Biggest Upset in College Football History?

[fishwax]

When Appalachian State beat Michigan earlier this year, there was some discussion as to where it stood among the greatest upsets ever, and a preseason top 5 team losing to a Div I-AA school at home certainly ranks among the great upsets of all time.

But as was pointed out at the time, it wasn't the biggest upset in terms of the point spread.

USC losing to Stanford, though, might very well be. Stanford was a 38 point underdog when the line opened, and I saw 41 points somewhere as well, making the Cardinal win, quite possibly, the biggest upset in the history of college football.

Here's a link to some other great upsets: http://www.gamblingonlinemagazine.com/article-detail.php?articleID=314

1985 Oregon State (+36) tops Washington, 21-20
1985 UTEP (+36) over BYU, 23-16
1972 Missouri (+35) beat Notre Dame, 30-26
1974 Purdue (+34) at Notre Dame, 31-20
1992 Iowa State (+29) over Nebraska, 19-10
1969 San Jose State (+29) at Oregon, 36-34
1995 Northwestern (+28) over Notre Dame, 17-15
1942 Holy Cross (+28) beats Boston College, 55-12

[kurth]

1. Perhaps Appalachian State was a complete unknown to most people

unlike Stanford.

[Awsi Dooger]

2. Definitely

I've been posting threads in that regard on some college football sites. As a USC alum I'm still stunned.

The game closed between -39 and -40 after being as high as -41. That is higher than Louisville a few weeks ago against Syracuse. They were favored by -37.5 at gametime.

The Appalachian St game will probably remain more famous but this result is the biggest upset ever in pointspread terms. Michigan closed at about -25.

The only positive, from my perspective: USC's home winning streak ends at 35. That was the current threat to Miami's 58 game record home streak at the Orange Bowl. I still can't believe they're going to tear down the building that housed the longest pro and college home winning streaks, but it appears inevitable.