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The 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the least amount of controversy surrounding the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title game in many years.

To an extent it was a return to classic football. All eight BCS teams were traditional powerhouses, many of the schools having worn the same uniforms for half a century, and Penn State and Florida State having the same coaches for nearly half a century. Alabama was back in the mix for the SEC title, shaking off the residual effects of NCAA sanctions, and though Penn State is a relative newcomer to the Big Ten, Ohio State and Michigan were still in the running for the conference title until the last game.

The BCS saw good fortune as two teams, the USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns, went wire to wire as #1 and #2, respectively—the second year in a row that had happened—and finished as Division I-A's only undefeated teams after the regular season. As a result, there was no dispute over the choice of teams selected for the BCS title game (there were five undefeated teams in the 2004 regular season: Oklahoma, USC, Auburn, Utah, and Boise State). The game was played at the Rose Bowl, where Texas edged the favored, defending champion Trojans in large part due to a historic performance by Texas quarterback Vince Young, who gained 467 yards of total offense and ran for three touchdowns. The victory earned the Longhorns their first consensus national championship since 1969. (Texas won a split title in 1970.)

There was also an unlikely comeback team in the season. The UCF Golden Knights came from a helpless 0–11 record in 2004, to a respectable 8–5 record and an appearance in the Conference USA Championship game and a Hawaii Bowl berth. Although their season apparently got off to a poor start with a loss to South Carolina on opening day and a pasting by their intrastate rival, South Florida, they pulled off 8 wins over a 9 game span (only loss was a 31–52 rout by Southern Miss) including getting a win over eventual conference champions, Tulsa. Tulsa ended up beating UCF 44–27. In the Hawaii Bowl, the Golden Knights were a failed PAT away from sending Nevada to double overtime. Also, Penn State, who went 4-7 in 2004, managed an 11-1 record and #3 ranking in 2005, but not being ranked until after the 44-14 pasting of then #19 Minnesota, where Penn State took control of the Governor's Victory Bell for the first time since 1998.

Quite a few conference changes took place in 2005. Temple became an independent football program after expulsion from the Big East Conference and Army ended its brief affiliation with Conference USA and also returned to football independence. Boston College left the Big East to become the ACC's 12th member, allowing that league to split into divisions and start a conference championship game.

Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida left Conference USA to join the Big East, to bring the membership in that league back up to eight. TCU also left Conference USA to join the Mountain West Conference as its ninth member.

Conference USA responded to the mass defections by adding Central Florida and Marshall from the Mid-American Conference, knocking the MAC's membership down from 14 to 12, and Rice, Southern Methodist, UTEP, and Tulsa from the WAC to get up to 12 members. Like the ACC, C-USA split into two divisions and started a conference championship game.

In response to their losses, the WAC added Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State from the Sun Belt Conference while the Sun Belt picked up independent Florida Atlantic and Florida International, who had just transitioned from Division I-AA. Division I-A membership is now at 119 schools.

Coaching changes[]

Steve Spurrier returned to the college coaching ranks for the first time since 2001, taking the reins at South Carolina and turning out a respectable 7–5 season. Urban Meyer, the previous year's hot coach after leading Utah to an undefeated season took over at Spurrier's old job, Florida. Charlie Weis left the New England Patriots to take over the head coach job at his alma mater Notre Dame and was able to lead them to a BCS bowl.

Barry Alvarez, who took over an absolutely woeful Wisconsin program in 1990 and turned it into a Big Ten force retired, as did Bill Snyder who turned around Big 8 doormat Kansas State and turned it into a Big 12 power. Dan Hawkins who brought Boise State to the status of a mid-major powerhouse left the Broncos to coach the Colorado Buffaloes, a team trying to change its image after recruiting scandals broke out the previous season.

Standings[]

2005 ACC football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
Atlantic
#23 Florida State xy   5 3         8 5  
#18 Boston College x   5 3         9 3  
#21 Clemson   4 4         8 4  
NC State   3 5         7 5  
Maryland   3 5         5 6  
Wake Forest   3 5         4 7  
Coastal
#7 Virginia Tech x   7 1         11 2  
#17 Miami   6 2         9 3  
Georgia Tech   5 3         7 5  
North Carolina   4 4         5 6  
Virginia   3 5         7 5  
Duke   0 8         1 10  

Championship: Florida State 27, Virginia Tech 22
† – BCS representative as champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Big 12 football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
North
Colorado x   5 3         7 6  
#24 Nebraska   4 4         8 4  
Iowa State   4 4         7 5  
Missouri   4 4         7 5  
Kansas   3 5         7 5  
Kansas State   2 6         5 6  
South
#1 Texas x   8 0         13 0  
#20 Texas Tech   6 2         8 4  
#22 Oklahoma   6 2         8 4  
Texas A&M   3 5         5 6  
Baylor   2 6         5 6  
Oklahoma State   1 7         4 7  
Championship: Texas 70, Colorado 3
† – BCS representative as champion
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Big East football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
#5 West Virginia   7 0         11 1  
#19 Louisville   5 2         9 3  
South Florida   4 3         6 6  
Rutgers   4 3         8 5  
Pittsburgh   4 3         5 6  
Cincinnati   2 5         4 7  
Connecticut   2 5         5 6  
Syracuse   0 7         1 10  
† – BCS representative as champion
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Big Ten football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
#3/3 Penn State §   0* 1         0* 1  
#4/4 Ohio State §   7 1         10 2  
#15/15 Wisconsin   5 3         10 3  
Michigan   5 3         7 5  
Northwestern   5 3         7 5  
Iowa   5 3         7 5  
Minnesota   4 4         7 5  
Purdue   3 5         5 6  
Michigan State   2 6         5 6  
Indiana   1 7         4 7  
Illinois   0 8         2 9  
† – BCS representative as champion
‡ – BCS at-large representative
§ – Conference co-champions
2005 Conference USA football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
East
UCF x   7 1         8 5  
Southern Miss   5 3         7 5  
Memphis   5 3         7 5  
East Carolina   4 4         5 6  
Marshall   3 4         4 7  
UAB   3 5         5 6  
West
Tulsa x   6 2         9 4  
UTEP   5 3         8 4  
Houston   4 4         6 6  
SMU   4 4         5 6  
Tulane   1 7         2 9  
Rice   1 7         1 10  
Championship: Tulsa 44, Central Florida 27
† – Conference champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Division I-A independents football records
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
No. 9 Notre Dame           9 3  
Navy           8 4  
Army           4 7  
Temple           0 11  
‡ – BCS at-large representative
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Mid-American Conference football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
East
Miami x   5 3         7 4  
Bowling Green x   5 3         6 5  
Akron xy   5 3         7 6  
Ohio   3 5         4 7  
Buffalo   1 7         1 10  
Kent State   0 8         1 10  
West
Toledo x   6 2         9 3  
Northern Illinois xy   6 2         7 5  
Western Michigan   5 3         7 4  
Central Michigan   5 3         6 5  
Ball State   4 4         4 7  
Eastern Michigan   3 5         4 7  
Championship: Akron 31, NIU 30
† – Conference champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Mountain West Conference football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
#11 TCU   8 0         11 1  
BYU   5 3         6 6  
Colorado State   5 3         6 6  
Utah   4 4         7 5  
New Mexico   4 4         6 5  
San Diego State   4 4         5 7  
Air Force   3 5         4 7  
Wyoming   2 6         4 7  
UNLV   1 7         2 9  
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Pacific-10 football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
#2 USC   0 0         0 1  
#13 Oregon   7 1         10 2  
#16 UCLA   6 2         10 2  
#25 California   4 4         8 4  
Arizona State   4 4         7 5  
Stanford   4 4         5 6  
Oregon State   3 5         5 6  
Arizona   2 6         3 8  
Washington State   1 7         4 7  
Washington   1 7         2 9  
† – Conference champion
  • USC vacated 12 wins (8 in conference) due to NCAA sanctions.
    Rankings from AP Poll
2005 SEC football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
Eastern Division
#10 Georgia x   6 2         10 3  
South Carolina   5 3         7 5  
#12 Florida   5 3         9 3  
Vanderbilt   3 5         5 6  
Tennessee   3 5         5 6  
Kentucky   2 6         3 8  
Western Division
#5 LSU xy   7 1         11 2  
#14 Auburn x   7 1         9 3  
#8 Alabama   6 2         10 2  
Arkansas   2 6         4 7  
Mississippi State   1 7         3 8  
Ole Miss   1 7         3 8  
Championship: Georgia 34, LSU 14
† – BCS representative as champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
y – Championship game participant
  • Alabama had all victories vacated by the NCAA in 2010. As such, the official record for Alabama is 0–2 (0–2).
    Rankings from AP Poll
2005 Sun Belt football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
Arkansas State   5 2         6 6  
Louisiana–Lafayette   5 2         6 5  
Louisiana–Monroe   5 2         5 6  
[[{{{school}}}|FIU]]   3 4         5 6  
Middle Tennessee   3 4         4 7  
Troy   3 4         4 7  
Florida Atlantic   2 5         2 9  
North Texas   2 5         2 9  
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
2005 WAC football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
Boise State §   7 1         9 4  
Nevada §   7 1         9 3  
Louisiana Tech   6 2         7 4  
Fresno State   6 2         8 5  
Hawaii   4 4         5 7  
San Jose State   2 6         3 8  
Utah State   2 6         3 8  
Idaho   2 6         2 9  
New Mexico State   0 8         0 12  
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Bowl Games[]

BCS Bowls[]

Rankings given are AP rankings going into bowl games

Other New Years Day Bowls[]

December Bowl Games[]

Heisman Trophy voting[]

The Heisman Trophy voting was basically a 3 man show: Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart (who won the Heisman Trophy in 2004), and Vince Young, who helped Texas win the national championship for the 1st time since 1970. Bush won the trophy, with Young coming in second.

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player. There is no winner for 2005 because of irregularities discovered in 2010.

In June 2010, the NCAA ruled that Bush had received improper gifts in violation of NCAA policies. On September 14, 2010, Bush announced in a statement from the New Orleans Saints that he would forfeit his title of 2005 Heisman Trophy winner and return his trophy. Vince Young, the runner-up in 2005, commented that he would not accept the trophy if it was taken away from Bush. On September 15, 2010, the Heisman Trust announced that the 2005 trophy would be vacated, and there would be no winner for that season.[1]

Other major award winners[]

* Originally awarded to Reggie Bush, but vacated due to ineligibility

References[]


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with American Football Database, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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