The year of the upset: Ranking 2007 college football's biggest shockers

THE YEAR OF THE UPSET. If the best season in sports history has a nickname, that’s it.

Let’s rank those upsets, with the benefit of hindsight.

11. Colorado 27, No. 3 Oklahoma 24 (betting line: -23.5, per Odds Shark database)
10. No. 9 West Virginia 48, No. 3 Oklahoma 28 (-6)

The WVU-OU Fiesta Bowl wasn’t quite the NOBODY BELIEVED IN US shocker it’s remembered as, other than the big margin. But listen to Owen Schmitt talk about the very sad ESPN.com poll widget failing very badly, and it’ll feel like Muhammad Ali gave Joseph Stalin a Stone Cold Stunner on the moon.

The Sooners pulled off some totally 2007 magic, losing three different games as the No. 3 team. (Texas Tech was the other.)

9. Syracuse 38, No. 18 Louisville 35 (-37.5)

Numerically, one of the biggest upsets ever, and who even remembers it?

8. The three times No. 1 lost, other than the two astounding times

These weren’t that brain-breaking by themselves, but put them together ...

... and that’d be a season’s worth of drama right there.

7. All the times No. 2 lost, other than the two unbelievable times

The lesser five, ranked as a group:

6. Arkansas 50, No. 1 LSU 48 (-13.5)

The other time the eventual national champ lost in triple overtime. Kentucky was at least ranked and playing at home. This one was in Baton Rouge.

5. Illinois 28, No. 1 Ohio State 21 (-15.5)

One power-conference team hadn’t yet been mastered by 2007. The 10-0 Buckeyes had barely broken a sweat. OSU’s defense was among the best ever.

AND THEN JUICE WILLIAMS STRUCK.

4. ULM 21, Alabama 14 (-24.5)

Nick Saban’s first Bama team was a lot better than you remember, other than the fact that it lost to a mediocre Sun Belt team.

However, it lost to a mediocre Sun Belt team.

Never forget: Saban lost to a mediocre Sun Belt team.

3. Pitt 13, No. 2 West Virginia 9 (-28.5)

The year’s most consequential shocker. It wrecked a WVU title trip and gave Pitt fans an eternal trash talk trump card. I don’t know of a rivalry game that’s left a deeper scar.

2. Stanford 24, No. 2 USC 23 (-39)

It’s been called the biggest point-spread upset ever, with some books listing it as high as 41.5 points. It was the world’s intro to Jim Harbaugh’s coaching potential, launched the Harbaugh-Pete Carroll rivalry, and hinted at Stanford’s return to power status after three disappointing decades.

1. FCS Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32 (-33)

"The horror," as Wolverines fans have come to refer to it, of FCS Appalachian State’s 2007-opening upset over No. 5 Michigan set the tone for college football’s most unpredictable season. It’s sometimes called the greatest upset in football history.

It also struck a blow for the spread offense as football’s great equalizer.

"We had watched a lot of film of their game against Ohio State, and Michigan was having a hard time stopping the spread," QB Armanti Edwards later told ESPN. "That gave us a lot of confidence."

His Mountaineers were about to make an emphatic point about the direction of football. The plan was to emphasize the battles between their senior skill players and Michigan’s.

When the battle was in the trenches, Michigan had a decisive advantage. Long and company were powerful athletes that App State couldn’t match. The Michigan OL averaged 6’5, 302 pounds, while the App State OL averaged 6’3, 276 pounds.

"Our D-line wasn't doing the best of jobs, and they had Jake Long sitting there throwing people around," Corey Lynch, who blocked the final kick, later told ESPN.

But when the battle was out in space, Appalachian State was superior.

Game hero Dexter Jackson to SI: "We knew we wanted to spread them out. They had bigger bodies. They were more physical than us when it came to size. We knew we were fast."

LB Pierre Banks to SI: "They were bigger than us, but we were faster than them."

Here are the strategic choices App State made that resulted in the revolutionary upset.

There have been bigger Vegas upsets. App State was about to three-peat as its subdivision’s national champ. A ranked FBS/I-A team had lost to a lower-subdivision team before (Cincinnati was temporarily considered I-AA when it beat No. 20 Penn State in 1983). The Mountaineers had some future NFL players, including sophomore QB Armanti Edwards. App State would win a 2016 Sun Belt title share as an FBS member.

But.

Still.

Michigan had been one score away from making the BCS Championship the year prior and was favored to win the Big Ten. UM regularly ranks as one of the two winningest programs ever, depending on how Notre Dame’s doing. App State had lost most of its defensive front seven. The Wolverines had 22 more scholarship players, home-field advantage in a 109,000-seat stadium, and resource advantages across the board. Many Vegas books didn’t even list the game. And it was the debut game for the Big Ten Network, selected to show off the conference’s strength.

On paper, I don’t know if it’s the biggest upset ever. The ‘Neers were good, and everybody knew it.

It towers in our minds because it’s Michigan at the Big House, because it signified a revolution in football offense, and because we hadn’t yet seen somewhat similar upsets by 2010 James Madison (21-16 vs. No. 13 Virginia Tech), 2013 Eastern Washington (49-46 vs. No. 25 Oregon State), and 2016 North Dakota State (23-21 vs. No. 13 Iowa), not that any of those really compare. The FCS-over-FBS upset might never again feel as apocalyptic as this one did.

Just as big as the brand names was the fact that this game kicked off the greatest season ever. This was the roadside flare, the wake-up punch to the nose, and the first present under the tree.

Nah, let’s keep going.

No. 20 Georgia 42, No. 9 Florida 30 (-7.5)

"And here comes the entire team!"

"This was planned!"

That would backfire.

Kansas State 41, No. 7 Texas 21 (-14.5)
Texas A&M 38, No. 13 Texas 30 (-7)

The wildest part: This wasn’t even Texas stepfather Bill Snyder doing the upsetting. This was short-tenured, second-year stand-in Ron Prince.

No, wait. The wildest part: A&M’s head coach resigned immediately afterward amid revelations he’d run a for-pay newsletter about his own team.

Utah 44, No. 11 UCLA 6 (-15)

If you beat Vegas by 53 points, you must be mentioned.

Navy 46, Notre Dame 44 (-3.5)

A tiny upset in isolation — the Irish were terrible, going without an AP ranking at any point for the first time in 43 years — but it’d been that same number of years since the Midshipmen had beaten ND, the longest rivalry streak in college football history.

Auburn 20, No. 4 Florida 17 (-17.5)

Here’s a fun thing: Go up to a Gators fan and whisper Wes Byrum’s name. I didn’t say it would be fun for you or for that Gators fan.

USF 26, No. 17 Auburn 23 (-7)
No. 18 USF 21, No. 5 West Virginia 13 (-7)

Some of this year’s surprise No. 2 teams arrived there via attrition. The Bulls, the most perplexing No. 2 of all, did it by beating higher-ranked schools that’d had football programs for about a century longer.

Maryland 34, No. 10 Rutgers 24 (-18.5)

what in tarnation

Virginia 48, Miami 0 (-3.5)

The Canes’ last game at the Orange Bowl stadium, home of their five national title teams, saw them suffer the worst shutout loss by any team in venue history.

Nah, let’s keep going.

All the FBS games won by the lower-ranked team in 2007

Date Winner Score Loser Score
Date Winner Score Loser Score
Sep. 1 Appalachian State (FCS) 34 No. 5 Michigan 32
Sep. 3 Clemson 24 No. 19 Florida State 18
Sep. 8 South Carolina 16 No. 11 Georgia 12
Sep. 8 USF 26 No. 17 Auburn 23
Sep. 8 Washington 24 No. 22 Boise State 10
Sep. 15 Kentucky 40 No. 9 Louisville 34
Sep. 15 Utah 44 No. 11 UCLA 6
Sep. 15 No. 21 Boston College 24 No. 15 Georgia Tech 10
Sep. 15 Alabama 41 No. 16 Arkansas 38
Sep. 20 Miami 34 No. 20 Texas A&M 17
Sep. 22 Michigan 14 No. 10 Penn State 9
Sep. 22 No. 22 Georgia 26 No. 16 Alabama 23
Sep. 22 Syracuse 38 No. 18 Louisville 35
Sep. 28 No. 18 USF 21 No. 5 West Virginia 13
Sep. 29 Colorado 27 No. 3 Oklahoma 24
Sep. 29 Auburn 20 No. 4 Florida 17
Sep. 29 Kansas State 41 No. 7 Texas 21
Sep. 29 Maryland 34 No. 10 Rutgers 24
Sep. 29 No. 6 Cal 31 No. 11 Oregon 24
Sep. 29 Georgia Tech 13 No. 13 Clemson 3
Sep. 29 Illinois 27 No. 21 Penn State 20
Sep. 29 Florida State 21 No. 22 Alabama 14
Oct. 4 No. 11 South Carolina 38 No. 8 Kentucky 23
Oct. 6 Stanford 24 No. 2 USC 23
Oct. 6 Illinois 31 No. 5 Wisconsin 26
Oct. 6 Tennessee 35 No. 12 Georgia 14
Oct. 6 No. 20 Cincinnati 28 No. 21 Rutgers 23
Oct. 6 Kansas 30 No. 24 Kansas State 24
Oct. 11 Wake Forest 24 No. 21 Florida State 21
Oct. 13 No. 17 Kentucky 43 No. 1 LSU 37
Oct. 13 Oregon State 31 No. 2 Cal 28
Oct. 13 Louisville 28 No. 15 Cincinnati 24
Oct. 13 Iowa 10 No. 18 Illinois 6
Oct. 13 Penn State 38 No. 19 Wisconsin 7
Oct. 18 Rutgers 30 No. 2 USF 27
Oct. 20 Vanderbilt 17 No. 6 South Carolina 6
Oct. 20 No. 14 Florida 45 No. 8 Kentucky 37
Oct. 20 UCLA 30 No. 10 Cal 21
Oct. 20 Alabama 41 No. 20 Tennessee 17
Oct. 20 Pitt 24 No. 23 Cincinnati 17
Oct. 20 Oklahoma State 41 No. 25 Kansas State 39
Oct. 27 No. 20 Georgia 42 No. 9 Florida 30
Oct. 27 UConn 22 No. 11 USF 15
Oct. 27 Mississippi State 31 No. 14 Kentucky 14
Oct. 27 Tennessee 27 No. 15 South Carolina 24
Oct. 27 North Carolina 29 No. 21 Virginia 24
Nov. 3 Florida State 27 No. 2 Boston College 17
Nov. 3 Cincinnati 38 No. 20 USF 33
Nov. 3 Virginia 17 No. 21 Wake Forest 16
Nov. 3 Arkansas 48 No. 23 South Carolina 36
Nov. 10 Illinois 28 No. 1 Ohio State 21
Nov. 10 Maryland 42 No. 8 Boston College 35
Nov. 10 Wisconsin 37 No. 13 Michigan 21
Nov. 10 Cincinnati 27 No. 16 UConn 3
Nov. 10 Mississippi State 17 No. 21 Alabama 12
Nov. 15 Arizona 34 No. 2 Oregon 24
Nov. 17 Texas Tech 34 No. 3 Oklahoma 27
Nov. 17 No. 18 Boston College 20 No. 15 Clemson 17
Nov. 22 No. 11 USC 44 No. 7 Arizona State 24
Nov. 23 Arkansas 50 No. 1 LSU 48
Nov. 23 Texas A&M 38 No. 13 Texas 30
Nov. 24 No. 3 Missouri 36 No. 2 Kansas 28
Nov. 24 UCLA 16 No. 9 Oregon 0
Dec. 1 No. 9 Oklahoma 38 No. 1 Missouri 17
Dec. 1 Pitt 13 No. 2 West Virginia 9
Dec. 1 Oregon State 38 No. 18 Oregon 31
Dec. 23 East Carolina 41 No. 24 Boise State 38
Dec. 27 No. 17 Texas 52 No. 12 Arizona State 34
Dec. 31 No. 22 Auburn 23 No. 15 Clemson 20
Dec. 31 Oregon 56 No. 23 USF 21
Jan. 1 Michigan 41 No. 9 Florida 35
Jan. 1 Texas Tech 31 No. 21 Virginia 28
Jan. 2 No. 11 West Virginia 48 No. 3 Oklahoma 28
Jan. 3 No. 8 Kansas 24 No. 5 Virginia Tech 21
Jan. 7 No. 2 LSU 38 No. 1 Ohio State 24
Sports-Reference

This post's author and Shutdown Fullback co-hosts Spencer Hall and Ryan Nanni go back and try to rank the 10 dumbest things that happened during the 2007 season: