December 20, 2007
Top 10 Upsets Of 2007 College Football Season
By Robbie GilliesMired in all the complaining about the BCS and the desperate pleas for a playoff system is the fact that this college football season was one of the best of all time. From Appalachian State stunning Michigan at the Big House to Pittsburgh winning the Backyard Brawl to knock West Virginia out of the National Championship, it seemed like every week another team vying for the National Championship was shocked by the most unlikely candidates.
With the beginning of the Bowl season officially starting today, here are the top 10 upsets of the college football season:
#1 - (9/1) Appalachian Sate wins @ #5 Michigan - 34-32
Many have called this the biggest upset in college football history and one of the biggest sports upsets of all-time. No Division I-AA school had ever beaten a ranked team. But this wasn't just any ranked team. This was fifth ranked Michigan. This was the winningest college football program of all time. A team many thought would compete for a National Championship, including the Wolverine players. Left tackle Jake Long, opted to come back for his senior year when he was a sure lottery pick in the NFL Draft. Long's decision influenced Mike Hart and Mario Manningham to come back as well. The Big House was rocking, with over 109,000 fans in attendance; a place where the Wolverines had a record of 30-3 dating back to 2002. Appalachian State took the lead with just :26 seconds left on a Julian Rauch 24-yard field goal. But Michigan would still have a chance. Senior quarterback Chad Henne, hit Mario Manningham for a 46 yard reception that got the ball down to the 20 yard line with just six seconds left. All Michigan had to do was hit a 37-yard field goal to escape from one of the greatest upsets of all time. Instead, what happened was the most memorable moment in college football this season. Appalachian State's Corey Linch flew in and blocked the field goal attempt in the final seconds. It was Michigan's linebacker Shawn Crable, who was the left outside blocker and inexplicably picked up the outside man and allowed Linch a clear path to the ball and most likely the greatest moment of his life.
#2 - (10/6) Stanford wins @ #2 USC - 24-23
At the PAC-10 football media day, first year head coach Jim Harbaugh, said USC, "May be the best team in the history of college football." They certainly had been one of the best teams of the past decade, especially at home. Going into the game against Stanford, USC had won 35 consecutive games in the Coliseum. At that same PAC-10 media day, Stanford was chosen to finish dead last in the conference. USC was living up to their end, outscoring their first four opponents by an average of 20.5 points per game. And Stanford looked to be headed to the cellar of the conference having been outscored in PAC-10 play 141-51. Given all this information,and that this was QB Tavita Pritchard's first start, USC being favored by 41 points seemed to make sense. This is why you play the games. With 49 seconds left, Pritchard hit Mark Bradford on fourth and goal in the corner of the endzone for the game-winning touchdown and left 85,125 Trojan fans stunned.
#3 - (12/1) Pitt wins @ #2 West Virginia - 13-9
There were some articles that mentioned how crazy the BCS would get if both Missouri and West Virginia lost on the final weekend of the regular season, but did anyone really take those seriously? Sure, Missouri losing to Oklahoma wasn't a shock, but West Virginia losing to Pitt? West Virginia was favored by four touchdowns, but Pat White went out in the 2nd quarter with a dislocated thumb and the Mountaineers couldn't mount any offense. West Virginia had averaged 42 points per game and Pitt held them to just 9 points. And two of those points were from Pitt intentionally taking a safety.
#4 - (9/29) #3 Oklahoma loses @ Colorado - 27-24
Oklahoma came into this game 4-0 with an average score of 61-12. They had been nearly as dominant against Colorado in recent years. In their previous 5 games, the Sooners outscored the Buffaloes 156-44 and in the past 2 games, Colorado had gained just 156 total yards. The most amazing part of this upset is Oklahoma led 24-7 late into the 3rd quarter before Colorado scored 20 unanswered points. The game-changing play came with about 5 minutes left in the fourth when Oklahoma's Dusty Sprague muffed a fair catch that was recovered by Colorado's Justin Drescher at Oklahoma's 16 yard line. Colorado tied the game four plays later. The Buffaloes then forced a 3 and out, got within field goal range and Kevin Eberhart kicked a career-long 45-yard field goal as time expired.
#5 - (11/10) Illinois wins @ #1 Ohio State - 28-21
There had been questions about whether Ohio State was really that good or if the Big Ten was just really weak. But two blowouts over top 25 teams (beat #25 PSU 37-17 and #21 Wisconsin 38-17) in the previous two weeks along with seemingly everyone else in the top 10 losing, propelled Ohio State to number one in the polls. Ohio State had won a record 20 straight Big Ten contests and were riding a 28-game regular season winning streak. Ohio State came into the game allowing just 65 yards rushing, but Illinois was able to run all over the Buckeyes. Illinois ran for 260 yards and handed Ohio State their first loss of the season. At the time, it looked as if this loss would cost Ohio State a chance at a National Championship, but luckily for the Buckeyes the upsets kept coming.
#6 - (11/3) Florida State wins @ #2 Boston College - 27-17
Boston College was coming off of a signature win against Virginia Tech in which Matt Ryan threw two touchdown passes in the final 2:15 to to win the game 14-10. The Eagles were just the next team to be thinking National Championship only to have their dreams crushed. Matt Ryan threw for over 400 yards, but threw three costly interceptions. His final interception was picked off by linebacker Geno Hayes and returned 38 yards for a touchdown with just over one minute left in the game to seal the victory. That play cost BC a chance at an undefeated season and probably cost Matt Ryan any shot at the Heisman.
#7 - (11/3) Navy wins @ Notre Dame - 46-44 in Triple OT
If you were to look at this matchup on paper without mention of the teams, this would hardly seem like an upset. Notre Dame came into this game at 1-7 and had averaged just 10 points per game. Navy was 4-4 and was averaging 35 points per game. But these two teams have a bit of history. Notre Dame had a 43-game winning streak over Navy; the longest winning streak in college football history. It took a 3rd overtime and two stops on a two-point conversion attempt by Notre Dame to overcome the streak, but the Midshipmen pulled it out and classes were cancelled the following Monday to celebrate. You know it's a big game when NAVY cancels class to celebrate.
#8 - (11/23) Arkansas wins @ #1 LSU 50-48 in Triple OT
Tigers lose their second game of the season, and again they lose in triple overtime, and again their National Championship hopes are seemingly destroyed. It was one thing for LSU to lose on the road, but they hadn't lost at home in 19 straight games. LSU's defense was giving up just 87 rushing yards per game and had allowed just 8 touchdowns on the ground, but those numbers would skyrocket after this contest. The Razorbacks racked up 385 rushing yards and 5 rushing touchdowns. Fittingly, Arkansas ran in the 2-point conversion in triple overtime that would be the difference in the game. But, as shocking as it was for the number one team to lose so late in the season, it's even more shocking that they are still going to be playing for the National Championship. But they DID go undefeated in regulation.
#9 - (10/20) Vanderbilt wins @ #6 South Carolina - 17-6
Looking back on this game, it's not as big of an upset as it was at the time. Vanderbilt came into this game at 3-3 and South Carolina was 6-1, with their one loss being to LSU. This was Vanderbilt's first win against a Steve Spurrier team and they had not beaten an opponent ranked this high in over 70 years. Following the game, Spurrier said, "This should not be a shock to our team." Maybe he knew that South Carolina wasn't nearly as good as their ranking. The Gamecocks proceeded to lose their next four games and finish with a 6-6 record.
#10 - (11/15) Oregon loses @ Arizona - 24-34
Dennis Dixon and the Ducks were rolling for the first nine minutes of this game, but then with 6:01 left in the first, Dixon re-injured his left knee. Turns out Dixon had actually torn his ACL a couple weeks before against Arizona State and re-aggravated it against Arizona. Can you really say re-aggravated when it comes to a torn ACL? Prior to the injury the Ducks were averaging 9.8 yards per play, afterwards they averaged just 3.6 yards per play. Brady Leaf, who had just 14 pass attempts coming into the game went 22 for 36 for just 136 yards and threw two interceptions. Without Dixon, the Ducks not only fell apart in this game, but lost their remaining two regular season games as well.
