2007 NCAA Division I FBS season
LSU'squarterbackMatt Flynn lifting theAFCA National Championship Trophy after theBCS title game
Number of teams	120
Duration	August 30 – December 1
Preseason AP No. 1	USC
Postseason
Duration	December 20, 2007 – January 7, 2008
Bowl games	32
Heisman Trophy	Tim Tebow (quarterback,Florida)
Bowl Championship Series
2008 BCS Championship Game
Site	Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Champion(s)	LSU
NCAA Division I FBS football seasons
← 2006 2008 →

The2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level ofcollege football competition in the United States organized by theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The regular season began on August 30, 2007, and ended on December 1, 2007. The postseason concluded on January 7, 2008, with theBCS National Championship Game inNew Orleans, where the No. 2-rankedLouisiana State Tigers defeated the No. 1Ohio State Buckeyes to win their 2nd BCS and 3rd overall national title.

For just the second time in theBowl Championship Series era, no FBS team finished the season undefeated. Kansas was the only team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference to finish the entire season with just one loss.

After coaches expressed their disapproval of the timing changes made in the2006 season, the following changes were made:

• On kickoffs, the clock will not start until the ball is touched in the field of play.
• On change of possession, the clock will not start until the snap.

The attempt to reduce the time of games sought by those rules was successful, reducing the average college football page from 3:21 hours in 2005 to 3:07 hours in 2006.^[1] However, the reduced game time also reduced the average number of plays in a game by 13, 66 fewer offensive yards per game and average points per game by 5.^[1]

Other rules changes for the 2007 season include:

• Moving the kick-off yard-line from 35 to 30, which matches the yard-line used in theNational Football League from1994 to2010, to reduce the number of touchbacks.^[1]
• Paring the 25-second play clock to 15 seconds after TV timeouts.^[1]
• Team time-outs for televised games are shortened from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.^[1]
• Allowing penalties against the kicking team on kickoffs to be assessed at the end of the runback, avoiding a re-kick, also matching the NFL rule.^[1]
• Once the umpire gives the ball to the kicker, the 25 second play clock starts.^[1]
• Kickoffs out of bounds are now penalized 35 yards from the spot of the kick or a re-kick with a five-yard penalty.^[1]
• Defenders cannot use any part of a teammate to jump over an opponent to block a kick.^[1]

The only change in conference membership for the 2007 season occurred whenTemple left its Independent status to become the 13th member of theMid-American Conference.

One team upgraded fromDivision I FCS, increasing the number of Division I FBS schools to 120.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Rankings reflect theAP Poll. Rankings for Week 7 and beyond will listBCS Rankings first andAP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.

• Week 2
  • No. 2LSU defeated No. 9Virginia Tech, 48–7 (Tiger Stadium,Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
• Week 6
  • No. 1 LSU defeated No. 9Florida, 28–24 (Tiger Stadium,Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
• Week 9
  • No. 2/2Boston College defeated No. 8/8 Virginia Tech, 14–10 (Lane Stadium,Blacksburg, Virginia)
  • No. 5/5Oregon defeated No. 12/9 USC, 24–17 (Autzen Stadium,Eugene, Oregon)
• Week 10
  • No. 5/4 Oregon defeated No. 4/6Arizona State, 35–23 (Autzen Stadium,Eugene, Oregon)
• Week 13
  • No. 4/3Missouri defeated No. 2/2Kansas, 36–28 (Arrowhead Stadium,Kansas City, Missouri)
• Week 14
  • No. 9/9Oklahoma defeated No. 1/1 Missouri, 38–17 (2007 Big 12 Championship Game,Alamodome,San Antonio, Texas)

The 2007 season was highlighted by the remarkable frequency with which ranked teams fell to lower-ranked or unranked opponents, leading the media to dub the season as the "Year of the Upset".^[11] An unranked or lower-ranked opponent defeated a higher-ranked team 59 times over the course of the regular season. Teams ranked in the top five of theAP Poll were defeated by unranked opponents 13 times during the regular season, setting a new record in the history of the AP Poll when at least 20 teams were ranked.^[12] The only other season to see more such upsets was 1967, which was one of seven seasons when the AP Poll ranked only 10 teams.

The chaos began on the first weekend of the season whenFCS program Appalachian State defeated No. 5 Michigan on the road atMichigan Stadium in what was immediately hailed as one of the greatest upsets in the history of college football. Appalachian State became just the second FCS team to defeat a ranked FBS opponent, and the first to do so against a top-five team.

The 2007 season became known for the "Curse of the No. 2", where the team ranked No. 2 by the AP Poll was defeated seven times in the final nine weeks of the regular season:^[13]

• Stanford defeated No. 2USC,24–23, on October 6 atLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This result was particularly notable for the fact that USC was favored to win the game by 41 points, having carried winning streaks of 35 games at home and 24 games in Pac-10 play into the matchup. Both streaks ended with this loss.
• Oregon State defeated No. 2California, 31–28, on October 13 atCalifornia Memorial Stadium.
• Rutgers defeated No. 2South Florida, 30–27, on October 18 atRutgers Stadium.
• Florida State defeated No. 2Boston College, 27–17, on November 3 atAlumni Stadium.
• Arizona defeated No. 2Oregon, 34–24, on November 15 atArizona Stadium.
• No. 4Missouri defeated No. 2Kansas, 36–28, on November 24 atArrowhead Stadium in aBorder War rivalry game. This was the only such upset where the winning team was also ranked.
• Pittsburgh defeated No. 2West Virginia,13–9, on December 1 atMountaineer Field in aBackyard Brawl rivalry game. West Virginia was knocked out of contention for the BCS National Championship on the final weekend of the regular season.

The No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams had not lost in the same week of the season since 1996. In 2007 alone, No. 1 and No. 2 fell during the same weekend three times, including in both of the final two weeks of the regular season:

• No. 1LSU lost toKentucky 43–37 in three overtimes, and No. 2California lost toOregon State 31–28 on October 13.
• No. 1LSU lost toArkansas 50–48 in three overtimes on November 23, and No. 2Kansas lost to No. 4Missouri 36–28 on November 24.
• No. 1Missouri lost to No. 9Oklahoma 38–17 in theBig 12 Championship Game, and No. 2West Virginia lost toPittsburgh 13–9 on December 1.

Italics denotes FCS teams.

All games were played on December 1, 2007. Rankings reflect the Week 14 AP Poll before the games were played.

Rankings are from the Week 15 AP Poll.

* Received conference's automatic BCS bowl bid

Winners are listed inboldface.

• Cornerstone Bancard Hula Bowl – January 12, Aloha Stadium, ʻHalawa, Hawaiʻi – ʻAina (East) 38, Kai (West) 7.
• East–West Shrine Game – January 19,Robertson Stadium, Houston, Texas – West 31, East 17.
• Under Armour Senior Bowl – January 26, Ladd–Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama – South 17, North 16.
• Western Refining Texas vs. The Nation Game – February 2, UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, Texas – Texas 41, The Nation 14

† Winner of the Bowl Challenge Cup–§ NCAA record for bowl victories in a conference in one bowl season.

Notes

• TheSun Belt Conference, represented by Florida Atlantic University, was not eligible for the Bowl Challenge Cup as they only had one bowl berth. Conferences must have a minimum of three bids to be a part of the challenge.

TheHeisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Selections were made by theAssociated Press.^[25]

The following teams and players set all-time NCAA Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) records during the season:

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(October 2008)

Source:^[84]

• Media related to2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season at Wikimedia Commons

• 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from June 2016
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with dead external links from September 2024
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from June 2017
• All articles with bare URLs for citations
• Articles with bare URLs for citations from December 2025
• Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2012
• Use American English from December 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Incomplete lists from October 2008
• Commons category link from Wikidata