Year of the Upset and "The Curse of No. 2"
Year of the Upset 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". 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 the
AP 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. 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 when
FCS program Appalachian State defeated No. 5 Michigan on the road at
Michigan 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.
"Curse of the No. 2" 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: •
Stanford defeated No. 2
USC,
24–23, on October 6 at
Los 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. 2
California, 31–28, on October 13 at
California Memorial Stadium. •
Rutgers defeated No. 2
South Florida, 30–27, on October 18 at
Rutgers Stadium. •
Florida State defeated No. 2
Boston College, 27–17, on November 3 at
Alumni Stadium. •
Arizona defeated No. 2
Oregon, 34–24, on November 15 at
Arizona Stadium. • No. 4
Missouri defeated No. 2
Kansas, 36–28, on November 24 at
Arrowhead Stadium in a
Border War rivalry game. This was the only such upset where the winning team was also ranked. •
Pittsburgh defeated No. 2
West Virginia,
13–9, on December 1 at
Mountaineer Field in a
Backyard 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. 1
LSU lost to
Kentucky 43–37 in three overtimes, and No. 2
California lost to
Oregon State 31–28 on October 13. • No. 1
LSU lost to
Arkansas 50–48 in three overtimes on November 23, and No. 2
Kansas lost to No. 4
Missouri 36–28 on November 24. • No. 1
Missouri lost to No. 9
Oklahoma 38–17 in the
Big 12 Championship Game, and No. 2
West Virginia lost to
Pittsburgh 13–9 on December 1. == Conference standings ==