Looking back at the chaos of the 2007 college football season
By Zach Bigalke
Week 10: November 1-3, 2007
Thursday night action featured No. 11 Virginia Tech on the road at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had started the year ranked after knocking off Notre Dame on the road and taking down FCS Samford to open the season. Georgia Tech had no answer for Sean Glennon, who passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns. The Hokies secondary also had GT’s number, picking off five of their 29 pass attempts. Frank Beamer’s crew ran away with an easy 27-3 victory.
Once the first Saturday of November rolled around, several ranked teams battled one another. The feature matchup of the day took place in Eugene, where No. 5 Oregon dealt No. 4 Arizona State its first loss of the year. Dennis Dixon threw four touchdown passes, Jonathan Stewart rushed for 99 yards and a score, and the Ducks took over the Pac-10 lead with a 35-23 win over the Sun Devils.
Top-ranked Ohio State had little trouble with No. 21 Wisconsin in Columbus. Chris Wells ran for 169 yards and two touchdowns to pace Ohio State to victory. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes defense held Wisconsin’s rushing attack to just 12 total yards on the ground. Three fumbles proved costly for the Badgers as they fell by three touchdowns, 38-17, on the road.
LSU, back up to No. 3 in the nation, faced its former head coach for the first time when No. 17 Alabama hosted the Tigers in Tuscaloosa. Matt Flynn threw for 353 yards and three touchdowns, but he also tossed three interceptions that kept the game closer than anticipated. But the Crimson Tide rushed for just 20 yards, and LSU pulled off a fourth-quarter rally to stay atop the SEC West with a 41-34 victory.
In Charlottesville, No. 23 Virginia improved to 8-2 on the season after Mikell Simpson ran in the winning touchdown with 2:18 remaining against No. 24 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons held Jameel Sewell under 50 percent passing and forced an interception, but Virginia came back in the fourth quarter to stay in the polls.
Things didn’t work out as well for No. 18 South Florida, which dropped its third straight game after rising to No. 2 in the BCS standings. Down in Tampa, the Bulls spotted Cincinnati a 31-7 lead in the first quarter. Though they chipped away at the deficit, four Matt Grothe interceptions doomed the Bulls to defeat. The loss pushed USF out of the rankings for a fortnight.
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The Big Upset of the Week
For the fourth time in five weeks, the No. 2 team in the nation suffered an upset. This time the surprise came in the ACC, where Boston College had sat in a BCS title game position for a second straight week. That was as long as the Eagles would last in the position, though, as they fell 27-17 to Florida State on Saturday.
Matt Ryan threw for 415 yards and two touchdowns. But Ryan also completed less than half of his passing attempts and threw three interceptions to the Seminoles. Ryan also led all Boston College rushers with 30 yards on the ground. The dearth of balance, combined with four total turnovers, proved costly to the Eagles.
Even then, the teams went scoreless in the first quarter before FSU went into the locker room at halftime with a 7-0 lead. Boston College pulled within a field goal late in the third quarter, but Bobby Bowden’s team quickly restored its lead. In the final two minutes, Ryan got the ball back with the chance to drive the Eagles toward a winning touchdown. Then Geno Hayes stepped in front of one of Ryan’s passes, returning the pick 38 yards for an insurance touchdown, and the Seminoles prevailed 27-17 on the road.
The Seminoles became bowl eligible with the win, but remained outside the Top 25. Boston College, on the other hand, fell six spots in the BCS standings after losing its first game of the season. After returning to the polls in 2008, Boston College has yet to return to the Top 25 in the past eight years.