Top 5 college upsets in football of all time

#51
#51
What about Tennessee/Miami 1986 Sugar Bowl? I don't remember the line and I was a little kid but I do remember nobody giving UT a chance. Jimmy Johnson was already assuming the win.

Edit: looks like we were only 8.5 point underdogs.
 
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#52
#52
1. Appalachian State 34 - No. 5 Michigan 32 (2007)

2. James Madison 21 - No. 13 Virginia Tech 16 (2010)

3. Cincinnati 14 - No. 20 Penn State 3 (1983)

4. Eastern Washington 49 - No. 25 Oregon State 46 (2013)
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Four FCS to beat FBS teams.
 
#53
#53
bamawriter will be interested to know that per the stat geeks at the Elias Sports Bureau, the biggest upset in college football history occurred on September 12, 1981 in Birmingham, Alabama when Georgia Tech beat #2 Alabama 24-21. It was the only game Georgia Tech would win all season long while Alabama went 7-0 in the SEC and 9-2-1 overall including a blowout win at #5 Penn State.

Here are the results of Georgia Tech and Alabama in 1981:

Georgia Tech (1-10)

@ Alabama #2 W 24-21 (Birmingham)
@ Florida L 6-27
Memphis L 15-28
North Carolina #6 L 7-28
@ Tennessee L 7-10
Auburn L 7-31
@ Tulane L 10-27
Duke L 24-38
@ Notre Dame L 3-35
Navy L 14-20
Georgia #3 L 7-44

Alabama (9-2-1, 7-0)

@ LSU W 24-7
Georgia Tech L 21-24 (Birmingham)
@Kentucky W 19-10
@ Vanderbilt W 28-7
Mississippi W 38-7
Southern Miss T 13-13
Tennessee W 38-19 (Birmingham)
Rutgers W 31-7
Mississippi State #7 W 13-10
@ Penn State #5 W 31-16
Auburn W 28-17 (Birmingham)
Texas #6 L 12-14 (Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas)
 
#54
#54
BowlBrother85 said:
bamawriter will be interested to know that per the stat geeks at the Elias Sports Bureau, the biggest upset in college football history occurred on September 12, 1981 in Birmingham, Alabama when Georgia Tech beat #2 Alabama 24-21. It was the only game Georgia Tech would win all season long while Alabama went 7-0 in the SEC and 9-2-1 overall including a blowout win at Penn State.
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Totally forgot that one. That would definitely be up there for sure. Worst loss of Bryant's tenure.
 
#55
#55
bamawriter said:
Totally forgot that one. That would definitely be up there for sure. Worst loss of Bryant's tenure.
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It is the only time that a 1 win team's sole victory came over an opponent who finished the season ranked in the top 10 (and it came on the road at that - Birmingham). Alabama finished the 1981 season ranked #7 in the AP poll. Georgia Tech scored 7 points or less in 6 of their 11 games in 1981 but scored 24 at Alabama who had one of the best defenses in the country in '81. That was just bizarre.
 
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#56
#56
TennFan said:
Mine would be:
1. Appachalain St vs. Michigan, 2007, 34-32
2. Boise St. vs. Oklahoma 2007, 43-42 (I actually picked this one)
3. James Madison vs. Virginia Tech 2010, 21-16
4. Carnegie Tech vs. Notre Dame 1926, 19-0
5. Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma 1957, 7-0
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The Carnegie Tech game was a shocker, just didn't see it coming.
 
#57
#57
Top 5 Vol Upsets I don't go back as far as some of you, but here are mine.

1986 Sugar Vols
Miracle at South Bend
2005 @ LSU - The Katrina game. About the only highlight of the 2005 season.
2001 Drained the Swamp
2003 @ Miami
 
#58
#58
JackBombero said:
Top 5 Vol Upsets I don't go back as far as some of you, but here are mine.

1986 Sugar Vols
Miracle at South Bend
2005 @ LSU - The Katrina game. About the only highlight of the 2005 season.
2001 Drained the Swamp
2003 @ Miami
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1982 Alabama and 1959 LSU should be in there and I'd probably put '04 UGA ahead of the '03 Miami win. I'm only 33 so can't recall a lot of specific games pre-1990's but the first game I do remember watching was the '89 win at UCLA. I believe they were ranked 5/6, so that would be an honorable mention for me.
 
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#59
#59
Boston Vol said:
1982 Alabama and 1959 LSU should be in there and I'd probably put '04 UGA ahead of the '03 Miami win. I'm only 33 so can't recall a lot of specific games pre-1990's but the first game I do remember watching was the '89 win at UCLA. I believe they were ranked 5/6, so that would be an honorable mention for me.
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59 LSU is definitely on the list of all time great tennessee upsets.
I was listing games I witnessed. I put Miami over Georgia do to the fact Miami had a 26 game home winning streak. I forgot about UCLA. That was a great game. And when Auburn brought Bo Jackson to town and Tennessee ran em out of Neyland.
 
#60
#60
VolsSportsFan said:
What about Tennessee/Miami 1986 Sugar Bowl? I don't remember the line and I was a little kid but I do remember nobody giving UT a chance. Jimmy Johnson was already assuming the win.

Edit: looks like we were only 8.5 point underdogs.
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The Vols were #4 while Miami was #2.
 
#62
#62
JackBombero said:
Top 5 Vol Upsets I don't go back as far as some of you, but here are mine.

1986 Sugar Vols
Miracle at South Bend
2005 @ LSU - The Katrina game. About the only highlight of the 2005 season.
2001 Drained the Swamp
2003 @ Miami
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That game was memorable because of the comeback, but we were ranked #10 and they were #4. I don't remember what the line was but I don't think it was that big.
 
#63
#63
VolsSportsFan said:
That game was memorable because of the comeback, but we were ranked #10 and they were #4. I don't remember what the line was but I don't think it was that big.
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We were a 6 point dawg.

That was a painful year otherwise...my handle is inspired by it :)

Lost at home by 13 to Georgia as a 3 point fave, lost at home by a point to South Carolina as a 13 point fave, lost to Vandy at home by 4 as an 11 point fave.
 
#64
#64
05_never_again said:
We were a 6 point dawg.

That was a painful year otherwise...my handle is inspired by it :)

Lost at home by 13 to Georgia as a 3 point fave, lost at home by a point to South Carolina as a 13 point fave, lost to Vandy at home by 4 as an 11 point fave.
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Yeah, I can see how people would consider it a big upset based on how badly we got down and how the season played out, but before the game it was a pretty close matchup.

That was also the fumble 6-3 game vs. Alabama, and it was a typically frustrating loss to Florida where we weren't blown out but we just couldn't get anything going offensively all night. Also wasn't that the game that the punter decided to try and throw a pass on 4th down that wasn't called?
 
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#66
#66
Has no one mentioned GA tech beating FSU last season?? Tech finished 3-9 and FSU finished 10-3.
 
#67
#67
salutethehill said:
There it is. For some perspective:

In 2007, Michigan finished 9-4 and ranked in the top 20.
App St. finished the season 13-2 and won their 3rd consecutive NCAA Div I-AA National Championship.

In 1996, Tennessee finished the season at 10-2 and ranked #9 in both polls.
Memphis finished 4-7, in a crappy conference, against a crappy schedule.

I think Memphis is the bigger upset.
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Yeah I still can't believe that happened.
 
#68
#68
billford said:
Yeah I still can't believe that happened.
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I was there with about 4 other guys. 2 were friends and 2 were 1 of my friends' roommates. The 2 roommates were from up north and had no dog in the hunt and were rooting for Memphis just to be funny but by the end of the game they were as speechless as we were.

I distinctly remember silently walking back to the car, and about 20 minutes later on the interstate one of my friends just broke the silence with "Did that just really happen?"
 
#70
#70
VolsSportsFan said:
I was there with about 4 other guys. 2 were friends and 2 were 1 of my friends' roommates. The 2 roommates were from up north and had no dog in the hunt and were rooting for Memphis just to be funny but by the end of the game they were as speechless as we were.

I distinctly remember silently walking back to the car, and about 20 minutes later on the interstate one of my friends just broke the silence with "Did that just really happen?"
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My parents live in Collierville. When I visit, I still hear about this game once in a while. It's memory has faded but still very much exists...
 
#71
#71
hndog609 said:
A Brett Favre led S Miss team taking down FSU is a good one.
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Favre was on that team in 1989 that beat FSU, Reggie Collier was the QB in 1981 that beat FSU. Both were big but the first one is the one I remember.
 
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#73
#73
TennFan said:
Mine would be:
1. Appachalain St vs. Michigan, 2007, 34-32
2. Boise St. vs. Oklahoma 2007, 43-42 (I actually picked this one)
3. James Madison vs. Virginia Tech 2010, 21-16
4. Carnegie Tech vs. Notre Dame 1926, 19-0
5. Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma 1957, 7-0
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I will add one..2000 a first year Nick Saban is at LSU and he lost to UAB. They lost to AU and UAB back to back weekends then the next weekend the #11 ranked Vols lose to LSU in Death Valley. Damn we couldn't even beat Saban that same year that UAB beat them.Damn I hate Nick Saban lol
 
#75
#75
StarRaider said:
1989 #6 UCLA 6 Unranked Tennessee 24 (at the Rose Bowl).
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That falls into a bit of a different category. At the time the game was played it seemed like an upset but then UCLA went 3-7-1 and Tennessee went 11-1. So in retrospect, would you still consider it an upset?
 
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