Saturday

MASON’S MUSINGS

Upsets, covers and the teams that never live up to their talent. One deep cut a week.

No. 1

The last two weeks, #1 has fallen. This hasn’t happened since 1990.

1990

the last time an unranked team beat No. 1 two weeks in a row, until this month

Every time No. 1 lost to an unranked teamAP poll No. 1 at kickoff, regular season, 1936 to now. Each stamp is the team that pulled the upset. Source: CollegeFootballData.com.
Every time No. 1 lost to an unranked team
EventWinnerLoserSeasonNote
Duquesne 21, No. 1 Pittsburgh 13DuquesnePittsburgh1939Oct 21, 1939
Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 13AuburnGeorgia1942Nov 21, 1942
Holy Cross 55, No. 1 Boston College 12Holy CrossBoston College1942Nov 28, 1942
Great Lakes Navy 19, No. 1 Notre Dame 14Great Lakes NavyNotre Dame1943Nov 27, 1943
Purdue 28, No. 1 Notre Dame 14PurdueNotre Dame1950Oct 7, 1950
Ohio State 23, No. 1 Wisconsin 14Ohio StateWisconsin1952Oct 11, 1952
Illinois 20, No. 1 Michigan State 13IllinoisMichigan State1956Oct 27, 1956
Purdue 20, No. 1 Michigan State 13PurdueMichigan State1957Oct 19, 1957
Purdue 23, No. 1 Minnesota 14PurdueMinnesota1960Nov 12, 1960
Kansas 23, No. 1 Missouri 7KansasMissouri1960Nov 19, 1960
Minnesota 13, No. 1 Michigan State 0MinnesotaMichigan State1961Nov 4, 1961
TCU 6, No. 1 Texas 0TCUTexas1961Nov 18, 1961
UCLA 9, No. 1 Ohio State 7UCLAOhio State1962Oct 6, 1962
Georgia Tech 7, No. 1 Alabama 6Georgia TechAlabama1962Nov 17, 1962
Kentucky 27, No. 1 Ole Miss 21KentuckyOle Miss1964Sep 26, 1964
USC 20, No. 1 Notre Dame 17USCNotre Dame1964Nov 28, 1964
Oregon State 3, No. 1 USC 0Oregon StateUSC1967Nov 11, 1967
UCLA 20, No. 1 Nebraska 17UCLANebraska1972Sep 9, 1972
Michigan State 16, No. 1 Ohio State 13Michigan StateOhio State1974Nov 9, 1974
Purdue 16, No. 1 Michigan 14PurdueMichigan1976Nov 6, 1976
Minnesota 16, No. 1 Michigan 0MinnesotaMichigan1977Oct 22, 1977
Mississippi State 6, No. 1 Alabama 3Mississippi StateAlabama1980Nov 1, 1980
Wisconsin 21, No. 1 Michigan 14WisconsinMichigan1981Sep 12, 1981
Arizona 13, No. 1 USC 10ArizonaUSC1981Oct 10, 1981
Arkansas 42, No. 1 Texas 11ArkansasTexas1981Oct 17, 1981
Miami 17, No. 1 Penn State 14MiamiPenn State1981Oct 31, 1981
Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Pittsburgh 16Notre DamePittsburgh1982Nov 6, 1982
Syracuse 17, No. 1 Nebraska 9SyracuseNebraska1984Sep 29, 1984
Tennessee 38, No. 1 Auburn 20TennesseeAuburn1985Sep 28, 1985
Washington State 34, No. 1 UCLA 30Washington StateUCLA1988Oct 29, 1988
Stanford 36, No. 1 Notre Dame 31StanfordNotre Dame1990Oct 6, 1990
Michigan State 28, No. 1 Michigan 27Michigan StateMichigan1990Oct 13, 1990
Michigan State 28, No. 1 Ohio State 24Michigan StateOhio State1998Nov 7, 1998
Auburn 23, No. 1 Florida 20AuburnFlorida2001Oct 13, 2001
Texas A&M 30, No. 1 Oklahoma 26Texas A&MOklahoma2002Nov 9, 2002
Illinois 28, No. 1 Ohio State 21IllinoisOhio State2007Nov 10, 2007
Arkansas 50, No. 1 LSU 48ArkansasLSU2007Nov 23, 2007
Oregon State 27, No. 1 USC 21Oregon StateUSC2008Sep 25, 2008
Texas A&M 41, No. 1 Alabama 38Texas A&MAlabama2021Oct 9, 2021. Alabama was favored by 18.5
Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35VanderbiltAlabama2024Oct 5, 2024. Alabama was favored by 23
Oklahoma 27, No. 1 Texas 24OklahomaTexas2026Oct 10, 2026. Texas was favored by 8
Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24AuburnGeorgia2026Oct 17, 2026. Georgia was favored by 19.5

For 13 years no unranked team beat the No. 1 team in the country. Now it has happened four times in five years, twice this month.

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