Here we are, knocking on the door of the 2017 football season. We are less than two weeks away from actual, live-action college football being broadcast right to my television screen.
Here's another fact that might blow your mind: This time a decade ago, we were knocking on the door of the wildest season of the BCS era.
I have a few friends who didn't really get into college football until, well, college, so for the unitiated, here are 10 honest-to-goodness facts from that 2007 season that seem utterly implausible today.
Let's jump to, perhaps, the craziest of them all.
1) Kansas, Missouri and West Virginia all nearly played for a national title.
All of these teams ascended as high as No. 2 (or in the Tigers' case, No. 1) in the BCS standings.
Yes, boys and girls, the Kansas Jayhawks were considered the second best team in the country.
Here's how it broke down, all the span of two weeks.
On Nov. 24 (the final week of most conferences' regular season), the No. 2 Jayhawks (11-0) squared off against No. 3 Mizzou (10-1). The winner would lay claim to the Big 12 North title, and get a shot at No. 9 Oklahoma for the conference championship.
The Tigers got the better of Mark Mangino's squad 36-28, ascending to No. 1 in the country. Kansas fell to No. 8 in the ensuing polls.
That very same night, No. 4 West Virginia was blasting Connecticut out of the stadium 66-21. The Mountaineers would climb to No. 2.
That leads us to the fateful night of Dec. 1.
A win for either team would all but ensure them a spot in the BCS Championship game. Yes, friends, it could have been Missouri against West Virginia actually playing for the legitimate national championship in real life, on a football field.
But, the craziness wasn't over just yet.
All in one night, the Tigers got run off the field by Oklahoma 38-17. (In case you didn't know, this was the second time the Sooners knocked them off that year.) And 4-7 Pittsburgh pulled the monumental upset in Morgantown, taking down the Mountaineers 13-9.
A few political moves later (sorry to bring it up Georgia fans) and we had a ho-hum Ohio State-LSU championship game.
2) South Carolina started off 6-1, lost five in a row and didn't go to a bowl game.
The Gamecocks ascended to No. 6 in the country following a 6-1 start that included wins over No. 11 Georgia, No. 8 Kentucky (add that to the list, too) and North Carolina.
Then they lost to Vandy.
And Tennessee.
And Arkansas.
And Florida.
And Clemson.
Oh, and the loss to the Tigers ended in a brawl, with both sides opting to ban themselves from post season play.
South Carolina went from dream season, to 6-6, to "I'll be home for Christmas."
3) South Florida and Boston College both ascended to No. 2 in the BCS polls.
The Bulls (6-0) were riding a list of upsets (including an overtime win at Auburn) to rise up to No. 2 in the polls when the first round of BCS standings debuted in October.
It would become a cursed position. South Florida lost, paving the way for the likes of Boston College, LSU, Oregon, Kansas and West Virginia to climb up to the No. 2 spot, only to lose in the process.
So, a quick note about BC. The Matt Ryan-led Eagles started 8-0 before a pair of unranked losses to Florida State and Maryland derailed their dream season.
But yeah, South Florida and Boston College were legitimately in the national championship hunt. Like for real.
4) The playoff would've been even crazier.
Going by the metrics used the past three seasons to determine the four "most deserving" playoff contenders, here's the best estimation as to which ones the playoff committee likely would have chosen.
I'm sure this season would've been a nightmare for them, but, hey, it was fun.
1) Ohio State
2) Virginia Tech
3) LSU
4) Southern Cal
Yes, Bulldog fans, I don't think Georgia would have made the cut, solely because they didn't win the SEC. The committee loves conference championships, which the Dawgs didn't have. For that reason, I think they'd choose the Trojans for the final spot over the red-hot, Stafford/Knowshon/Massaquoi Georgia team.
5) Only one team finished the regular season undefeated.
And that team was Hawaii.
The Warriors were the only team to finish 12-0, but their absolutely atrocious schedule precluded them from ever making a serious case of playing for the BCS Championship. (Remember, back then it was all about the number of losses, not the quality of your wins.)
But still, they beat only one ranked team the entire season, a 39-27 win over No. 19 Boise State.
An yet, plenty of folks thought they'd be a tough out in the Sugar Bowl, where they met 10-2 Georgia.
Wrong.
They got blasted out of the Super Dome 41-10.
Nobody was going to be perfect in 2007. Nobody.
6) The Heisman trophy was awarded to a guy who played for a 9-3 team.
And that team didn't even win its division.
I'm talking, of course, about Tim Tebow.
He won the Heisman, largely thanks to his record-setting performance, becoming the first player in SEC history to pass and rush for 20 touchdowns in the same season.
And he lost three games in the process, including one to Georgia.
(Had to put that in there.)
7) The national champion lost twice.
And one of those losses was to Kentucky.
LSU became the only two-loss national champion in the modern era, and both of its losses came in triple-overtime.
One of them came early in the year to the Wildcats, when Andre Woodson led a not-completely-terrible team to an upset win over the top-ranked Tigers.
The other was late in the year to Arkansas, 50-48.
But the Tigers bounced back, knocking off Tennessee in the SEC Championship 21-14 and Ohio State in the BCS Championship 38-24.
8) The No. 5 team in the nation lost to a I-AA school.
Ah, opening week 2007. I remember it well.
Georgia was playing a home game against Oklahoma State at night, and news began to spread throughout the various tailgates that Appalachian State was giving Michigan a run for its money.
(Smart phones weren't exactly an everyday item at that point, and texting hadn't yet made its way into every household, kids. These were dark times.)
The Mountaineers led 28-17 at halftime in the Big House, but we were sure it wouldn't last. The Wolverines were just sleep walking. Probably made a couple mistakes that App State cashed in.
It would be a good effort, but No. 5 Michigan most definitely wouldn't lose to a 1-AA opponent.
Sure enough, the Wolverines started turning it around after halftime. They closed the gap to 31-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
Then they took the lead with 4:36 remaining, as Mike Hart raced 52 yards for the go-ahead score. Two-point try was no good, but Michigan led 32-31.
Surely, that would be the end of it.
But the Mountaineers wouldn't quit, driving right back down the field, and kicking the go-ahead field goal (on first down, I might add) to lead it 34-32 with 26 seconds on the clock.
(Side note: Why App State didn't run the clock further down is a mystery I still haven't solved to this day, but boy did it turn it into a much more dramatic finish.)
Becuase the Wolverines came right back, hitting a deep pass into Mountaineer territory to line up a game-winning kick of their own.
But, as we all know, that kick was famously blocked. The No. 5 team in the country lost to a 1-AA school.
9) Alabama lost to UL Monroe.
Yup. They sure did.
The Crimson Tide, in their first season under Nick Saban (perhaps you've heard of him), would go on to finish 6-6, including an embarassing 21-14 loss to the Warhawks.
Alabama turned the ball over four times, including one on the final drive of the game. And speaking of all things Bama...
10) Auburn absolutely owned Alabama.
Yes, I know it's hard to imagine today, with the Tide having won five of the last six Iron Bowls, but close your eyes and imagine a world where the Tigers win this game regularly, one where Alabama hasn't played in the SEC Championship in eight years.
2007 capped off a run of seven straight wins for Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Seven.
It was only fitting that the most chaotic year of football in recent memory was the final one for Tommy Tuberville's Iron Bowl dominance.
Ah, 2007. What a magical time to be a football fan.
