| Authored by Christopher Reina - 14th October, 2008 - 4:08 pm
 The past two seasons of college football have been far more volatile, with many more upsets and a greater level of parity. There have been four different No. 1 ranked teams though the first seven weeks of play in 2008: Georgia, USC, Oklahoma, and Texas. In 2007, there were five different teams ranked in the top slot and seven different changes.
Between 2002 and 2006, each team that came into the season ranked number one in the nation ran the table until the bowl games.
In 2002, Ken Dorsey, Willis McGahee, Kellen Winslow, Sean Taylor, and Andre Johnson ran the table in the regular season and extended their winning streak to 34 games before they were controversially knocked off by Ohio State 31-24 in the Fiesta Bowl.
- No. 1 ranked teams in 2002: Miami, Ohio State
In 2003, Jason White and the Oklahoma Sooners started the season 12-0 before losing to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game. They still qualified for the BCS National Championship Game against LSU and subsequently lost, and USC ended up claiming the AP No1. slot to end the season.
- No. 1 ranked teams in 2003: Oklahoma, USC
The 2004 season was owned from start to finish by the USC Trojans since they came into the season as the No.1 ranked team, and after defeating unbeaten Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship game, ended the season the same way. Matt Leinart was a junior; Reggie Bush and LenDale White were sophomores; and Lofa Tatupu was a senior linebacker. The 2004 Trojans and 1999 Florida State Seminoles are the only two teams to be the No.1 ranked team from start to finish.
- No. 1 ranked teams in 2004: USC
With Leinart, Bush, and White back and a year older, USC withstood as close of a game as they could have possibly received from Notre Dame and eventually found themselves in the Rose Bowl against also undefeated Texas. Vince Young, Michael Huff, Limas Sweed, Selvin Young, and the Longhorns defeated the Trojans 41-38 in one of the greatest college football games ever played.
- No. 1 ranked teams in 2005: USC, Texas
Behind Troy Smith, Ted Ginn Jr., and James Laurinaitis, Jim Tressel was able to withstand the losses of A.J. Hawk, Santonio Holmes, Nick Mangold, and Donte Whitner and get his Buckeyes to a 12-0 record. They knocked off No. 2 Michigan 42-39 to setup a BCS National Championship Game meeting with Florida. Chris Leak, Jarvis Moss, Derrick Harvey, Tim Tebow, and the Gators blew out Ohio State 41-14.
- No. 1 ranked teams in 2006: Ohio State, Florida
The USC Trojans were on a collision course with Les Miles and the LSU Tigers from the beginning of the 2007 season but were derailed by Tavita Pritchard and the Stanford Cardinals. John David Booty threw four interceptions in the game, and USC gave away its top ranking to LSU for two weeks before they were upset by Kentucky. California was ranked No. 2 and would have likely taken over the No. 1 slot but were upset by Oregon State, and Ohio State claimed the top slot for four weeks. Following a loss at The Horseshoe at the hands of Juice Williams and Illinois, LSU reclaimed the top spot for two short weeks until they were upset in triple overtime by Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, and the Arkansas Razorbacks. Chase Daniel and the Missouri Tigers filled in for one week until they were knocked off by Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Ohio State Buckeyes took over for the second time heading into the bowl games, but Matt Flynn, Glenn Dorsey, Chevis Jackson, Jacob Hester, and the Tigers had a virtual home game at the Louisiana Superdome in New Oreleans and were victorious by a final score of 38-24. With the win, they were ranked No. 1 for the third separate time in the season.
- No. 1 ranked teams in 2007: USC, Ohio State, LSU, Missouri (7 changes) |
