Looking back at the chaos of the 2007 college football season

Week 7: October 10-13, 2007

By the second week of October, the trend of unranked teams taking down ranked programs was well established. That trend continued in the Thursday-night showcase, as Wake Forest took down No. 21 Florida State at home. Down 14-7 at halftime, the Demon Deacons tied the game up in the third quarter and then scored the winning points on a 48-yard Sam Swank field goal in the final two minutes of the game.

Once Saturday rolled around, a slew of upsets struck from coast to coast. In the Big Ten, Illinois climbed to No. 18 after rendering several upsets of their own. Once they reached the polls, though, the tables turned. Iowa, entering the game under .500 at 2-4, knocked off the Illini 10-6 in a defensive spectacle. Earlier in the day, No. 19 Wisconsin was blown out in Happy Valley by Penn State to join Illinois on the way out of the polls.

After starting the season 6-0, No. 15 Cincinnati welcomed Louisville to Nippert Stadium hoping to keep pace in the Big East. Instead, Brian Brohm threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns as the Cardinals took down the Bearcats 28-24. The Louisville defense also forced four turnovers as Cincinnati suffered its first defeat of the season.

In the only battle of the week featuring two ranked teams, No. 6 Oklahoma engineered a fourth-quarter comeback to knock off No. 11 Missouri in Norman. Tigers quarterback Chase Daniel threw for 361 yards, but four turnovers doomed Mizzou in their bid to remain undefeated. It was a prelude to the Big 12 championship game two months later, though the league would go through more twists and turns along the way.

The Big Upsets of the Week

The biggest upsets in Week 7, though, For the first time since 1996, both of the top two teams in the polls lost on the same weekend of the regular season. Back then, No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Tennessee were both toppled on the same September Saturday. During that season, Florida State and Arizona State also lost their respective bowl games while ranked in the top two.

The first frontrunner tumbled in Lexington as No. 1 LSU fell in three overtimes against No. 17 Kentucky. Rich Brooks’ team came back from a 27-21 deficit in the fourth quarter to force extra time. In the overtime period, the teams traded touchdowns and then field goals through the first two tries. Then Andre’ Woodson hit Steve Johnson for a touchdown in the third OT period, and the WIldcats defense held LSU scoreless to preserve the win.

With that win, Kentucky improved to 6-1 in the standings. It was thus far less of a shock to see the Wildcats pull off the victory than the upset on the other side of the country. Mike Riley’s Oregon State team sported a 3-3 record as they traveled to Berkeley on the second weekend on October. Cal had climbed into the top two of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1951 after starting 5-0. But three turnovers proved costly for Cal, and Yvenson Bernard ran for 110 yards and two scores to seal the 31-28 shocker. Jeff Tedford’s team actually got into position to force overtime, but backup quarterback Kevin Riley bungled the final play.

Coming right before the release of the first weekly BCS standings for the 2007 season, the loss proved far more costly for the Golden Bears than it was for LSU. The Tigers were ranked fourth in the first BCS standings of the year, while Cal dropped all the way to No. 12 in the initial release. Two new undefeated teams took over the top spots, with Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State rising to No. 1 and Big East upstart South Florida right behind them.