| Year: | 2005 |
| Number Of Teams: | 119 |
| Preseason Ap: | USC |
| Regular Season: | September 1 – December 3 |
| Number Of Bowls: | 28 |
| Bowl Start: | December 20, 2005 |
| Bowl End: | January 4, 2006 |
| Championship System: | Bowl Championship Series |
| Championship Bowl: | 2006 Rose Bowl |
| Championship Location: | Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, California |
| Champions: | Texas |
| Heisman: | Reggie Bush (running back, USC) |
The 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on September 1, 2005 and ended on December 3, 2005. The postseason concluded on January 4, 2006 with the Rose Bowl, which served as the season's BCS National Championship Game.
The USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns finished the regular season as the only undefeated teams in Division I-A and consequently met in the Rose Bowl to play for the national title. Texas defeated USC largely due to the performance of quarterback Vince Young, who gained 467 yards of total offense and ran for three touchdowns. The Longhorns won their first national championship since 1970, and their first consensus national title since 1969.
See main article: 2005 NCAA conference realignment.
A major conference realignment occurred prior to the 2005 season, when 18 teams in Division I-A changed conferences.
Temple was expelled from the Big East Conference while Army ended its brief affiliation with Conference USA, resulting in both schools becoming Independents.
Boston College left the Big East to become the 12th member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), allowing the league to split into two divisions and hold an annual championship game.
Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida left Conference USA to join the Big East. Texas Christian University also left Conference USA to become the Mountain West Conference's ninth member.
Despite its losses, Conference USA added six schools to increase its membership to twelve, poaching Marshall and UCF from the Mid-American Conference and Rice, Southern Methodist, Tulsa, and UTEP from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Like the ACC, Conference USA split into two divisions and started a conference championship game.
The Western Athletic Conference added Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State from the Sun Belt Conference.
The Sun Belt picked up I-AA Independents Florida Atlantic and Florida International.
Steve Spurrier returned to college coaching for the first time since 2001 after a stint in the NFL, leading South Carolina to a respectable 7–5 season. Urban Meyer, after leading Utah to an undefeated season in 2004, took over at Florida (Spurrier's old school). Charlie Weis left the New England Patriots to become head coach at alma mater Notre Dame, taking the team to a BCS bowl.
Longtime head coaches Barry Alvarez of Wisconsin and Bill Snyder of Kansas State, both of whom took struggling programs to national prominence during their tenures, retired. Dan Hawkins, having helped make Boise State a powerhouse in the Western Athletic Conference, left the Broncos to coach struggling Colorado.
Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 8 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.
See main article: 2005–06 NCAA football bowl games.
No. 2 (BCS No. 2, Big 12 Champ) Texas 41, No. 1 (BCS No. 1, Pac 10 Champ) Southern California 38
(BCS No. 4) No. 4 Ohio State 34, (At Large) No. 5 Notre Dame 20
(Big East Champ) No. 11 West Virginia 38, (SEC Champ) No. 8 Georgia 35
(Big Ten Champ) No. 3 Penn State 26, (ACC Champ) No. 22 Florida State 23 (3 OT)
No. 13 Alabama 13, No. 18 Texas Tech 10
No. 21 Wisconsin 24, No. 7 Auburn 10
No. 12 Virginia Tech 35, No. 15 Louisville 24
No. 16 Florida 31, No. 25 Iowa 24
No. 10 LSU 40, No. 9 Miami (FL) 3
No. 14 TCU 27, Iowa State 24
(C-USA Champ) Tulsa 31, Fresno State 24
No. 19 Boston College 27, Boise State 21
NC State 14, South Florida 0
Missouri 38, South Carolina 31
No. 17 UCLA 50, Northwestern 38
Utah 38, No. 24 Georgia Tech 10
Nebraska 32, No. 20 Michigan 28
Arizona State 45, Rutgers 40
No. 23 Clemson 19, Colorado 10
Memphis 38, (MAC Champ) Akron 31
(WAC Champ) Nevada 49, UCF 48 (OT)
California 35, BYU 28
Navy 51, Colorado State 30
Southern Mississippi 31, (Sun Belt Champ) Arkansas State 19
Heisman Trophy voting was primarily for three players: Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart (who won the trophy in 2004) and Vince Young. Bush won the trophy, with Young (who helped Texas win their first national championship since 1970) second in the voting:
| Player | School | Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reggie Bush | USC | RB | 784 | 89 | 11 | 2,541 | |
| QB | 79 | 613 | 145 | 1,608 | |||
| USC | QB | 18 | 147 | 449 | 797 | ||
| QB | 7 | 21 | 128 | 191 | |||
| QB | 2 | 7 | 29 | 49 | |||
| LB | 0 | 3 | 23 | 29 | |||
| RB | 1 | 2 | 19 | 26 | |||
| QB | 1 | 2 | 14 | 21 | |||
| RB | 0 | 4 | 12 | 20 | |||
| DE | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
In June 2010 the NCAA ruled that Bush had received "improper benefits", violating NCAA policy. On September 14, he announced in a statement from the New Orleans Saints that he would forfeit his 2005 Heisman Trophy. Runner-up Vince Young said that he would not accept the trophy if Bush forfeited it. On September 15, the Heisman Trust announced that the 2005 trophy would be vacated and there would be no winner for the season.[1] Bush's Heisman win would be reinstanted on April 24, 2024, with the Heisman Trophy Trust citing "enormous" changes in college athletics, including the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) a few years prior.[2]
Reggie Bush, RB, USC[4]
Joe Paterno, Penn State
See main article: 2005 College Football All-America Team.
| QB | Vince Young | 6'5" | 229 | Jr. | Houston, Texas | Texas |
| RB | Reggie Bush | 6'0" | 200 | Jr. | Spring Valley, California | USC |
| RB | Jerome Harrison | 5'10" | 199 | Sr. | Kalamazoo, Michigan | Washington State |
| WR | Dwayne Jarrett | 6'5" | 210 | So. | New Brunswick, New Jersey | USC |
| WR | Jeff Samardzija | 6'5" | 218 | Jr. | Valparaiso, Indiana | Notre Dame |
| TE | Marcedes Lewis | 6'6" | 256 | Sr. | Lakewood, California | UCLA |
| T | Jonathan Scott | 6'7" | 315 | Sr. | Dallas, Texas | Texas |
| T | Marcus McNeill | 6'9" | 338 | Sr. | Decatur, Georgia | Auburn |
| G | Deuce Lutui | 6'6" | 370 | Sr. | Mesa, Arizona | USC |
| G | Max Jean-Gilles | 6'4" | 355 | Sr. | North Miami Beach, Florida | Georgia |
| C | Greg Eslinger | 6'3" | 292 | Sr. | Bismarck, North Dakota | Minnesota |
| DE | Tamba Hali | 6'3" | 275 | Sr. | Teaneck, New Jersey | Penn State | |
| DT | Haloti Ngata | 6'4" | 338 | Sr. | Salt Lake City, Utah | Oregon | |
| DT | Rodrique Wright | 6'5" | 315 | Sr. | Houston, Texas | Texas | |
| DE | Elvis Dumervil | 6'0" | 256 | Sr. | Miami, Florida | Louisville | |
| LB | A. J. Hawk | 6'1" | 248 | Sr. | Centerville, Ohio | Ohio State | |
| LB | DeMeco Ryans | 6'1" | 236 | Sr. | Bessemer, Alabama | Alabama | |
| LB | Paul Posluszny | 6'2" | 238 | Jr. | Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania | Penn State | |
| CB | Jimmy Williams | 6'3" | 216 | Sr. | Hampton, Virginia | Virginia Tech | |
| CB | Tye Hill | 5'10" | 185 | Sr. | Dorchester, South Carolina | Clemson | |
| Safety | Michael Huff | 6'0" | 204 | Sr. | Irving, Texas | Texas | |
| Safety | Greg Blue | 6'2" | 216 | Sr. | Atlanta | Georgia |
| Kicker | Mason Crosby | 6'2" | 215 | Jr. | Georgetown, Texas | Colorado |
| Punter | Ryan Plackemeier | 6'3" | 235 | Sr. | Bonsall, California | Wake Forest |
| RS | Maurice Drew | 5'8" | 205 | Jr. | Antioch, California | UCLA |
Texas scored the most points (652).[5] [6]