No. 1
The last two weeks, #1 has fallen. This hasn’t happened since 1990.
the last time an unranked team beat No. 1 two weeks in a row, until this month
| Event | Winner | Loser | Season | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duquesne 21, No. 1 Pittsburgh 13 | Duquesne | Pittsburgh | 1939 | Oct 21, 1939 |
| Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 13 | Auburn | Georgia | 1942 | Nov 21, 1942 |
| Holy Cross 55, No. 1 Boston College 12 | Holy Cross | Boston College | 1942 | Nov 28, 1942 |
| Great Lakes Navy 19, No. 1 Notre Dame 14 | Great Lakes Navy | Notre Dame | 1943 | Nov 27, 1943 |
| Purdue 28, No. 1 Notre Dame 14 | Purdue | Notre Dame | 1950 | Oct 7, 1950 |
| Ohio State 23, No. 1 Wisconsin 14 | Ohio State | Wisconsin | 1952 | Oct 11, 1952 |
| Illinois 20, No. 1 Michigan State 13 | Illinois | Michigan State | 1956 | Oct 27, 1956 |
| Purdue 20, No. 1 Michigan State 13 | Purdue | Michigan State | 1957 | Oct 19, 1957 |
| Purdue 23, No. 1 Minnesota 14 | Purdue | Minnesota | 1960 | Nov 12, 1960 |
| Kansas 23, No. 1 Missouri 7 | Kansas | Missouri | 1960 | Nov 19, 1960 |
| Minnesota 13, No. 1 Michigan State 0 | Minnesota | Michigan State | 1961 | Nov 4, 1961 |
| TCU 6, No. 1 Texas 0 | TCU | Texas | 1961 | Nov 18, 1961 |
| UCLA 9, No. 1 Ohio State 7 | UCLA | Ohio State | 1962 | Oct 6, 1962 |
| Georgia Tech 7, No. 1 Alabama 6 | Georgia Tech | Alabama | 1962 | Nov 17, 1962 |
| Kentucky 27, No. 1 Ole Miss 21 | Kentucky | Ole Miss | 1964 | Sep 26, 1964 |
| USC 20, No. 1 Notre Dame 17 | USC | Notre Dame | 1964 | Nov 28, 1964 |
| Oregon State 3, No. 1 USC 0 | Oregon State | USC | 1967 | Nov 11, 1967 |
| UCLA 20, No. 1 Nebraska 17 | UCLA | Nebraska | 1972 | Sep 9, 1972 |
| Michigan State 16, No. 1 Ohio State 13 | Michigan State | Ohio State | 1974 | Nov 9, 1974 |
| Purdue 16, No. 1 Michigan 14 | Purdue | Michigan | 1976 | Nov 6, 1976 |
| Minnesota 16, No. 1 Michigan 0 | Minnesota | Michigan | 1977 | Oct 22, 1977 |
| Mississippi State 6, No. 1 Alabama 3 | Mississippi State | Alabama | 1980 | Nov 1, 1980 |
| Wisconsin 21, No. 1 Michigan 14 | Wisconsin | Michigan | 1981 | Sep 12, 1981 |
| Arizona 13, No. 1 USC 10 | Arizona | USC | 1981 | Oct 10, 1981 |
| Arkansas 42, No. 1 Texas 11 | Arkansas | Texas | 1981 | Oct 17, 1981 |
| Miami 17, No. 1 Penn State 14 | Miami | Penn State | 1981 | Oct 31, 1981 |
| Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Pittsburgh 16 | Notre Dame | Pittsburgh | 1982 | Nov 6, 1982 |
| Syracuse 17, No. 1 Nebraska 9 | Syracuse | Nebraska | 1984 | Sep 29, 1984 |
| Tennessee 38, No. 1 Auburn 20 | Tennessee | Auburn | 1985 | Sep 28, 1985 |
| Washington State 34, No. 1 UCLA 30 | Washington State | UCLA | 1988 | Oct 29, 1988 |
| Stanford 36, No. 1 Notre Dame 31 | Stanford | Notre Dame | 1990 | Oct 6, 1990 |
| Michigan State 28, No. 1 Michigan 27 | Michigan State | Michigan | 1990 | Oct 13, 1990 |
| Michigan State 28, No. 1 Ohio State 24 | Michigan State | Ohio State | 1998 | Nov 7, 1998 |
| Auburn 23, No. 1 Florida 20 | Auburn | Florida | 2001 | Oct 13, 2001 |
| Texas A&M 30, No. 1 Oklahoma 26 | Texas A&M | Oklahoma | 2002 | Nov 9, 2002 |
| Illinois 28, No. 1 Ohio State 21 | Illinois | Ohio State | 2007 | Nov 10, 2007 |
| Arkansas 50, No. 1 LSU 48 | Arkansas | LSU | 2007 | Nov 23, 2007 |
| Oregon State 27, No. 1 USC 21 | Oregon State | USC | 2008 | Sep 25, 2008 |
| Texas A&M 41, No. 1 Alabama 38 | Texas A&M | Alabama | 2021 | Oct 9, 2021. Alabama was favored by 18.5 |
| Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35 | Vanderbilt | Alabama | 2024 | Oct 5, 2024. Alabama was favored by 23 |
| Oklahoma 27, No. 1 Texas 24 | Oklahoma | Texas | 2026 | Oct 10, 2026. Texas was favored by 8 |
| Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24 | Auburn | Georgia | 2026 | Oct 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.
By Mason2 min read
For 13 years, being No. 1 in the AP poll came with a near guarantee. You might lose, but not to somebody unranked.
From September 2008, when Oregon State took down USC on a Thursday night, to October 2021, the No. 1 team went 166–20. All 20 losses came against ranked teams.
Oklahoma beat No. 1 Texas 27–24 on October 10. Seven days later Auburn walked into Athens as a 19.5-point underdog and beat No. 1 Georgia, 27–24 again. That’s four unranked teams over No. 1 in the last five years, after none in the 13 before.
Two weeks in a row is statistically improbable. The last time was October 1990 when Stanford beat No. 1 Notre Dame, and the very next Saturday Michigan State beat the new No. 1, Michigan, 28–27. It has only happened five times since the AP poll began in 1936 (1942, 1960, 1981, 1990 and now). Add Ohio State’s 24–23 loss to Texas in September and three different No. 1 teams have already lost this season, with half of it still to play.
These come in waves
Look at the chart and the stamps bunch together. The early 1960s were chaos. 1981 alone had four: Wisconsin, Arizona, Arkansas and Miami all beat a No. 1 while unranked. Then the 2010s went the whole decade without one.
My guess is the empty years on the chart say more about how good the No. 1 teams were than about luck. Either way, the quiet period might be over. Could this be NIL parity? Could it be the transfer portal? I’m not too sure.
The usual suspects
Nobody has pulled this off more than Purdue: four times (Notre Dame in 1950, Michigan State in 1957, Minnesota in 1960, Michigan in 1976). Auburn and Michigan State have three each. Texas A&M has two, both against powerhouses: Oklahoma in 2002 and Alabama in 2021.
So, Miami
Miami is the new No. 1 and hosts Pitt on Saturday. As of Monday, Saturday’s model has Miami by about 20, almost exactly where Georgia stood against Auburn.
That sounds safe. It isn’t quite. Since 2013, favorites of 17 to 23 points have lost outright 100 times in 1,164 games, about one in 12. Georgia was one of them on Saturday.