2017’s opening Saturday had college football’s 2 unlikeliest upsets since THE YEAR OF THE UPSET itself

Remember the 2007 college football season? A single year had arguably the three biggest upsets in the history of the sport, and no year will ever top that.

But if you compare 2017’s big opening weekend (after the Week 0 on Aug. 26) to an average college football weekend, this season already has a major case of madness. ESPN’s FPI — an opponent-adjusted analytics system that is roughly as good as most advanced-stat rankings, despite how much it annoys some fans who just don’t like ESPN — says Sept. 2, 2017 had the two biggest upsets since THE YEAR OF THE UPSET ended:

Howard’s win was the biggest Vegas point spread upset in the history of the sport, with the Bison beating a 45.5-point line thanks to the arm and legs of Cam Newton’s little brother.

And Baylor lost to a Liberty team that won’t be fully FBS for another two years, giving up 585 yards of offense and looking like a comedy sketch on defense.

Also, Maryland beating No. 23 Texas in Austin isn’t near as big a shocker, but it was still a ranked team going down right away.

Every year, college football fans like to try and invoke the spirits of 2007, conjuring as much wildness as possible. 2017 can’t top that level of mayhem, but all my fellow mayhem appreciators should take note.