 Random Thoughts on 2007 Season And so the curtain is drawn on the 2007 season with the LSU Tigers having bested Ohio State by two touchdowns to claim the BCS Championship. A two-loss team (both losses in triple-overtime, by the way) stakes its claim as the nation’s #1 team which is a fittingly strange end to what may have been college football’s most extraordinary season. What started with I-AA Appalachian State beating Michigan ended with unranked Pitt destroying West Virginia’s chances to make the BCS Championship game with an unlikely 13-9 win in Morgantown. Passing Efficiency Defense (PED): Every single team which finished ranked higher than 9th in PED this season at least received votes in the BCS rankings and no fewer than five of those teams finished in the top-10 in the BCS rankings, including both #1 LSU (3rd PED) and #5 Ohio State (4th PED). #3 USC (6th PED), #7 Kansas (#9 PED) and #9 Virginia Tech (5th PED). National Champion LSU finished the season having held opponents to a 47% completion-rate and intercepted no fewer than 23 passes. However, they also gave up 19 TD’s and 12 yards per catch. Clearly, the Bayou Bengals were an aggressive unit which produced big plays. Most of those big plays finished in LSU’s favor but it was not uncommon for their aggressiveness to result in big plays for their opponents. LSU’s BCS Championship Game opponents, Ohio State, finished just one spot behind the Tigers but they got there in a very different way. The Buckeyes allowed more completions than LSU (53% to 47%) and claimed fewer than half of the interceptions (11 to 23) but they also held their opponents to a mere 9 yards per completion and gave up the paltry sum of only 13 TD’s. So what team finished the year atop this statistical category? Utah. Right… the Utes! They held their opponents to a 50.5% completion rate and an amazing 9 TD’s-allowed. Arkansas was a surprising 2nd-place finisher in the PED statistic. In their case, the remarkable component was their opponent’s completion-rate – 45.36%! 2007’s Top Rushers: Nine of the nation’s top-ten rushers will not be back for 2008. Only sophomore Eugene Jarvis (someone who only Kent State fans knew was in the subject top-ten in the first place) will be back for 2008 to see if he can best the 1,511 yards and 14 TD’s he posted this season (126 ypg). Three seniors finished in the top-ten (Tulane’s Matt Forte [#2]; Michigan’s Michael Hart [#6] and Toledo’s Jalen Parmele [#9]). No fewer than six juniors posted top-ten rushing yardage and made the decision to take their game to the NFL for 2008. So, besides Jarvis, who else can we expect to see in the top-ten for 2008? Of course, it is reasonable to expect Ohio State’s Chris (“Beanie”) Wells to challenge for the position of rushing leader next season after his 1,609-yard effort in 2007. Southern Miss sophomore Damian Fletcher posted his second-consecutive 1,000 yard season (1,586 yds). Fans should also keep their eyes out for the Big East’s 2nd- leading rusher, Pitt’s LeSean McCoy, whose debut season produced 1,328 yards and 14 TD’s. Wisconsin’s P.J. Hill recorded 1,212 yards and 14 scores this year even though a foot ailment forced him out of two games and limited him to five carries against Michigan. A rising-junior, Hill, like Fletcher, already has two-consecutive 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. Finally, justice would be served if the only junior in this year’s top-20 to return for his senior season, Michigan State’s Javon Ringer, were able to post a season that bested his 2007 numbers (1,447 yds; 6 TD’s).
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