2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season

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The 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 30, 2007, and ended on December 1, 2007. The postseason concluded on January 7, 2008, with the BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans, where the No. 2-ranked Louisiana State Tigers defeated the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes to win their 2nd BCS and 3rd overall national title. For just the second time in the Bowl Championship Series era, no FBS team finished the season undefeated. Kansas was the only team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference to finish the entire season with just one loss.

Rules changes

After coaches expressed their disapproval of the timing changes made in the 2006 season, the following changes were made: 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:

Conference and program changes

The only change in conference membership for the 2007 season occurred when Temple left its Independent status to become the 13th member of the Mid-American Conference. One team upgraded from Division I FCS, increasing the number of Division I FBS schools to 120.

Regular season top 10 matchups

Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 7 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.

Year of the Upset and "The Curse of No. 2"

Year of the Upset

The 2007 season was highlighted by the remarkable frequency with which ranked teams fell to lower-ranked or unranked opponents, leading the media to dub the 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. Teams ranked in the top five of the AP Poll were defeated by unranked opponents 13 times during the regular season, setting a new record in the history of the AP Poll 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. The chaos began on the first weekend of the season when FCS program Appalachian State defeated No. 5 Michigan on the road at Michigan Stadium in what was immediately hailed as one of the greatest upsets in the history of college football. Appalachian State became just the second FCS team to defeat a ranked FBS opponent, and the first to do so against a top-five team.

"Curse of the No. 2"

The 2007 season became known for the "Curse of the No. 2", where the team ranked No. 2 by the AP Poll was defeated seven times in the final nine weeks of the regular season: The No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams had not lost in the same week of the season since 1996. In 2007 alone, No. 1 and No. 2 fell during the same weekend three times, including in both of the final two weeks of the regular season:

Conference standings

Conference champions

Conference championship games

All games were played on December 1, 2007. Rankings reflect the Week 14 AP Poll before the games were played.

Other conference champions

Rankings are from the Week 15 AP Poll.

  • Received conference's automatic BCS bowl bid

Bowl games

Winners are listed in boldface.

Bowl Championship Series

January bowl games

December bowl games

Postseason All-Star Games

Bowl Challenge Cup standings

† Winner of the Bowl Challenge Cup – § NCAA record for bowl victories in a conference in one bowl season.

Awards and honors

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Other major award winners

All-America selections

Selections were made by the Associated Press.

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

Notes and references

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