A wacky season, by the numbers
Posted: Monday, December 31, 2007 6:57 PM
When the first day of 2007 closed with Boise State’s thrilling 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl who would have known that it was just the beginning? The wackiest and most unpredictable year in college football history was born and it wasn’t about to let up.
Realizing the difficulty associated with wrapping up these last 365 days, we’ll utilize the stabilizing force of numbers.
0 -- Fumbles lost by Michigan running back Mike Hart for the third consecutive year. Going into the Capital One Bowl, he’s played in 42 games for the Wolverines, had 1,049 total touches, gained 5,470 yards, scored 41 touchdowns and lost one fumble (and that was as a freshman in 2004).
1 -- USC’s national ranking in every preseason poll known to man.
2 -- Games that Notre Dame has won in a row. By the way, that’s better than both of the teams that will play for the national championship on Jan. 7.
3 -- Times LSU will be No. 1 this season after the Tigers beat Ohio State.
4.83 -- Quarterback sacks allowed per game by Notre Dame. Poor Jimmy Clausen. Tennessee, where brothers Casey and Rick once played, allowed less sacks than that all season (four).
5 -- SEC teams playing in January. Les Miles has got to love the fact that the Pac-10 has just one.
7 -- Difference in the number of victories Illinois had last season compared to this year’s 9-3 Rose Bowl team.
11 -- Minutes it took referee Penn Wagers and crew to sort out the “Chris Jessie incident” at the Holiday Bowl. He turned his mic on four times, setting an all-time football record for one play.
13-9 -- Score of Pitt’s stunning victory over West Virginia on the last day of the regular season, which shaped the national championship game. Ironically, UCLA upset USC by the same score last year to determine the 2006 title game.
15 -- Laterals by Trinity to beat Millsaps and push the Stanford Band to second string.
18.3 -- Points that Dennis Dixon-less Oregon averaged in its last three regular-season games. The Ducks punished defenses at a 42.7-point clip in the season’s first nine games, with Dixon spreading it out.
19 -- Games Temple head coach Al Golden lost in the last two seasons to earn a pair of interviews for the UCLA gig.
20-20 -- Benchmark established by Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, who became the first player in college football history to run for 20 or more touchdowns and pass for 20 or more touchdowns in the same season.
21 -- Paid subscribers Dennis Franchione had for his “VIP Connection” newsletter, which carried a $12,000 price tag and eventually resulted in Mike Sherman getting his $1,800,000 dream job at Texas A&M.
26 -- Days it took UCLA to hire Rick Neuheisel, even though it basically had a full year to figure out who would replace the doomed Karl Dorrell.
36 -- Players missing from the Florida State roster at the Music City Bowl.
40 -- Age of Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, who by the way is a man.
40.5 -- Points USC was favored by before losing to Stanford.
41-14 -- Score of two mismatched 2007 BCS games -- LSU crushed Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, before Florida whacked Ohio State in the championship game.
48 -- Minutes that Cal was the de facto No. 1 team in the nation on Oct. 13. The Bears crumbled under the weight of it all, faltering down the stretch in a loss to Oregon State, which was followed by five more regular-season losses and a seventh-place Pac-10 finish.
64 -- Bowl bids available, giving 6-6 teams their shot to go 6-7.
125 -- Receptions by Texas Tech freshman wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who won the Biletnikoff Award and was a unanimous first-team All-America selection.
162 -- Tackles made by Colorado linebacker Jordon Dizon. That’s 12.5 per game!
2,567 -- Yards rushing by UCF’s Kevin Smith, 61 short of Barry Sanders’ all-time single-season record.
7,000 -- Tickets returned to the Fiesta Bowl by West Virginia. Maybe the Mountaineers should try and make Rich Rodriguez pick up the bill for those as well.
21,667 -- Dollars the University of Louisiana at Monroe paid Charlie Weatherbie per victory (six). It would have been 26,000 had he not beaten Nick Saban.
60,000 -- Dollars Hawaii head coach June Jones has in his recruiting budget. Jones’ staff rarely ever makes trips to the mainland, but they do go to Samoa.
500,429 -- Dollars the University of Alabama paid Nick Saban per victory (seven). It would have been 437,875 if he had beaten Charlie Weatherbie.
Happy New Year!
