(HIJACK) What a week for College Football Upsets!

[Phil C]

Originally posted by ziggy29
And though it can't be called *too* much of an upset, the magnitude of the can #9 Alabama is opening on #3 Georgia -- 31-0 Tide at halftime and AT Georgia -- is rather prodigious...

I agree ziggy. It isn't as much an upset when a lower ranked team beats a higher ranked team. But still with Georgia being down so much at halftime is the surprise.

It is like when No. 2 Texas beat No. 1 Oklahoma in 1963 28 to 7. Oklahoma was a one point favorite but the surprise was the difference in the score. In 1963 defenses really dominated so that a 28 to 7 score would be like at 42 to 7 score today. The same thing happened when No. 1 and one point favorite beat No. Navy in that Cotton Bowl 28 to 6. Navy was a one point undergot but there was heavy betting on them and a lot of people thought they would win.

[Phil C]

Probably the greatest Giant Killer as far as unranked teams go was the TCU team of 1961. That was a strange team. When they were good they were great but when they were bad they were terrible. They had a losing season record that year at 3 - 5 -2. The year before they had a 4 -4 - 2 record so they were not a powerhouse as indicated by their record.

Yet in 1961 they had two big upsets that cost those two wins the National Championship. First they had the a minor upset of beating a final 7 - 3 Kansas team 17 to 16.
Next was their first big upset. They tied Ohio State 7 to 7 as qb Sonny Gibbs led the Horned Frogs to a tying td and made a td saving interception late in the 4th quarter. This was the only blemish on Ohio State's Record and no doubt coast them the National Championship. Also bear in mind that in this game and the next one TCU pulled off these upsets on the road.

The biggest upset of 1961 happened later in the season as TCU upset Texas 6 - 0 and this may have been the biggest upset in history. This cost Texas the National Championship. During that season Texas had scored at least 25 points per game except for the TCU game and had allowed only one td per game except for a 42 to 14 win over Texas Tech. Texas lost its' star running back in that game but even so with their talent they should have got the points to win. One big mistake the Horns made is that several times they got in field goal range but went for it on fourth down instead of getting fields which would have won the game.

Many feel that TCU was more of an underachieving team that a giant killer. Many feel they should have been playing all yer long like they did against Ohio State and Texas and they should have had a highly ranked team. I don't know if that is so but they did have a losing record and cost two teams the NC. I don't know if an unranked team has ever done that to two teams in the same year.