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).

Quick Facts Number of teams, Duration ...
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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:

  • 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.[1] 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.[1]

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.[1]
  • Paring the 25-second play clock to 15 seconds after TV timeouts.[1]
  • Team time-outs for televised games are shortened from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.[1]
  • 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.[1]
  • Once the umpire gives the ball to the kicker, the 25 second play clock starts.[1]
  • Kickoffs out of bounds are now penalized 35 yards from the spot of the kick or a re-kick with a five-yard penalty.[1]
  • Defenders cannot use any part of a teammate to jump over an opponent to block a kick.[1]

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.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

More information School, 2006 Conference ...
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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".[11] 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.[12] 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:[13]

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:

  • No. 1 LSU lost to Kentucky 43–37 in three overtimes, and No. 2 California lost to Oregon State 31–28 on October 13.
  • No. 1 LSU lost to Arkansas 50–48 in three overtimes on November 23, and No. 2 Kansas lost to No. 4 Missouri 36–28 on November 24.
  • No. 1 Missouri lost to No. 9 Oklahoma 38–17 in the Big 12 Championship Game, and No. 2 West Virginia lost to Pittsburgh 13–9 on December 1.

Conference standings

More information Conf, Overall ...
2007 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Atlantic Division
No. 10 Boston College x  6 2   11 3  
No. 21 Clemson  5 3   9 4  
Wake Forest  5 3   9 4  
Florida State  4 4   7 6  
Maryland  3 5   6 7  
NC State  3 5   5 7  
Coastal Division
No. 9 Virginia Tech x$  7 1   11 3  
Virginia  6 2   9 4  
Georgia Tech  4 4   7 6  
North Carolina  3 5   4 8  
Miami (FL)  2 6   5 7  
Duke  0 8   1 11  
Championship: Virginia Tech 30, Boston College 16
  • $ BCS representative as conference champion
  • % BCS at-large representative
  • x Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Big 12 Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
North Division
No. 4 Missouri xy  7 1   12 2  
No. 7 Kansas x%  7 1   12 1  
Colorado  4 4   6 7  
Kansas State  3 5   5 7  
Nebraska  2 6   5 7  
Iowa State  2 6   3 9  
South Division
No. 8 Oklahoma xy$  6 2   11 3  
No. 10 Texas  5 3   10 3  
No. 22 Texas Tech  4 4   9 4  
Oklahoma State  4 4   7 6  
Texas A&M  4 4   7 6  
Baylor  0 8   3 9  
Championship: Oklahoma 38, Missouri 17
  • $ BCS representative as conference champion
  • % BCS at-large representative
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Big East Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 6 West Virginia $+  5 2   11 2  
Connecticut +  5 2   9 4  
No. 17 Cincinnati  4 3   10 3  
South Florida  4 3   9 4  
Rutgers  3 4   8 5  
Louisville  3 4   6 6  
Pittsburgh  3 4   5 7  
Syracuse  1 6   2 10  
  • $ BCS representative as conference champion
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Big Ten Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 5 Ohio State $  7 1   11 2  
No. 18 Michigan  6 2   9 4  
No. 20 Illinois %  6 2   9 4  
No. 24 Wisconsin  5 3   9 4  
Penn State  4 4   9 4  
Iowa  4 4   6 6  
Purdue  3 5   8 5  
Indiana  3 5   7 6  
Michigan State  3 5   7 6  
Northwestern  3 5   6 6  
Minnesota  0 8   1 11  
  • $ BCS representative as conference champion
  • % BCS at-large representative
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Conference USA football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
East Division
UCF x$  7 1   10 4  
East Carolina  6 2   8 5  
Memphis  6 2   7 6  
Southern Miss  5 3   7 6  
Marshall  3 5   3 9  
UAB  1 7   2 10  
West Division
Tulsa xy  6 2   10 4  
Houston x  6 2   8 5  
Tulane  3 5   4 8  
Rice  3 5   3 9  
UTEP  2 6   4 8  
SMU  0 8   1 11  
Championship: UCF 44, Tulsa 25
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Mid-American Conference football standings
Div  ConfOverall
Team W L    W L  W L 
East Division
Miami (OH) xy  4 2   5 2   6 7  
Bowling Green x  4 2   6 2   8 5  
Buffalo x  4 2   5 3   5 7  
Ohio  3 3   4 4   6 6  
Temple  3 3   4 4   4 8  
Akron  2 4   3 5   4 8  
Kent State  1 5   1 7   3 9  
West Division
Central Michigan xy$  4 1   6 1   8 6  
Ball State x  4 1   5 2   7 6  
Eastern Michigan  3 2   3 4   4 8  
Western Michigan  2 3   3 4   5 7  
Toledo  2 3   3 5   5 7  
Northern Illinois  0 5   1 6   2 10  
Championship: Central Michigan 35, Miami 10
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • Due to an unbalanced conference schedule, the team with best division record within each division was awarded that division's championship game berth.
2007 Mountain West Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 14 BYU $  8 0   11 2  
Air Force  6 2   9 4  
New Mexico  5 3   9 4  
Utah  5 3   9 4  
TCU  4 4   8 5  
San Diego State  3 5   4 8  
Wyoming  2 6   5 7  
Colorado State  2 6   3 9  
UNLV  1 7   2 10  
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 3 USC +  7 2   11 2  
No. 16 Arizona State +  7 2   10 3  
No. 25 Oregon State  6 3   9 4  
No. 23 Oregon  5 4   9 4  
UCLA  5 4   6 7  
Arizona  4 5   5 7  
California  3 6   7 6  
Washington State  3 6   5 7  
Stanford  3 6   4 8  
Washington  2 7   4 9  
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Southeastern Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Eastern Division
No. 12 Tennessee xy  6 2   10 4  
No. 2 Georgia x%  6 2   11 2  
No. 13 Florida  5 3   9 4  
South Carolina  3 5   6 6  
Kentucky  3 5   8 5  
Vanderbilt  2 6   5 7  
Western Division
No. 1 LSU x$#  6 2   12 2  
No. 15 Auburn  5 3   9 4  
Arkansas  4 4   8 5  
Mississippi State  4 4   8 5  
Alabama  4 4   7 6  
Ole Miss  0 8   3 9  
Championship: LSU 21, Tennessee 14
  • # BCS National Champion
  • $ BCS representative as conference champion
  • % BCS at-large representative
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
  • Alabama had 5 victories vacated by the NCAA in 2010. As such, the official record for Alabama is 2–6 (1–4).
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 Sun Belt Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Florida Atlantic +  6 1   8 5  
Troy +  6 1   8 4  
Middle Tennessee  4 3   5 7  
Louisiana–Monroe  4 3   6 6  
Arkansas State  3 4   5 7  
Louisiana–Lafayette  3 4   3 9  
FIU  1 6   1 11  
North Texas  1 6   2 10  
  • + Conference co-champions
2007 Western Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 19 Hawaii $  8 0   12 1  
Boise State  7 1   10 3  
Fresno State  6 2   9 4  
Nevada  4 4   6 7  
Louisiana Tech  4 4   5 7  
San Jose State  4 4   5 7  
Utah State  2 6   2 10  
New Mexico State  1 7   4 9  
Idaho  0 8   1 11  
  • $ Conference champion and BCS representative as top non-AQ school to meet automatic qualification criteria
Rankings from AP Poll
2007 NCAA Division I FBS independents football records
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Navy     8 5  
Western Kentucky     7 5  
Army     3 9  
Notre Dame     3 9  
Rankings from AP Poll

[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

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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

More information Bowl Game, Date ...
Bowl GameDatePlaying as VisitorPlaying as HomeScore
BCS Title Game (New Orleans, Louisiana)January 7, 2008No. 2 LSUNo. 1 Ohio State38–24
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California)January 1, 2008No. 13 IllinoisNo. 6 USC49–17
Sugar Bowl (New Orleans)January 1, 2008No. 10 HawaiʻiNo. 4 Georgia41–10
Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Arizona)January 2, 2008No. 11 West VirginiaNo. 3 Oklahoma48–28
Orange Bowl (Miami Gardens, Florida)January 3, 2008No. 8 KansasNo. 5 Virginia Tech24–21
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January bowl games

More information Bowl Game, Date ...
Bowl GameDatePlaying as VisitorPlaying as HomeScore
Outback Bowl (Tampa, Florida)January 1, 2008No. 18 WisconsinNo. 16 Tennessee21–17
Cotton Bowl (Dallas, Texas)January 1, 2008No. 7 MissouriNo. 25 Arkansas38–7
Capital One Bowl (Orlando, Florida)January 1, 2008MichiganNo. 9 Florida41–35
Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Florida)January 1, 2008Texas TechNo. 21 Virginia31–28
International Bowl (Toronto, ON, Canada)January 5, 2008RutgersBall State52–30
GMAC Bowl (Mobile, Alabama)January 6, 2008Bowling GreenTulsa63–7
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December bowl games

More information Bowl Game, Date ...
Bowl GameDatePlaying as VisitorPlaying as HomeScore
Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego)December 20, 2007UtahNavy35–32[23]
New Orleans Bowl (New Orleans)December 21, 2007MemphisFlorida Atlantic44–27
PapaJohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama)December 22, 2007Southern MissNo. 20 Cincinnati31–21
New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, New Mexico)December 22, 2007NevadaNew Mexico23–0
Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas)December 22, 2007UCLANo. 19 BYU17–16
Hawaiʻi Bowl (Honolulu)December 23, 2007No. 24 Boise StateEast Carolina41–38
Motor City Bowl (Detroit)December 26, 2007Purdue Central Michigan51–48
Holiday Bowl (San Diego)December 27, 2007No. 12 Arizona StateNo. 17 Texas52–34
Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando, Florida)December 28, 2007No. 14 Boston CollegeMichigan State24–21
Texas Bowl (Houston)December 28, 2007TCUHouston20–13
Emerald Bowl (San Francisco)December 28, 2007MarylandOregon State21–14
Meineke Car Care Bowl (Charlotte, North Carolina)December 29, 2007ConnecticutWake Forest24–10
Liberty Bowl (Memphis, Tennessee)December 29, 2007UCFMississippi State10–3
Alamo Bowl (San Antonio)December 29, 2007Penn StateTexas A&M24–17
Independence Bowl (Shreveport, Louisiana)December 30, 2007AlabamaColorado30–24
Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas)December 31, 2007CaliforniaAir Force42–36
Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas)December 31, 2007No. 23 South FloridaOregon56–21
Humanitarian Bowl (Boise, Idaho)December 31, 2007Georgia TechFresno State40–28
Music City Bowl (Nashville, Tennessee)December 31, 2007KentuckyFlorida State35–28
Insight Bowl (Tempe, Arizona)December 31, 2007IndianaOklahoma State49–33
Chick-fil-A Bowl (Atlanta)December 31, 2007No. 15 ClemsonNo. 22 Auburn23–20 (OT)
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Postseason All-Star Games

Bowl Challenge Cup standings

More information Conference, Wins ...
Bowl Challenge Cup
ConferenceWinsLossesPercent
Mountain West41.800
Southeastern§72.777
Pacific-1042.667
Big 1253.625
Big East32.600
Big Ten35.375
Conference USA24.333
Atlantic Coast26.250
Western Athletic13.250
Mid-American03.000
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† Winner of the Bowl Challenge Cup – § NCAA record for bowl victories in a conference in one bowl season.

Notes
  • The Sun Belt Conference, represented by Florida Atlantic University, was not eligible for the Bowl Challenge Cup as they only had one bowl berth. Conferences must have a minimum of three bids to be a part of the challenge.

Awards and honors

Heisman Trophy voting

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

More information Player, School ...
PlayerSchoolPosition1st2nd3rdTotal
Tim TebowFloridaQB4622291131,957
Darren McFaddenArkansasRB2913551201,703
Colt BrennanHawaiiQB54114242632
Chase DanielMissouriQB2584182425
Dennis DixonOregonQB173165178
Pat WhiteWest VirginiaQB162846150
Matt RyanBoston CollegeQB972263
Kevin SmithUCFRB3112455
Glenn DorseyLSUDT36930
Chris LongVirginiaDE121017
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Other major award winners

All-America selections

Selections were made by the Associated Press.[33]

Offense

Defense

Milestones

The following teams and players set all-time NCAA Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) records during the season:

More information Record, Player/Team ...
Record Player/Team Date/Opponent Previous Record Holder[34] Source
Most consecutive pass attempts without an interception, career André Woodson, Kentucky, 325[35] September 22, vs. Arkansas Trent Dilfer, Fresno State, 271 (1993) [36]
Most career extra points Art Carmody, Louisville, 253 September 29, vs. NC State Shaun Suisham, Bowling Green, 226 (2001–2004) [37]
Most consecutive pass attempts with only one interception, career André Woodson, Kentucky, 343[38] October 4, vs. South Carolina Woodson, 333 (2006–2007)[39] [40]
Most combined rushing yards by teammates in a single game Felix Jones and Darren McFadden, Arkansas (487 yards) November 3, vs. South Carolina Tony Sands and Chip Hilleary, Kansas (476 yards) (1991-11-23) [41][42]
Most points scored, both teams (regulation) North Texas and Navy, 136 November 10 San Jose State vs. Rice, 133 points (2004-10-02) [43]
Most points scored in one quarter, both teams North Texas and Navy, 63 November 10 San Jose State vs. Hawaiʻi, 61 points (1999-11-06) [43]
Most wins by two points or fewer in a season by a team Virginia, 5 November 3 vs. Wake Forest Columbia, 4 (1971) [44]
Most all-purpose yards by a freshman Jeremy Maclin, Missouri, 2,713 November 17, vs. Kansas State Terrell Willis, Rutgers, 2,026 (1993) [45]
Most touchdown passes in a career Colt Brennan, Hawaiʻi, 131 November 23 vs. Boise State Ty Detmer, BYU, 121 (1988–1991) [46]
Most touchdowns responsible for in a career Colt Brennan, Hawaiʻi, 146 November 23 vs. Boise State Ty Detmer, BYU, 136 (1988–1991) [46]
Most touchdown passes in a season by a freshman quarterback Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, 34 November 24, vs. Oklahoma State David Neill and Colt McCoy, 29 [47]
Most career points scored by a kicker Art Carmody, Louisville, 433 November 29, vs. Rutgers Roman Anderson, Houston, 423 (1988–1991) [48]
Most rushing attempts in a season Kevin Smith, UCF, 415 December 1, vs. Tulsa Marcus Allen, USC, 403 (1981) [49]
Most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season Tim Tebow, Florida, 23 January 1, vs. Michigan Chase Harridge, Air Force, 22 (2002) [50]
Most consecutive games with 300 or more yards passing by a quarterback Paul Smith, Tulsa, 14 January 6 vs. Bowling Green Ty Detmer, BYU, 13 (1990–1991) [51]
Greatest margin of victory in a bowl game Tulsa, 56 points (63–7) January 6 vs. Bowling Green Alabama, 55 points (61–6) vs. Syracuse, 1953 Orange Bowl (1953-01-01) [51]
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Coaching changes

Pre-season

More information Team, Former coach ...
TeamFormer coachNew coach
IndianaTerry Hoeppner[52]Bill Lynch
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Post-season

Notes and references

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