2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season , or the college football season , began on August 30 , 2007 , progressed through the regular season and bowl season , and ( aside from all - star exhibition games that followed ) concluded with the Bowl Championship Series ( BCS ) National Championship Game in New Orleans , Louisiana on January 7 , 2008 , where the top ranked Ohio State Buckeyes were defeated by the second ranked Louisiana State University Tigers , who became the BCS National Champions and undisputed national champions ( topping all the major year - end football polls ) . For the first time since 2003 , and only the second time in BCS history , no teams finished the season undefeated . Only one conference change in 2007 , Temple left the Independent ranks to become the 13th member of the MAC . Preseason rankings . Many publications release their predictions of the top teams prior to the beginning of the season . For 2007 , numerous publications chose the University of Southern California as the top ranked team . These included ; Real Football 365 , ESPN , Rivals . com College Football News . They were also ranked first in the Coaches Poll and AP Poll . The Coaches ' Poll plays an important part in the season because the final ballot represents one - third of the ranking to determine which two teams play in the BCS National Championship Game . Rounding out the top five in the Coaches Poll were : LSU , defending BCS National Champion Florida , Texas , and Michigan . Rules changes for 2007 . The clock rules adopted in the 2006 season were reversed , after coaches in all divisions disapproved of them . The attempt to reduce the time of games sought by those rules were successful , reducing the average college football page from 3 : 21 hours in 2005 to 3 : 07 hours in 2006 . 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 . Rules changes for the 2007 season include : Key matchups , upsets , and " The Curse of # 2 " . Year of the upset . The media has dubbed this season as the " Year of the Upset " . An unranked or lower - ranked opponent defeated a higher - ranked team 59 times over the course of the season . This list does not include other upsets involving two unranked teams . A record - setting 13 unranked teams defeated top 5 teams during the regular season . The No . 2 ranked team lost 7 times throughout the year , as of December 1 . Games in which the lower - ranked or unranked team was the betting favorite are in " italics " . A particularly telling statistic was pointed out by ESPN on November 10 . At that point of the season , nine teams ranked in the top five of the AP Poll had lost to unranked teams ( or in the case of Michigan , an FCS team ) . This had never happened in the history of the AP Poll , which was first conducted in 1936 , in a season when at least 20 teams were ranked . 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 . Arizona added to the total November 15 against Oregon , and Texas Tech made it 11 against Oklahoma two days later . The day after Thanksgiving saw unranked Arkansas beat LSU , bringing the total to 12 . On December 1 , Pitt defeated WVU 13 – 9 , making the total 13 . The " Curse of the # 2 " has been apparent this season . The first No . 2 team to lose was USC , 24 – 23 to Stanford . The next weekend , California lost to Oregon State , followed the next week by South Florida ' s loss to Rutgers . Boston College fell to Florida State , making the total four . Oregon then lost to Arizona , and Kansas lost to No . 4 Missouri . Maybe the most shocking loss of all was in the final week of the season , when West Virginia ' s loss to Pitt kicked them out of the national championship , bringing the total of victims to the curse to seven . Note : Since 1996 , there had not been a weekend when No . 1 and No . 2 lost on the same day . In 2007 alone , No . 1 and No . 2 fell three times during the season . The first time was when LSU fell to Kentucky in three overtimes , and Cal lost to Oregon State . Then , LSU stumbled again against Arkansas in three OTs , and Kansas followed with a loss to Missouri . In the final weekend of the season , not only did No . 2 West Virginia lose to Pitt , but , in the Big 12 Championship , Missouri fell to No . 9 Oklahoma , opening up the BCS Championship . Note : While not ranked at the time , Alabama lost to Louisiana - Monroe . Had this been almost any other unranked team , this would have been forgotten , but because it was a program with a proud tradition , like the Crimson Tide , this was the season ' s upset that was most closely compared to Michigan ' s home opener loss to Appalachian State . While Louisiana - Monroe is an FBS team , most experts felt that Appalachian State would have had little trouble defeating Louisiana - Monroe . This loss by Alabama , while between unranked teams , was often listed in the top three most surprising upsets of the year along with the Michigan loss to Appalachian State , and USC ' s loss to Stanford . Conference standings . Note : In the Mid - American Conference , only division games count toward the divisional championship . Conference championship games . " All games played on December 1 , 2007 . " Bowl games . Bowl Challenge Cup standings . † Winner of the Bowl Challenge Cup § NCAA record for bowl victories in a conference in one bowl season . Heisman Trophy voting . " The Heisman Trophy is given to the year ' s most outstanding player " All - America selections . The Associated Press All - America team : Offense Defense Milestones . The following teams and players set all - time NCAA Division I FBS ( formerly Division I - A ) records during the season :