Looking back at the chaos of the 2007 college football season

A decade ago, one upset after another sent college football down a spiral into chaos. Let’s look back at the absurd twists and turns of the 2007 season.

Back in 2007, one high-ranked team after another suffered defeat at the hands of unranked or lower-ranked opponents.Pedigree meant little when it came to action on the field. There were upsets by FCS schools, by mid-majors, and by the minnows of bigger leagues. Right off the bat, fans were witness to one major surprise after another.

It was a season that seemed to turn conventional wisdom on its head. Only one team finished the regular season undefeated, and that team played in one of the mid-major conferences. But there was no reprisal of the 1984 season in which BYU won the national title. It was, instead, the season that turned Les Miles into a national champion head coach.

As the season wore on, no team seemed to actually want the responsibility of holding one of the top two spots in the BCS rankings. Number two was an especially perilous position to hold, as seven different teams lost over the course of the year while holding that spot in the rankings. By the end of the year, it was anybody’s guess as to who would actually play for the BCS championship.

The “Year of the Upset” is now a decade in the rearview mirror, but its impact continues to reverberate throughout college football. As the new year kicks off, let’s look back at how the 2007 college football season unfolded.