pivotal and volatile day of the season.

26.) ACC Championship Game:  #12 Boston College vs. #6 Virginia Tech - A rematch of the Thursday night game in Blacksburg, the Hokies were able to get their revenge against the Eagles.

Final:  Virginia Tech, 30-16.

Ending the season at 11-2, the Hokies were still mathematically alive for a chance at the national championship.  If Missouri and West Virginia both lost, VT would have a shot to jump into the #2 spot, if the pollsters liked them better than Georgia.  However, since their first loss was a blowout against LSU, it would be very hard for the Hokies to jump the Tigers in the polls if LSU won.

27.) SEC Championship Game:  #14 Tennessee vs. #5 LSU - Looking back at this game now, it's odd to see that a trip to the national championship wasn't a guarantee for the winner.  In fact, LSU thought this game was a consolation prize for missing out on the BCS title, and Les Miles even called a press conference prior to the game to announce that he was remaining the LSU head coach.

Tennessee even held a slight lead in the 4th quarter, until they threw a pick-6 to LSU that made the difference.

Final:  LSU 21-14

At this point, it was safe to say that LSU (11-2) was going to jump Georgia (10-2) in the polls.  Virginia Tech was officially knocked out of contention.

After the game, Les Miles made a very good point while lobbying for his team to remain in consideration -- both of LSU's losses came after triple overtime, meaning they were undefeated in regulation.

USC had played UCLA to end their season, and easily won to improve to 10-2.  However, they were pretty much screwed in trying to crack the top two (Again, this was in the days of the Pac-10, with no championship game).  LSU and VT had both won their conferences at 11-2 due to a championship game.  The Big 12 wasn't doing USC any favors either.  Either Missouri won and sealed the deal, or Oklahoma would win and jump over USC.

But all of these "what if" scenarios would be moot if #1 and #2 just took care of business, like they were expected to.  Both of these games kicked off in prime time (WVU at 7:45 on ESPN, Big 12 at 8 on ABC).

After all, #1 and #2 had already both lost on the same weekend twice this year.  What were the odds that it would happen again?  And on a consecutive weekend?

28.) Pitt at #2 West Virginia - The 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl was expected to just be a formality for West Virginia to punch their ticket to the national title game.  This wasn't even a de facto Big East championship game.  Pitt was 4-7 coming into the game, after all.  Win or lose, Pitt was still going home after this game.

Naturally, West Virginia lost.  I think Tony sums up the entire situation best in his "Butterfly Effect" article here.

Final:  Pitt, 13-9

29.) Big 12 Championship Game:  #9 Oklahoma vs. #1 Missouri - Meanwhile, in Texas, another big upset was brewing.  By the time West Virginia had lost, it was apparent that we were in store for another weekend of #1 and #2 both going down (twice in two weeks!), which opened the floodgates wide open for the BCS title game.

Final:  Oklahoma, 38-17

After those two losses, Ohio State was guaranteed a spot in the BCS title game, and it became apparent that a 2-loss team was going to play for the crystal football.  After much debate, LSU came out ahead of all of the other 2-loss teams.

BCS Championship
I'm sure there was plenty of craziness and excitement during bowl season, and I could probably fill another post going over what happened in the bowl games.  But ultimately, all of those games were consolation prizes.

The end of the season occurred in New Orleans on January 7, 2008.

30.) BCS Championship:  #1 Ohio State vs. #2 LSU - So, after a season that started with App State beating Michigan, and the #2 team losing on almost a weekly basis, and three different weekends with both #1 and #2 losing, we get to a title game with no undefeated team, and one team with two losses.

I don't think the participants were overly surprising, as both teams won BCS titles before (which was a first for this game).  No, what was surprising was the path that all of the teams had taken to arrive at this point.

Final:  LSU, 38-24

And so ended the craziest college football season that most people can remember.  It was definitely a pivotal season, with far reaching consequences.  We need more seasons like this one.  Every game mattered, and each week was unpredictable.  Teams got second and third chances to control their destiny.  I would say I can only imagine what it would have looked like with the current playoff system, as there were several two loss teams right there with a legitimate reason to be included, but SB Nation also covered that.