The Biggest Upset in College Sports History

[Mazeppa]

I really don't care about anyone but OU, and not an upset...per se, but the debacle in the Orange Bowl vs. USC? Yeah, I was embarrassed as fuck.



Another one was losing to K-State in the 2003 Big-12 championship game. We were 12-0, being called the greatest team of all time, and we score on the first possession when KeJuan took it to the house from midfield. Rolling right? Wrong. I almost froze to death sitting in that shithole in Kansas City with 3" of ice under our feet watching that tiny little fuck Darren Sproles and El Roberson run/pass all over us for 35 unanswered points.

We had a good tailgate with some KC barbecue catered in, then it all went to shit. Still went to the NC game...and got thumped by LSU in New Orleans. The following year was the GOWWDNS.

I was there too, but was running late and didn't see the Kejuan run.Just walked into the stadium concourse and heard the roar. And yes it was very cold.

[AppySooner]

You could have several in cbb. A few years ago gardner-webb went into Rupp and beat a highly ranked UK team.

That’s why I don’t think any MBB game can qualify for biggest upset in college sports. The equivalent of low-level FCS beating high P5 at a neutral site or even on the road happens way more often than in football. 5 starters vs. 22 + special teams. Shooting is lucky and streaky, the bounce of the ball off the rim is effectively random, it’s much easier to turn the ball over without short, carefully scripted set plays, and the amount of manhandling you’re allowed to do is wildly inconsistent game to game. Easier for resource-strapped programs to get their hands on quickness and ball skills than the combination of size, strength, and honed technique it takes to compete enough in the trenches for any other matchup to matter.

[KCRuf/Nek]

I really don't care about anyone but OU, and not an upset...per se, but the debacle in the Orange Bowl vs. USC? Yeah, I was embarrassed as fuck.



Another one was losing to K-State in the 2003 Big-12 championship game. We were 12-0, being called the greatest team of all time, and we score on the first possession when KeJuan took it to the house from midfield. Rolling right? Wrong. I almost froze to death sitting in that shithole in Kansas City with 3" of ice under our feet watching that tiny little fuck Darren Sproles and El Roberson run/pass all over us for 35 unanswered points.

We had a good tailgate with some KC barbecue catered in, then it all went to shit. Still went to the NC game...and got thumped by LSU in New Orleans. The following year was the GOWWDNS.

KState pushed us up and down the field all night. I may as well have been out there instead of Harris.

[Slytherin]

I was there too, but was running late and didn't see the Kejuan run.Just walked into the stadium concourse and heard the roar. And yes it was very cold.

So you got nothing but the bad shit. Heh.

[SoonerSpock]

Made most OU bowl games for 40 years until the USC debacle after the 2004 season. I have refused to go to another since. That game really took the wind out of my sails.

[Ruprecht]

That’s why I don’t think any MBB game can qualify for biggest upset in college sports. The equivalent of low-level FCS beating high P5 at a neutral site or even on the road happens way more often than in football. 5 starters vs. 22 + special teams. Shooting is lucky and streaky, the bounce of the ball off the rim is effectively random, it’s much easier to turn the ball over without short, carefully scripted set plays, and the amount of manhandling you’re allowed to do is wildly inconsistent game to game. Easier for resource-strapped programs to get their hands on quickness and ball skills than the combination of size, strength, and honed technique it takes to compete enough in the trenches for any other matchup to matter.

I think that might hold true except for the UCLA basketball dynasty of the 1960s and 1970s. Which is one reason I picked one of their losses as the GOAT. Because they never lost at home. And rarely lost any where else in a sport where "shooting is lucky and streaky, the bounce of the ball of the rim is effectively random, easier turnovers without short scripted sets of plays and wildly consistent manhandling from game to game."... They still rarely lost. So upsets were significant on the rare occasion that they did lose.

[blacktop]

I thought we were talking about the App State over Michigan 34-32, 2007, at Michigan.

[Notre Dame Joe]

I'm still fuming over the 1978 Orange Bowl....Arkansas 38-6. No way we should have lost and had #8 now.

St Lou talks about that game even more than Catholics v Convicts 10 years later.

[Notre Dame Joe]

Apr 04, 2022, 12:15 PM EDT

Kansas shocked Texas — a 31-point favorite — by going for two in the first overtime period on Saturday to top the Longhorns 57-56 for one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

It’s tied for the 15th-biggest point spread upset of the last 40 years.

The Jayhawks are now 2-53 straight up as 20+-point underdogs since 2005, with both of those wins coming against the Longhorns (2005, 2021). Tonight’s win was the first-ever win for Kansas at Texas, and it snapped a 56-game Big 12 road losing streak.

2005?

[traxx]

*Danny Manning and Kansas beating OU in the Final Four 1988. (I cried like a baby.. Stacey King is from my hometown)

I don't think I'd put this down as a huge upset. It was the championship game after all. Kansas didn't get there by sucking or being lucky. We'd already beat them twice that season and it's awful difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season.

[NationalChampsAgain]

I and got thumped by LSU in New Orleans.

1 touchdown does not make a thumping...

[Slytherin]

1 touchdown does not make a thumping...

An "L" to those coon ass inbreds = "a thumping."

[KCRuf/Nek]

I don't think I'd put this down as a huge upset. It was the championship game after all. Kansas didn't get there by sucking or being lucky. We'd already beat them twice that season and it's awful difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season.

Plus the best player that year had the game of his life and he had teammates playing out of their minds. When we left the game on Saturday I was convinced I’d seen the title game. Sadly, as the game progressed on Monday, I sat there knowing I’d seen this movie before. The longer the game went along the worse I felt. It was only worse as all our chances at the end came up short. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

[KCRuf/Nek]

1 touchdown does not make a thumping...

We ran it all the way down there and then decided to throw it. They were gassed and we had them. Very disappointing.

[Mazeppa]

2005?

I looked it up and it was 2016 Texas was a 22.5 favorite.

[IKE93]

I don't think I'd put this down as a huge upset. It was the championship game after all. Kansas didn't get there by sucking or being lucky. We'd already beat them twice that season and it's awful difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season.

We were highly favored and had blown out every team in the tournament.. you don’t remember Stacey King dancing doing the “cabbage patch dance” on the sidelines? Nobody gave Kansas a chance so yea I’d say it a huge upset

[Me And My Butt]

Apr 04, 2022, 12:15 PM EDT

Kansas shocked Texas — a 31-point favorite — by going for two in the first overtime period on Saturday to top the Longhorns 57-56 for one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

It’s tied for the 15th-biggest point spread upset of the last 40 years.

The Jayhawks are now 2-53 straight up as 20+-point underdogs since 2005, with both of those wins coming against the Longhorns (2005, 2021). Tonight’s win was the first-ever win for Kansas at Texas, and it snapped a 56-game Big 12 road losing streak.

Does that really qualify as an upset?

[Me And My Butt]

I was there too, but was running late and didn't see the Kejuan run.Just walked into the stadium concourse and heard the roar. And yes it was very cold.

So you showed up and we collapsed….now we know who to blame.

[OUwasp]

cost of freedom

Hell, we let OUwasp post here. Guy's nuttier than a fruitcake and his grasp on the game of football is tenuous at best.

hey, this gives me a chance to use this meme I saw the other day!

[SoonerMagick]

hey, this gives me a chance to use this meme I saw the other day!

Weird.
I can't see anything. I quoted your post, and saw all the formatting, but your post is blank underneath your text (to me.)
anybody else see a meme?

[OUwasp]

Weird.
I can't see anything. I quoted your post, and saw all the formatting, but your post is blank underneath your text (to me.)
anybody else see a meme?

who knows the vagaries of computers? I don’t. It’s a photo from the show Frasier where Kelsey Grammar is proclaiming I AM WOUNDED!

[Mazeppa]

Weird.
I can't see anything. I quoted your post, and saw all the formatting, but your post is blank underneath your text (to me.)
anybody else see a meme?

I don't see anything.

[SoonerMagick]

I don’t.

I don't see anything.

Ok, thank you.

[NationalChampsAgain]

I don't think I'd put this down as a huge upset. It was the championship game after all. Kansas didn't get there by sucking or being lucky. We'd already beat them twice that season and it's awful difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season.

As I recall we had seen them twice during the regular season, once during the Big 8 tournament, and this was our 4th time to play them. I might have to look that up.

EDIT - Looked it up it was only the third time. Guess we didn't face off in the tournament.

[KCRuf/Nek]

As I recall we had seen them twice during the regular season, once during the Big 8 tournament, and this was our 4th time to play them. I might have to look that up.

We beat Mizzou. KState beat KU. We beat KState. We had such a good team.

[lash]

As big of an upset as KU over OU was in '88, that wasn't even the biggest basketball championship game upset of the decade.


Villanova beating Georgetown in the '85 championship game was just absurd. Georgetown was a juggernaut and absolutely loaded with Patrick Ewing and many other stars. The little Nova team didn't seem to have a prayer....they shot like 80% from the floor and won by 2 points. They didn't have a Danny Manning -- they basically played perfectly.


In recent football, App State over Michigan and Stanford over USC are two that immediately come to mind. Boston College over Notre Dame in the early 90s in South Bend right after the Irish had defeated FSU was a beautiful upset that made no sense.


A 16-seed beating a 1-seed is right up there with anything though -- regardless of teams.

[IKE93]

1966
Texas Western over Kentucky

Probably the biggest upset of all time

[Balko]

Back to the OP. Fairleigh Dickinson beating Purdue is the biggest upset. FDU didn't even win its conference. The winner was ineligible for the tournament because they hadn't completed the move from Division II. Then FDU had to win a play-in game even to get a #16 ranking. They were, according to announcers, the shortest team in the tournament and Purdue had a 7' 4" center who could play basketball and is an All-American and Sporting News POY. FDU's gym is smaller than our high school gym in a town of 1200 people in the middle of nowhere. Purdue's gym could hold the population of Woodward with enough room for everyone in Eufala.

[Balko]

1966
Texas Western over Kentucky

Probably the biggest upset of all time

Wasn't even an upset. All my high school budies and I agreed that Kentucky had no chance against Dave Lattin and his fellas. I'm sure Adolph Rupp was upset, though.

[manateepower]

Not even close

Stanford over USC in 2007 was the biggest upset in history

That's a good candidate.

I vote for Temple over Virginia Tech in 1998. Tech was a solid team and Temple at that time was so bad that they were in danger of being kicked out of the big east. Temple's only other win that season was against an equally terrible Pittsburgh Team.

[manateepower]

I was there too, but was running late and didn't see the Kejuan run.Just walked into the stadium concourse and heard the roar. And yes it was very cold.

I was actually in the drumline for a high school band that performed on the field right before Kelly Clarkson and friends at halftime (I was obviously bummed that I would have to miss the game, although in hindsight....), I remember us getting to watch a few minutes of the game in a waiting room, and when we left were up 7-0. We were then waiting in a tunnel until halftime when the suspenses was killing me, needless to say I was absolutely horrified to see the score when we went out right before the end of the half. (cheered up a tad when Ashley Simpson was booed)

We drove straight home after the performance (about an 18 hour drive), and I had never been so fucking miserable in my life. lol

[Notre Dame Joe]

That's a good candidate.

I vote for Temple over Virginia Tech in 1998. Tech was a solid team and Temple at that time was so bad that they were in danger of being kicked out of the big east. Temple's only other win that season was against an equally terrible Pittsburgh Team.

VTech did that like every year. The week after they beat the eventual national champion Buckeyes the Hokies lost to East Carolina. And apparently lost to Wake Forest 3-6 in the 2nd overtime.

https://fbschedules.com/2014-virgini...tball-schedule.

[Stinger_1066]

I don't think I'd put this down as a huge upset. It was the championship game after all. Kansas didn't get there by sucking or being lucky. We'd already beat them twice that season and it's awful difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season.

This is not accurate.

If you have already beaten a team twice, the odds of winning a third game are in your favor.

I don't know the stats for college basketball, but in the NFL, the odds of winning a third game in the same season are 62.5%.

[1stTimeCaller]

There are a few OU fans on here who seem to get very upset when an OU team wins a game…

[49cent]

There are a few OU fans on here who seem to get very upset when an OU team wins a game…

Playing on that meme about what it means for a fan to be upset… I spent some time training in Texas back in 2010. I have never seen a louder, more arrogant and obnoxious fan base than the burnt orange cow klan prior to that season. Oh, yeah… remember how Gilbert Grape “almost won the NC?” They were convinced nothing would stand in their way. I happened to be there watching games in a sports bar when they got embarrassed by UCLA, I attended the RRS and heard all about how it was just rough and how injuries hurt their chances against UCLA (they did not, FTR).
Texas quite literally fumbled away the Cotton Bowl that day and the whorns’ big NC hopes were dashed. Still, they believed. I heard all around town how they were too talented to fail and how Landry Jones and Oklahoma were “probably gonna lose like five games anyway.”
The downward spiral their team and fanbase continued on with that year was absolutely hilarious.
Back to “upset…” on more than one occasion I saw somebody in burnt orange so pissy about the loss that they were fighting mad and even saw a grown ass man crying like a little bitch when the [email protected] beat them.
If only they knew that season was only the beginning of a very long DECADE PLUS.

Now, with that being said…

Dear Coach Venables,
Do. Not. Let. That. Happen. To. Us.
I’ll give you a pass for Judas Brutus’s mess.

[UtahSooner83]

I'm still fuming over the 1978 Orange Bowl....Arkansas 38-6. No way we should have lost and had #8 now.

I thought it was 31-6?

[traxx]

We were highly favored and had blown out every team in the tournament.. you don’t remember Stacey King dancing doing the “cabbage patch dance” on the sidelines? Nobody gave Kansas a chance so yea I’d say it a huge upset

I'm not saying it wasn't an upset but it wasn't that big of an upset. Anyone who didn't give Kansas a chance doesn't understand sports. It's difficult to sweep a team that you see three or more times in one season.

Kansas had made a final four appearance just two years earlier and had several final four appearances under their belt and many ncaa tournament appearances by that point. It's not like we were beaten by Fairleigh Dickinson that only had 1 prior appearance in the ncaa tournament and didn't make it past the first round. We were beaten by six seed Kansas that had plenty of tournament experience and had several deep runs in the tourney at that point.

[NickZepp84]

College Football App State over Michigan is probably number 1. It debuted a network. Michigan had nearly 20 guys that played in the NFL including a QB that just retired. App State was a power in 1AA at the time but 1AAs never beat top ranked teams at that time.

NCAAB This isn't recency bias at all. FDU may be the biggest upset in college basketball history. FDU didn't win its conference. Had to play 2 days earlier in a play-in. They were the smallest team in the conference. They may have been the worst team to make the tournament by modern computers ratings

The UMBC over UVA game was not at this level. Maybe some of the 15 over 2s were closer

Other levels

NFL Jets over Colts. Most people considered that Jets team the 3rd best in the AFL. Yes they beat the Chiefs early in the season but the Chiefs turned around and lost 1 game the rest of the season. The Raiders were considered heavy favorites in the AFL title game. Colts had one of the most dominant seasons in NFL. So this is up there

MLB has to be for a world title. 60 Pirates ovet Yankees. 64 Cards over Yankees. 97 Marlins over Yankees. 01 Dbacks over Yankees.

Douglas beating Tyson is number 1 all time.

US over Soviets 80 is right behind that.

[IKE93]

I'm not saying it wasn't an upset but it wasn't that big of an upset. Anyone who didn't give Kansas a chance doesn't understand sports. It's difficult to sweep a team that you see three or more times in one season.

Kansas had made a final four appearance just two years earlier and had several final four appearances under their belt and many ncaa tournament appearances by that point. It's not like we were beaten by Fairleigh Dickinson that only had 1 prior appearance in the ncaa tournament and didn't make it past the first round. We were beaten by six seed Kansas that had plenty of tournament experience and had several deep runs in the tourney at that point.

At age 13 in 1988 you couldn’t tell me that wasn’t the biggest upset in the history of the world Lolol

But I get your point..

[traxx]

At age 13 in 1988 you couldn’t tell me that wasn’t the biggest upset in the history of the world Lolol

But I get your point..

I was greatly upset about the loss. Talk about missed opportunities.

I used to love CBB in the 80s and 90s. I haven't been interested or invested in CBB in a long time. Idk if it's me that's changed or the game or both.

[KCRuf/Nek]

I was greatly upset about the loss. Talk about missed opportunities.

I used to love CBB in the 80s and 90s. I haven't been interested or invested in CBB in a long time. Idk if it's me that's changed or the game or both.

It would have been much easier had we list to Duke or someone like that. But to lose to KU, basically at home, and then having to live around those pricks absolutely sucked.

[Mazeppa]

There are a few OU fans on here who seem to get very upset when an OU team wins a game…

There are also some who are "season ticket holders" that take every opportunity to shit on the Sooners.

[Mazeppa]

2013 Iron Bowl wasn't a "big" upset but it worth watching just to see Saban's face at the end. Bama was a 10.5 favorite.

[Slytherin]

1966
Texas Western over Kentucky

Probably the biggest upset of all time

I gave you a like ike. For your social warrioring, not for the post. But that wasn't anywhere near the "biggest upset" of forever. Not even close.

UTEP was ranked #3 and were 27-1. They were a great team with a great coach. Kentucky was ranked #1.

I know guys like you and manatee just can't help yourselves from always going there though.

[Barrister]

1984 Syracuse upset number 1 Nebraska. The week before syracuse lost to Rutgers 19-0. The spread was 25, so not the longest odds of all time, but Nebraska was a machine and no one on planet earth thought they could lose that day.

[NickZepp84]

1966
Texas Western over Kentucky

Probably the biggest upset of all time

Nova over Georgetown in 85, Arizona over Kentucky in 97, and NC State over Phi Slamma Jamma were all bigger championship game upsets off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others.

[ChocoLab]

2013 Iron Bowl wasn't a "big" upset but it worth watching just to see Saban's face at the end. Bama was a 10.5 favorite.

One of the most amazing and memorable plays I've ever seen.

I've watched that replay probably 100 times and every time I'm afraid #27 is going to run into Davis and knock him down at the end.

[KCRuf/Nek]

Nova over Georgetown in 85, Arizona over Kentucky in 97, and NC State over Phi Slamma Jamma were all bigger championship game upsets off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others.

Houston should have named their score. For some reason Lewis took his foot off the gas and practically played stall ball. Not that NCSt wasn’t talented but Houston was a bunch of stars.

[LT-OU]

Speaking of USC. Kick back, get a nice cool beverage, a snack of your choice, and enjoy this gem.

Feels great to say it- Better them than us.

[DarrellS]

I had Tulane favored by 2 points over USC.