2007 has become a memorable year in the college football world. Or at least this college football-mad country of ours. As was the case with the Oregon Ducks and the performance of their amazing QB Dennis Dixon last month in Ann Arbor (see photo, taken by yours truly), it seems like almost every state has had--or will soon have--an indelible moment from this past year:
Alabama: The Nick Saban era begins. It's not earth-shattering news that Saban could well bring a national championship to title-starved Tuscaloosa. A sentiment shared by the 93,000-plus fans that jammed into Legion Field last April to watch perhaps the most memorable spring game ever played.
Arizona: Unbeaten Arizona State University reached the top 5 before dropping a hard-fought battle to the PAC 10’s other top-5 team, Oregon, on November 3. However, if the Ducks find their way to New Orleans, coach Dennis Erickson’s Sun Devils could find their way to Pasadena for the first time since the days of Jake the Snake Plummer.
Arkansas: Arkansas’ fans have been chanting “Run DMC!” ever since phenom Darren McFadden came onto campus. He is currently a front-runner to win the state’s first Heisman Trophy, and recently turned in a performance for the ages, tying an SEC record with 321 rushing yards in a 48-36 win over South Carolina.
California: Okay. Stanford University traveled to USC on October 6, 2007, as a 41-point underdog. The top-ranked Trojans had won their last 35 games at home. Stanford’s first-year coach, Jim Harbaugh, decided earlier in the week to give Tavita Pritchard, a sophomore quarterback who had thrown a total of three passes, his first career start because he had a “bounce in his step” and a “gleam in his eye”. USC gained 459 yards to Stanford’s 235. Yet the Cardinal scored 17 fourth-quarter points, capped by an 11-play, 45-yard drive in the final three minutes that saw Pritchard convert two fourth-down miracles: first, a fourth-and-20 strike off an ad-libbed pass play when he couldn’t hear Harbaugh’s signals from the sideline; and second, a fourth-and-goal prayer pulled down by a leaping Mark Bradford in the corner of the end zone with :49 left for the win. If anyone knows of an upset as improbable as this in the last half-century of college football, please let me know.
Colorado: The Buffaloes’ 27-24 upset of #3 Oklahoma in Boulder on September 29 put Colorado football right back on the map. A place it hasn’t been since CU won its only national championship in 1990.
Connecticut: This whole New England state has gone football crazy. In Storrs, #16 UConn is 8-2, one win from the third nine-win season in the Huskies’ 111-year football history. And down in New Haven, 9-0 Yale is, well, far ahead of the rest of the Ivy League, its defense surrendering an average of less than seven points a game.
Florida: The first week of January 2007 saw the biggest win in Florida Gators football history as they pounded the heavily favored #1 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl for the BCS Championship. This game gets the nod over the Gators 52-20 win over arch-rival Florida State a decade earlier simply because the school’s basketball team was the defending national champion as well.
Georgia: Georgia Tech rolled into South Bend and pounded Notre Dame like no one ever has in their home opener, 33-3. Who knew everyone else in creation would pound on Notre Dame this season? No matter. It was still a cool way to start the 2007 season. On November 10 in Athens, #10 Georgia made history as they broke out black jerseys for the first time in a half century and rode the mo to a 45-20 rout of the #18 Auburn Tigers.
Hawaii: The Rainbows... er, Warriors. Not only is the University of Hawaii the first school to change its name into something politically incorrect, they’re in the midst of an historic 2007 season. Hawaii finds themselves one of the few remaining unbeaten schools (as of November 10, Kansas is the only other D-1 team without a loss), and firmly entrenched in the BCS top 25. Three more wins and UH will follow last year’s WAC champ Boise State (see below) with a BCS at-large berth. Coincidentally, they host BSU on November 23.
Idaho: New Year’s Day, 2007. Boise State comes from behind in miraculous fashion, beating a strong Oklahoma team on national TV in their BCS bowl to finish a perfect 13-0 season. The running back who scores the game-winning TD (on a trick-play in overtime) drops to his knees literally seconds afterward and proposes (successfully) to his cheerleader girlfriend. Cut to end credits.
Illinois: The University of Illinois upset ranked teams Penn State and (then #5) Wisconsin in consecutive weeks. But these treats were mere cheese appetizers to the main course, a November 10 shocker over top-ranked Ohio State in the Horseshoe, 28-21. I’m guessing the fireronzook.com domain no longer exists.
Indiana: Purdue rolled over Notre Dame in West Lafayette, always a fond and lasting image. Both the Boilermakers and the Indiana Hoosiers are bowl eligible for the first time in recent memory, and Notre Dame—in the midst of its worst season ever—seems to make history every week they play.
Iowa: Yes, Iowa upset #16-ranked Illinois. Yes, it was the Hawkeyes' biggest win this year. Yes, it helped the Hawkeyes become bowl eligible. But no, it's nowhere near as memorable as Gateway Conference power Northern Iowa's rise to the top of the D-1AA polls. The 10-0 Panthers’ latest bit of history: a 68-13 detonation of Indiana State, the third highest GFC point-total ever. UNI rushed for over 400 yards, with three backs hitting the century mark.
Kansas: The Jayhawks are ranked #3 in the BCS standings with a 10-0 record, the only remaining unbeaten team from a BCS conference. This is Kansas’s longest winning streak since the ’07-08 season—1907-08 that is—and their first 10-0 start since the McKinley Administration. 18-freaking-99. Even with all that history being rewritten, scoring 76 on the long-time bullies from Nebraska would be enough by itself.
Kentucky: The University of Kentucky has not enjoyed this much football success since the days of coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. They cracked the top 10 in September, then recorded what may be the most significant upset of this college season when QB Andre Woodson found Steve Johnson in the end zone in the third overtime, leading the Wildcats to a shocking upset of #1 LSU 43-37 on October 13. Fans flooded Commenwealth Field to celebrate the biggest win in stadium history.
Louisiana: LSU reached #1, then came from behind to beat Florida and retain the top ranking. Losing in triple overtime to Kentucky was but a mere stumble as the Bayou Tigers slowly climbed their way back, ultimately regaining the BCS #1 ranking after Ohio State’s upset loss to Illinois. They now control their destiny, and lest we forget, this year’s BCS Championship Game is in nearby New Orleans. Last time the Sugar Bowl hosted the BCS title game, in 2004 the Tigers beat Oklahoma for its last national championship.
Maryland: The streets in Annapolis were filled all night after Navy finally discovered the venom for the mother of all snakebites, beating Notre Dame in double-overtime for its first win over the Irish in 45 years. Navy’s last victory over the Domers was led by a QB named Staubach. The Midshippmen followed this historic win by making more history, beating North Texas State 74-62 in the highest-scoring regulation game in NCAA history.
Massachusetts: Boston College was unbeaten and ranked in the BCS top 5 until being upset November 3 by Florida State. Nonetheless, 2007 should be the school’s best season since Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie ran the Eagles’ offense back in the high-top-and-fades early ‘80s.
Michigan: The fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines opened their season by welcoming its first NCAA Division 1-AA opponent, Appalacian State University. What followed may be the most historic upset in the history of college football, as the Mountaineers pulled off a 34-32 shocker before 110,000 stunned fans in Ann Arbor. In terms of positive memories, perennial power Grand Valley State is 9-0 and once again ranked #1 in the D2 polls.
Missouri: The University of Missouri is currently 9-1 and ranked #6 in the BCS standings. Not since Dan Devine’s 1960 Tigers (11-0, #4 UPI) has the school seen a better campaign, and the best may be yet to come. A victory against undefeated Kansas in Arrowhead Stadium on November 24, followed by a win over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game in San Antonio, Texas, would very well land the Tigers in New Orleans, playing for its first-ever college football national championship.
Mississippi: On October 27, Mississippi State stunned #14 Kentucky. On November 10, Sylvester Croom’s Bulldogs upset coach Nick Saban and his #21 Alabama Crimson Tide, 17-12, becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2000. Good luck finding a ticket when they host Mississippi November 23.
Montana: it'll be hard to better Montana State’s 19-10 stunner over the Colorado Buffaloes last season--at the time the biggest upset of a D1 school--but on November 17, the unranked 6-4 Bobcats host 10-0 and #3 ranked Montana, looking to avenge last year's 13-7 loss. Whatever the result, it will be a win for the ages for one of these Montana colleges.
Nebraska: Talk about your roller coaster seasons. It feels like years ago, but just this past September 15 we had #14 Nebraska hosting #1 USC, with ESPN College GameDay on hand for what seemed to be the biggest game of the young 2007 season. Eight weeks after being routed 49-31 by the Trojans, the Cornhuskers end up making amusement park history as the only school ever to give up 70 points one week and put up 70 the next. Memorable indeed.
Nevada: Nevada hosts unbeaten and #12-ranked Hawaii in a nationally-televised battle November 16. A Wolfpack win would be talked about for years to come. But even if they lose, 2007 will still be memorable—for a loss. In this case, Nevada’s historic, four-overtime loss to Boise State, 69-67, on October 13. Each school eclipsed 600 yards of total offense, and the 136 combined points they scored set an NCAA record for the highest-scoring overtime game in history.
New York: Were it not for the feat of tiny Appalacian State, Syracuse’s inexplicable September 22 upset at #18 Louisville may well have been this season’s biggest shocker. No one, NO ONE imagined this one coming.
North Carolina: See State, Appalacian.
North Dakota: If top-ranked and 10-0 North Dakota State stumbles on its way to the NCAA Division 1-AA national championship, the 8-1 North Dakota Fighting Sioux, #7 in the D2 polls, are ready to make history, the kind usually reserved for the school’s perennially strong hockey program.
Oregon: So has the University of Oregon done anything memorable in 2007? Hmm. They rolled into Ann Arbor and handed Michigan its worst home loss in 40 years, 39-7. Their offense executed flawlessly and could have scored 70 if they wanted. As good as this win was, it couldn’t touch the Ducks’ dramatic 24-17 triumph over those big, bad USC Trojans on October 27 in Autzen Stadium. Followed by a 35-23 pasting of #6 Arizona State the following week—Oregon’s second win over a top-10 team in as many weeks. The Ducks are currently 8-1 and #2 in the BCS standings—meaning, theoretically, they win out and they play for the national title—while in nine weeks, quarterback Dennis Dixon has gone from anonymity to the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City, home to the Heisman Trophy presentation.
Ohio: Ohio State started the year getting ready to play Florida in the BCS Championship Game, then spent much of the 2007 season atop the rankings. Although they were upset on November 10 by Illinois, they only dropped to #7. A win over Michigan, coupled with two higher-ranked teams knocking themselves out in head-to-head contests, and who knows. Six teams are ranked higher than the Bucks. They need five of them to lose. Two already will. So three of the remaining four teams have to lose, and all of them play rivalry and/or conference championship games. Don’t count the scarlet and gray out just yet—especially this year.
Oklahoma: Even after being upset by the Buffaloes in Boulder, the Oklahoma Sooners may well win their way to the BCS Championship Game in New Orleans. Bob Stoops has OU sitting at #4 in the BCS poll, just behind Kansas and just ahead of Missouri. They’ll meet one of these teams in San Antonio for the Big 12 Championship, and the strength of that victory could well propel the Sooners to a top-2 ranking, with its first national title since ‘99 in the cross-hairs.
South Carolina: Coach Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks handed #8 Kentucky its first loss October 4 on national TV. And they host their #15-ranked in-state rivals from Clemson on November 24. But the school with the program-making win is Wofford. The Terriers caught the attention of the football world—okay, they became the answer to a trivia question at least—by upsetting the upset king, Appalacian State, 42-31 on September 22.
Tennessee: The Volunteers have played an entire season under the radar, and despite cries for the firing of coach Phil Fulmer, they find themselves 7-3, #20 in the BCS and in control of their own destiny. Two more wins and the Vols are playing for its first SEC Championship since 1998.
Texas: Forget the Horns, Aggies or Red Raiders. West Texas A&M is 11-0 and ranked #4 in the D2 standings, winning the Lone Star Conference for the third straight season. Although their D2 Championship bracket is formidable, with fellow unbeatens Grand Valley State (MI) and Nebraska-Omaha, few schools have put together a three-year run as impressive as the Buffaloes. The school most famous for such alums as Duane Thomas and “Mercury” Morris hopes to end 2007 with its first D2 national championship.
Virginia: Unfortunately, 2007 will be a year Virginians will never forget, after a senseless on-campus massacre on April 16 claimed the lives of 32 Virginia Tech University students. Still coping with the tragedy themselves, the school’s football team shouldered the burden of helping a grieving community try to move on. The Hokies banded together, winning eight of ten games and giving the university something to celebrate. Courage in the wake of immeasurable loss is a lasting memory in itself.
West Virginia: Two years ago West Virginia finished 11-1 but didn’t come close to the BCS title game. Last season they were 9-2 and weren’t even mentioned among the nation’s top schools. Today the Mountaineers are 9-1 and #6 in the BCS. Should WVU win its three remaining games, they may find themselves headed to New Orleans. Of the five teams ranked above them, three are from the same conference (Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas) and must play each other; another (LSU) must survive a conference championship game; and the last (Oregon) has two tough road tests before facing its arch-rival. Stranger things have happened in seasons more normal than this one.
Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Badgers rose to the #5 national ranking after beating Michigan State on September 29 and extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 14. But the reason fans will never forget 2007 is because of the 37-21 pounding UW handed Michigan, their biggest home win ever over the Champions of the West and the school’s most lopsided defeat of the Wolverines in 45 years.
As to the other 14 states out there (yes, I'm counting you Alaska... keep up with Hawaii why don't ya?), all I have to say is this. If not this year, WHEN?
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