alternatehistory.com
2007-8
2007 College Football Preview: Can Anyone Stop USC?
By: Emma Righther
In the last 3 seasons only Vince Young has stopped Pete Carroll's Trojans. Winners of 2 of the last 3 titles, the other year losing in the title game thanks to the previously mentioned Vince Young, the world of college football is bracing for more of the same this season.
USC is the near unanimous choice for preseason number 1, and for good reason. Senior quarterback John David Booty has forgone the draft to return for another run with an offense that has lost only a few players and has been reloaded with perhaps even greater talent in their place. The defense promises to be their best yet, with 10 returning starters from last year's team.
Indeed, USC's true might not be their 2007 opponents, but history. As Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said, “They may be the best team in the history of college football,” or as new Arizona St. coach Dennis Erickson put it, “They should be in the league I was really successful in, the National football league.”
There will be other good teams besides USC this season, but they all have serious flaws. Florida wonder freshmen Tim Tebow returns to now lead the Gators full time, but 9 defensive starters do not. Louisville has lost coach Petrino to the NFL. West Virginia should have a very potent offense, but they don't have the sheer athleticism on defensive to be a truly elite team, at least not on the level of an USC. Both Ohio St and LSU are losing star QBs, and Oklahoma has lost their QB as well, though Thompson wasn't a star. Texas and Virginia Tech are probably a year away from being legitimate threats.
I should probably just practice now. “Fight On!”
Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Oct. 20th, 2007
A week after their devastating 3 overtime lost at Kentucky, LSU (which had fallen from 1st to 5th in the coach's poll) returned home to 18th ranked Auburn. Auburn served notice they came to play by scoring a touchdown on the opening drive. Their offense struggled against LSU's defense for most of the rest of the game, but 2 LSU turnovers kept them close and quarterback Brandon Cox got hot late and lead Auburn on a touchdown drive to go back ahead 24-23 with only 3 minutes left in the game.
Quarterback Matt Flynn lead LSU down the field until the reached the Auburn 22 yard line with 39 seconds left and the clock running. With LSU facing a 3rd down and 9 neither coach decide to stop the clock and LSU didn't snap until 7 seconds were left. The prudent play would have been a quick pass to the sideline to give Colt Davis (3 for 3 on FGs on the day) a shorter kick for the win. But Flynn took a 3 step drop and homed on in wideout Demetrius Byrd who ran a corner pattern to the back of the end zone. Flynn launch a well aimed throw but Auburn corner Pat Lee recovered and stuck his hand in at the last second, the ball popping up as both players crashed to the ground. Byrd managed to come up with the ball from his back, making a highlight reel catch. But his was out of bounds and the clock had expired. LSU had lost.
Final Week Chaos
2007 was the Year of the Upset. Most remembered for Appalachian St winning at The Big House and USC losing to Stanford as a 42 point favorite, it did not disappoint in it's final regular season week. BCS ranked #1 Missouri lost the Big 12 Championship game to #8 Oklahoma, though it technically wasn't an upset since OU was favored. And shockingly #2 West Virginia lost to a Pittsburgh team that was just 4-7 entering the game.
#3 Ohio St, which had been idle, the Big 10 not having a title game, was a sure bet to move to #1 in at least the voting polls and thus was near certain to make the title game. Besides being the Big 10 champ, they were the only major conference team to finish the season with 1 loss, besides of course #5 Kansas, who had missed the Big 12 title game due to losing to Missouri and to whom the voters had never afforded the respect that most major conference schools with their record would get.
#4 Georgia had also been idle, due to missing the SEC title game on the head to head tiebreaker with Tennessee. #6 Virginia Tech had avenged an earlier loss to Boston College, winning the ACC championship. #7 USC had been idle (the PAC 10 also not having a title game), and of course #8 Oklahoma had won the Big 12 title game over #1 Missouri.
Most expected either Georgia to move up to #2 and play for the title despite not even playing for their conference title, or for OU to make the jump based on their win over Missouri, or even somehow for defending champion USC to get back to the title game and rematch with Ohio St. But the final BCS rankings shook the college football world and beyond.
View attachment 409476
Despite Oklahoma placing 2nd in both the Coaches poll and the Harris Interactive poll, the 2 voting polls used in the BCS formula, and USC and Georgia splitting 3rd and 4th in those polls, 2nd in the BCS standings, and the title game spot, went to Virginia Tech. Tech had placed 5th in both of the voting polls but 1st in the computer polls, and with the BCS rankings based on the percentage of points possible from a poll/group of polls, Virginia Tech had pulled the 2nd spot out over Oklahoma in such a close result that reporters were left looking up what to call numbers that were 3 spots after the period.
Outrage was strong and immediate. Oklahoma fans of course felt the most robbed. But Georgia and USC supporters both felt that they should have been ranked ahead of the other and that Oklahoma as well shouldn't have passed them in the last week. Additionally USC fans wondered how Missouri and Kansas were ahead of them. Ironically the BCS's decision to move from using percent of points possible instead of the mere rank due to previous controversies had really came back to haunt them.
The most hatred though was saved for the computer polls. This only intensified when Jeff Sagarin (the creator of one of the computer polls used in the BCS average) gave an interview in which he insisted that the computer polls weren't to blame. “Virginia Tech is only #1 in the version of my rankings the BCS uses, the one where they don't allow us to consider margin of victory. In my most accurate rankings, Virginia Tech is 5th.”
Another issue arouse over the fact that the formulas that determined the “computer” polls were secret. Noticing this, conspiracies theories abounded that someone could have paid off one of the computer poll creators to to rank Virginia Tech higher (or Oklahoma lower), as a difference of one spot in one of the polls could have altered the outcome. The most distasteful theory was that “someone” had rigged it to get Virginia Tech into the title game to bring more attention to the mass shooting that had occurred on their campus earlier in the year...
2007-8 College Football Major Bowls
National Champion: Ohio St.
Title Game: (1) Ohio St over (2) Virginia Tech: 17-13
Fiesta Bowl: (9) West Virginia over (3) Oklahoma: 48-28
Orange Bowl: (6) Kansas over (4) Georgia: 28-27
Rose Bowl: (7) USC over (13) Illinois: 49-17
Sugar Bowl: (12) Tennessee over (10) Hawaii: 27-14
Notes:
OTL Auburn's DB didn't quite get there in time and Byrd made a nice catch to win the game for LSU, who despite a loss to Arkansas later, managed to back into the title game, which they won. The BCS controversy at the end is my best guess at what the rankings would have been with LSU not pulling out the Auburn game. BCS controversy wasn't what I was/am going for but I walked right into a humdinger. (Has anyone guessed what I am going for)?
The Rose (due to them wanting a PAC/BIG matchup) and the Fiesta (luck) here are OTL matchups with those scores, though one could certainly argue they'd be different due to the different psychology in play. I gave Tennessee the win over Auburn in the alt SEC title game.
By: Emma Righther
In the last 3 seasons only Vince Young has stopped Pete Carroll's Trojans. Winners of 2 of the last 3 titles, the other year losing in the title game thanks to the previously mentioned Vince Young, the world of college football is bracing for more of the same this season.
USC is the near unanimous choice for preseason number 1, and for good reason. Senior quarterback John David Booty has forgone the draft to return for another run with an offense that has lost only a few players and has been reloaded with perhaps even greater talent in their place. The defense promises to be their best yet, with 10 returning starters from last year's team.
Indeed, USC's true might not be their 2007 opponents, but history. As Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said, “They may be the best team in the history of college football,” or as new Arizona St. coach Dennis Erickson put it, “They should be in the league I was really successful in, the National football league.”
There will be other good teams besides USC this season, but they all have serious flaws. Florida wonder freshmen Tim Tebow returns to now lead the Gators full time, but 9 defensive starters do not. Louisville has lost coach Petrino to the NFL. West Virginia should have a very potent offense, but they don't have the sheer athleticism on defensive to be a truly elite team, at least not on the level of an USC. Both Ohio St and LSU are losing star QBs, and Oklahoma has lost their QB as well, though Thompson wasn't a star. Texas and Virginia Tech are probably a year away from being legitimate threats.
I should probably just practice now. “Fight On!”
Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Oct. 20th, 2007
A week after their devastating 3 overtime lost at Kentucky, LSU (which had fallen from 1st to 5th in the coach's poll) returned home to 18th ranked Auburn. Auburn served notice they came to play by scoring a touchdown on the opening drive. Their offense struggled against LSU's defense for most of the rest of the game, but 2 LSU turnovers kept them close and quarterback Brandon Cox got hot late and lead Auburn on a touchdown drive to go back ahead 24-23 with only 3 minutes left in the game.
Quarterback Matt Flynn lead LSU down the field until the reached the Auburn 22 yard line with 39 seconds left and the clock running. With LSU facing a 3rd down and 9 neither coach decide to stop the clock and LSU didn't snap until 7 seconds were left. The prudent play would have been a quick pass to the sideline to give Colt Davis (3 for 3 on FGs on the day) a shorter kick for the win. But Flynn took a 3 step drop and homed on in wideout Demetrius Byrd who ran a corner pattern to the back of the end zone. Flynn launch a well aimed throw but Auburn corner Pat Lee recovered and stuck his hand in at the last second, the ball popping up as both players crashed to the ground. Byrd managed to come up with the ball from his back, making a highlight reel catch. But his was out of bounds and the clock had expired. LSU had lost.
Final Week Chaos
2007 was the Year of the Upset. Most remembered for Appalachian St winning at The Big House and USC losing to Stanford as a 42 point favorite, it did not disappoint in it's final regular season week. BCS ranked #1 Missouri lost the Big 12 Championship game to #8 Oklahoma, though it technically wasn't an upset since OU was favored. And shockingly #2 West Virginia lost to a Pittsburgh team that was just 4-7 entering the game.
#3 Ohio St, which had been idle, the Big 10 not having a title game, was a sure bet to move to #1 in at least the voting polls and thus was near certain to make the title game. Besides being the Big 10 champ, they were the only major conference team to finish the season with 1 loss, besides of course #5 Kansas, who had missed the Big 12 title game due to losing to Missouri and to whom the voters had never afforded the respect that most major conference schools with their record would get.
#4 Georgia had also been idle, due to missing the SEC title game on the head to head tiebreaker with Tennessee. #6 Virginia Tech had avenged an earlier loss to Boston College, winning the ACC championship. #7 USC had been idle (the PAC 10 also not having a title game), and of course #8 Oklahoma had won the Big 12 title game over #1 Missouri.
Most expected either Georgia to move up to #2 and play for the title despite not even playing for their conference title, or for OU to make the jump based on their win over Missouri, or even somehow for defending champion USC to get back to the title game and rematch with Ohio St. But the final BCS rankings shook the college football world and beyond.
View attachment 409476
Despite Oklahoma placing 2nd in both the Coaches poll and the Harris Interactive poll, the 2 voting polls used in the BCS formula, and USC and Georgia splitting 3rd and 4th in those polls, 2nd in the BCS standings, and the title game spot, went to Virginia Tech. Tech had placed 5th in both of the voting polls but 1st in the computer polls, and with the BCS rankings based on the percentage of points possible from a poll/group of polls, Virginia Tech had pulled the 2nd spot out over Oklahoma in such a close result that reporters were left looking up what to call numbers that were 3 spots after the period.
Outrage was strong and immediate. Oklahoma fans of course felt the most robbed. But Georgia and USC supporters both felt that they should have been ranked ahead of the other and that Oklahoma as well shouldn't have passed them in the last week. Additionally USC fans wondered how Missouri and Kansas were ahead of them. Ironically the BCS's decision to move from using percent of points possible instead of the mere rank due to previous controversies had really came back to haunt them.
The most hatred though was saved for the computer polls. This only intensified when Jeff Sagarin (the creator of one of the computer polls used in the BCS average) gave an interview in which he insisted that the computer polls weren't to blame. “Virginia Tech is only #1 in the version of my rankings the BCS uses, the one where they don't allow us to consider margin of victory. In my most accurate rankings, Virginia Tech is 5th.”
Another issue arouse over the fact that the formulas that determined the “computer” polls were secret. Noticing this, conspiracies theories abounded that someone could have paid off one of the computer poll creators to to rank Virginia Tech higher (or Oklahoma lower), as a difference of one spot in one of the polls could have altered the outcome. The most distasteful theory was that “someone” had rigged it to get Virginia Tech into the title game to bring more attention to the mass shooting that had occurred on their campus earlier in the year...
2007-8 College Football Major Bowls
National Champion: Ohio St.
Title Game: (1) Ohio St over (2) Virginia Tech: 17-13
Fiesta Bowl: (9) West Virginia over (3) Oklahoma: 48-28
Orange Bowl: (6) Kansas over (4) Georgia: 28-27
Rose Bowl: (7) USC over (13) Illinois: 49-17
Sugar Bowl: (12) Tennessee over (10) Hawaii: 27-14
Notes:
OTL Auburn's DB didn't quite get there in time and Byrd made a nice catch to win the game for LSU, who despite a loss to Arkansas later, managed to back into the title game, which they won. The BCS controversy at the end is my best guess at what the rankings would have been with LSU not pulling out the Auburn game. BCS controversy wasn't what I was/am going for but I walked right into a humdinger. (Has anyone guessed what I am going for)?
The Rose (due to them wanting a PAC/BIG matchup) and the Fiesta (luck) here are OTL matchups with those scores, though one could certainly argue they'd be different due to the different psychology in play. I gave Tennessee the win over Auburn in the alt SEC title game.
- Jasen777
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