The Warriors became the second WAC team to break into the BCS but collected its first loss at the hands of Georgia, the team once coached by Derek’s father. Sept 29: No. The conversion pass was deflected and the Warriors escaped.It turned out to be the first of two trips to Louisiana for Hawaii. Hawaii needed overtime to defeat head coach Derek Dooley’s upstart Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.In a decision reminiscent of Boise State’s in the Fiesta Bowl, Tech decided to go for two in the first overtime, figuring it would be next to impossible to keep Colt Brennan from scoring again. 20 Hawaii 45, Louisiana Tech 44Hawaii had many close calls on its slate in 2007, but none was closer than its game in Ruston. After a couple more close calls, Wisconsin would lose its first game a month later against Illinois, but it nearly was one of the first in the long line of huge Top 10 upsets in 2007. Sept 8: No.

The Badgers just slept on the overmatched but very game Rebels in a match played far from the cozy environs of Camp Randall.In the end, Wisconsin controlled the game with its rushing attack and some heady play from QB Tyler Donovan. The result was very surprising considering Wisconsin had just put up 42 points in a win over Washington State. In this contest, it was four-touchdown favorite Wisconsin overcoming a one point UNLV lead by scoring a touchdown with 1:53 to go.It was a rather pedestrian game, with UNLV leading 10-9 after three quarters. 5 Wisconsin 20, UNLV 13The Texas-Arkansas State game had the underdog score late to pull it close. The Indians finished 5-7 out of the Sun Belt, but it still says a lot about a season when Arkansas State winning in Austin would not have been the lead story of the day. Sept 8: No.

Texas recovered an onside kick to ice the game, and they were just happy to win on the same day that Appalachian State took down Michigan.Texas had another close call two weeks later at UCF, but the Knights at least won Conference USA. The Indians outgained the Longhorns by 57 yards for a total of 397, and they scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to pull within eight with a minute to go. Everyone was looking forward to seeing how Colt McCoy would follow up his excellent freshman year, and the assumption was that the Longhorns would have a chance to win two titles in three years.Arkansas State had other plans. 4 Texas 21, Arkansas State 13As you can tell by the ranking, expectations were high in Austin at the beginning of 2007. All rankings are the teams’ rankings at the time of the game. Sept 1: No. Before we permanently put it in the past with the 2008 season, let’s take a look back at seven close calls that could have made 2007 even crazier than it was. 8.Last Fight: Win via submission, Mike Pyle, EliteXC: Renegade, November 10, 2007.Next Fight: Versus unknown, Event unknown, Date unknown.Shields has nine straight victories including wins over Yushin Okami, Hayato Sakurai, and Carlos Condit.  He has not lost since December 2004.  He is one of the best fighters in the world on the ground.  Shields’ strength is his his wrestling and his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt skill.

Frankly, his resume is not that impressive.  If you take away his victory over Georges St. Pierre.  He still has a lot to prove in MMA competition in my opinion. 6.Last Fight: Loss via TKO, Thiago Alves, UFC Fight Night 13, April 2, 2008.Next Fight: Versus TBD, UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, August 9, 2008.Parisyan is already a veteran of MMA and he is still only 25 years old.  He has beaten the likes of Matt Serra, Nick Diaz, Josh Burkman, Drew Fickett, and Nick Thompson in his career.  His losses include Georges St. 5 in the rankings.  He has now won six consecutive fights.  He is coming off the biggest win of his career over future UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes at UFC 85.  This was a dominating performance for Alves’ first headlining fight for a UFC event. Those who still doubt the stand up of Koscheck will get to see once and for all when he takes on Chris Lytle in his next fight.  Lytle is a former professional boxer and is about as technical as a boxer as they come in MMA.   If Koscheck gets past Lytle I foresee a Josh Koscheck/Thiago Alves fight looming on the horizon for the next No 1 contender spot. Pierre he was almost exclusively training stand up and it caught up with him St.  3) Josh Koscheck (UFC), (10 – 2), 1st Quarter Ranking No.

2.Last Fight: Win via unanimous decision, Chris Wilson, UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, March 1, 2008.Next Fight: Versus Georges St. Pierre, on the other hand, has not stopped challenging himself.2) Jon Fitch (UFC), (17 – 2, 1 no contest), 1st Quarter Ranking No. He has also spent some time in Brazilover the past few weeks training extensive jiu-jitsu with a cast of Gracie Barra black belts. He won the Norris trophy twice, the Calder Trophy, and the Conn Smythe Trophy that will go down as the best American defenseman of all time..