Looking back at the chaos of the 2007 college football season
By Zach Bigalke
Week 5: September 27-29, 2007
The chaos really began to emerge right before the end of September. As teams neared the halfway point of the season, the first big reshuffling of the polls took place a fortnight before the release of the season’s first BCS standings. In Week 5, five of the top 10 teams in the AP Top 25 lost. Beyond that, seven total Top 25 teams fell to unranked opponents.
Friday night’s Big East opener between No. 5 West Virginia and No. 18 South Florida started off the chaos that ensued before the calendar flipped into October. Mountaineers quarterback Pat White was injured right before halftime, and WVU’s ground game couldn’t get going to full speed. West Virginia lost six turnovers, while South Florida lost the ball four times. Matt Grothe did just enough for the Bulls to stay unbeaten in the 21-13 win. USF climbed a dozen spots in the polls, while the Mountaineers fell from No. 5 to No. 12.
Only one other game in Week 5 featured a battle between two ranked teams. Autzen Stadium played host to the Saturday showdown between No. 6 California and No. 11 Oregon. Both teams were unbeaten heading into the game. The Ducks turned the ball over four times at home, but the Ducks still had a chance to send the game to overtime. Cameron Colvin, reaching for the endzone, fumbled the ball for a touchback in the final minute. The Golden Bears escaped with a 31-24 win.
Two weeks after falling out of the polls, Georgia Tech took down a Clemson team that had climbed to No. 13 in the nation. Illinois likewise dealt No. 21 Penn State its second straight loss, while No. 22 Alabama lost a non-conference battle against Florida State at home. The Nittany Lions and Crimson Tide both fell out of the polls, while Clemson dropped nine spots to No. 22.
In any other week, these games would have been featured highlight material as the biggest upsets of the week. Back in Week 5 of the 2007 season, though, they were secondary storylines compared to what transpired higher up the polls.
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The Big Upsets of the Week
September 29, 2007, is memorable not for one upset but rather the confluence of multiple major upsets. Four teams in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 fell against unranked schools on the same day. Three of the four upset victims were playing at home, furthering the surprise factor.
The one defeat suffered on the road by a top-10 school came when No. 3 Oklahoma crumbled 27-24 at 2-2 Colorado after a fourth-quarter Buffaloes surge. The Sooners were held under 300 yards of offense by the Buffaloes, as quarterback Sam Bradford was held to 112 yards on 8-of-19 passing. His counterpart, Cody Hawkins, completed 22 of 36 attempts for 220 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Sooners defense collapsed in the final quarter, giving up 17 unanswered points, including the game-winning field goal as time expired.
1700 miles away in Gainesville, Auburn dealt No. 4 Florida an upset in SEC play. By the end of the first half, the Gators were already down 14-0 at home. Led by Tim Tebow, they came back to tie the game up in the fourth quarter. But Gators left Auburn too much time, and the Tigers capitalized by setting up Wes Byrum to kick a 43-yard field goal as time expired to secure a 20-17 upset.
Two years removed from winning the BCS national championship at the Rose Bowl, No. 7 Texas had been treated warily by pollsters. Over the opening month of the season, the Longhorns had fallen three spots from their preseason ranking in both polls. That skepticism made sense after unranked Kansas State intercepted four Colt McCoy passes. The Wildcats capitalized on those mistakes and ran away with a 41-21 upset in Austin.
And then there was Maryland, which dealt No. 10 Rutgers its first loss of the season. Playing on the road, the Terrapins leaned on the rushing of Keon Lattimore and Lance Ball to take down the Scarlet Knights. Though Mike Teel threw for over 300 yards in defeat, it wasn’t enough to prevent Maryland from nabbing a 34-24 victory in Piscataway.
Florida dropped only five spots after their defeat. Oklahoma tumbled seven spots. Texas fell 12 positions after falling to Kansas State. And Rutgers fell 11 places down the list. Added up, it led to a major reshuffle of the college football deck.