Upset (competition)

For other uses, see Upset (disambiguation).

Upset is a term used when referring to a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports. When an upset occurs, the party popularly expected to win (the favorite) is defeated by an underdog the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom.

Examples of major upsets in politics

• 1948 - Unpopular Democratic United States President Harry Truman defeats the highly favored Republican candidate Thomas Dewey, which resulted in one of the most famous newspaper headlines, "Dewey Defeats Truman".
• 1990 - Paul Wellstone, an underfunded professor, defeats popular Senator Rudy Boschwitz in the United States Senate race. In Texas, Ann Richards defeats Clayton Williams in the race for Texas governor.
• 1994 - Texas Republican George W. Bush defeats highly favored and very popular Democratic incumbent Ann Richards in the race for Texas governor.
• 2006 - Dave Loebsack a Democrat and a political science professor at Cornell College defeats 30 year incumbent Iowa congressman Jim Leach.
• 2006 - Nancy Boyda a Democrat defeats Kansas Congressman Jim Ryun who had held the seat for five terms.
• 2006 - Carol Shea-Porter a social worker defeats two term imcumbent Jeb Bradley.
• 2006 - Jim Webb, a Democrat who had served as Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, wins the senate seat away from incumbent Republican senator and former Governor of Virginia George Allen after he made a series of mistakes starting with the Macaca Controversy during the 2006 Midterm Elections in Virginia.
• 2006 - Dawn Marie Sass a parole officer, and store clerk at Boston Store defeats incumbent Wisconsin Treasurer Jack Voight. She had run for the office two times previously in 1998 and 2002. In her 2006 campaign, Sass won in a narrow upset (8,648 votes, or 0.42%) with little party support. She had spent almost $4000 on the race, most of it coming from her own pocket.
• 2007 - Greg Ballard defeats incumbent Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson despite being outspent by a huge margin.

Examples of major upsets in sports

• 1913 - U.S. Open - Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old American amateur, defeats golf superstars Ted Ray and Harry Vardon.
• 1924 - Football (soccer) - At the Olympic games in Paris, Sweden defeats Belgium, a higher ranked team, by 8-1. This is still ranked as the biggest international soccer upset ever according to Elo ratings [1].
• 1950 - Football (soccer) - In the World Cup, the United States shocks England in a match considered one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history.
• 1950 - In the same competition Uruguay scored an upset of Brazil in the world cup final, with the latter nation needing only a draw to win the World Cup; this game is known as the Maracanazo (or Maracanaço).
• 1954 - In the World Cup final, underdogs West Germany came back from two goals down to defeat the heavily favoured Hungary team (who had remained unbeaten in their past 32 games, and had previously defeated the Germans 8-3 in the group stage) 3-2, in a game now known as The Miracle of Bern.
• 1954 - Tiny Milan High School in Milan, Indiana, enrollment then 161, beats Muncie Central High School, enrollment then over 1,600, in the Indiana High School State Basketball Championships by a score of 32-30. The 1986 movie classic Hoosiers is loosely based on the story of the Milan team.
• 1966 - U.S. college basketball - NCAA Championship - Facing the top-ranked University of Kentucky in the championship game, Texas Western's coach, Don Haskins, made history by starting five African American players for the first time in a championship game against Kentucky’s all-white squad, coached by Adolph Rupp. The Miners took the lead midway in the first half and never relinquished it — though Kentucky closed to within a point early in the second half. The Miners won 72-65, winning the tournament and finishing the year with a 28-1 record.
• 1969 - American football - Super Bowl III - In arguably the biggest Super Bowl upset to date, the New York Jets, 18 1/2 point underdogs and champions of the lightly-regarded American Football League, shocked the National Football League's Baltimore Colts 16-7.
• 1969 - Major League Baseball - 1969 World Series - The New York Mets, an expansion team that never previously finished higher than ninth place, reached the World Series and upset the favored Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.
• 1972 - 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball - The Soviet team, in a highly controversial finish, defeated the USA team 51-50 in the gold medal game after 2 extra seconds were added to the gameclock, giving the Soviet team enough time to score the winning basket. This marked the first time in Olympic Basketball history that the USA team failed to earn the gold medal, and was their first loss in 62 games. The USA team boycotted the medal ceremony and their silver medals remain unclaimed and unwanted to this day, in a vault in Switzerland.
• 1975 - In the open section of the World Open chess tournament, expert Alan Trefler (ELO rating 2075, 125 points below the lowest master rating) scores 8-1 to tie for first with International Grandmaster Pál Benkő.
• 1978 - Rugby union — Munster beat the All Blacks 12-0. Munster are the only Irish side ever to have beaten New Zealand, Including the Irish national side. More than 100,000 people claim to have been there the day it happened, despite Limerick's ground holding only around 12,000 at that time. The game is immortalized by a stage play Alone it Stands and the book Stand Up.
• 1980 - Ice hockey - In the Miracle on Ice, the United States beats the Soviet Union in the semifinals at the 1980 Olympics, considered the greatest upset in sports history.
• 1982 - United States college basketball - 800 student Chaminade University upsets the number one team in the country, the Virginia Cavaliers, 77-72 in what is considered the biggest upset in college basketball history.
• 1982 - Football (soccer) - In the World Cup, newcomers Algeria scored the second victory in the tournament by an African side when they defeated two-time world champion West Germany 2-1.
• 1983 - Cricket - In the 1983 Cricket World Cup newcomers Zimbabwe shock Australia in England in their first ever ODI game winning by 13 runs the upset amongst the greatest upsets in Cricket. Duncan Fletcher the then Zimbabwe captain became the Man of the Match.
• 1983 - Cricket- Later in the 1983 World Cup, underdogs India shock favorites and two-time defending Champion West Indies in England winning by 43 runs; the upset was deemed as the greatest upset in Cricket and is cited as the reason so many Indians love Cricket.
• 1983 - U.S. college basketball - 1983 NCAA Men's Tournament - The North Carolina State Wolfpack, a No. 6 seed, defeats the Houston Cougars in the title game 54-52. The top-ranked Cougars, nicknamed Phi Slama Jama and featuring Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, carried a 26-game winning streak into the title game. NC State, on the other contrary, had to upset North Carolina and Virginia in the ACC Tournament in order to make the postseason. From there, the Wolfpack would make the Final Four by beating Pepperdine, UNLV and Virginia after those opponents missed free throws down the stretch.
• 1985 - U.S. college basketball - 1985 NCAA Men's Tournament - Villanova, a No. 8 seed, upsets Georgetown, the defending champion and consensus No. 1 team in America, to win the championship. Villanova had lost two close games to the Hoyas that season, but in the title game Villanova would make 22 of 27 shots (78.6%) from the field to pull the 66-64 upset.
• 1985 - College football - Oregon State beats Washington 21-20. What is most notable is that the Huskies were 37-point favorites, and this game was considered the largest reversal ever in spread betting until 2007.
• 1986 - Snooker - Joe Johnson, who began that year's World Snooker Championship as a 150-1 underdog, reached the final and defeated World number 1 Steve Davis 18 frames to 12 to win the title.
• 1990 - Football (soccer) - In the World Cup, Cameroon defeated the holding champions Argentina in the opening match 1-0 and became the first African team to reach the quarterfinals. They then lost to England 2-3 due to an extra-time penalty kick.
• 1990 - Boxing - James "Buster" Douglas knocks out then-undefeated Mike Tyson in 10 rounds.
• 1991 - College basketball - NCAA Tournament - The Richmond Spiders become the first #15 seed ever to upset a #2 seed when they defeated the Syracuse Orangemen, 73-69.
• 1991 - College basketball - NCAA Tournament - The Duke Blue Devils upset the unbeaten defending champion UNLV 79-77 in the Final Four. UNLV had humiliated Duke the year before in the 1990 title game 103-73, which was the largest victory margin in an NCAA championship game.
• 1992 - Football (soccer) - In the FA Cup third round, defending champions Arsenal were beaten 2-1 by Wrexham, who had finished bottom of the league the previous season.
• 1992 - Football (soccer) - In Euro 92, Denmark, a last-minute replacement for the Yugoslavia team banned due to sanctions resulting from the Yugoslav wars, win the title.
• 1993 - College basketball - NCAA Tournament - The #15-seeded Santa Clara Broncos upset the #2-seeded Arizona Wildcats 64-61.
• 1994 - The eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets (42-40) stun the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics (63-19) in the first round of the 1994 NBA Western Conference Playoffs, falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-five series, and then winning the next three games to become the first eighth-seeded team in NBA history to ever defeat a top-seed.
• 1996 - Ice hockey - In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche (47-25-10) beats the Detroit Red Wings (62-13-7) in the Western Conference Finals, The Red Wings won 62 games that season and were heavily favored to win the series. The Avalanche went on to win the Stanley Cup in a four game sweep of the Florida Panthers.
• 1997 - College basketball - NCAA Tournament - #15-seeded Coppin State upset #2-seeded South Carolina 78-65.
• 1998 - American football - Super Bowl XXXII - The Denver Broncos shock the heavily-favored defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, 31-24, on a 1-yard touchdown run by game MVP Terrell Davis with 1:45 to play. The win was the first by an American Football Conference team in 14 years and the first for Denver in five Super Bowl appearances.
• 1998 - College basketball — In the West Regional of the NCAA Women's Tournament, Harvard becomes the first (and, as of 2007, the only) #16 seed in either the men's or women's Division I tournament to defeat a #1 seed, stunning Stanford 71-67 on the Cardinal's home court.
• 1999 - NBA - The eighth-seeded New York Knicks (27-23) defeated the #1 seed Miami Heat in the first round of the 1999 NBA playoffs, and advanced all the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs[2].
• 2000 - Football (soccer) - In the 1999-2000 French Cup semi final Calais RUFC, a team playing in the fourth division of the French football league (CFA), knock out reigning French champions Girondins Bordeaux 3-1 after extra time. Calais would give an admirable performance in the final, unluckily losing 2-1 to Nantes.
• 2000 - Olympic wrestling - American Rulon Gardner defeats Russian Alexander Karelin at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Prior to the match, Karelin was undefeated in 13 years without having given up a single point in six years, and had previously defeated Gardner in 1997.
• 2001 - College basketball - NCAA Tournament - The Hampton Pirates, a 15 seed, shock the 2 seeded Iowa State Cyclones and pull off a great NCAA Tournament upset.
• 2001 - Football (soccer) - In the Copa America 2001, the last minute replacement team, Honduras, defeats Brazil 2-0 in the quarter finals.
• 2002 - American football - Super Bowl XXXVI - The New England Patriots, 14-point underdogs, shock the St. Louis Rams to win 20-17 on an Adam Vinatieri field goal as time expired.
• 2002 - Football (soccer) - In the World Cup opening match, Senegal defeats defending champions France 1-0. The French subsequently left the competition in the first round, winless and scoreless.
• 2003 - In the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the minnow team Kenya defeated one of the top teams in the world, Sri Lanka, and with that victory advanced to the Semi-Finals of the tournament, becoming the first non-Test-playing nation to advance to a Semi-Final. Kenya beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs. This was one of the greatest cricket upsets because of the comprehensive way in which Kenya won with bowler Collins Obuya taking record figures 5-24 and Kennedy Obuya scoring a patient 80, the victory put Kenya on the cricketing map.
• 2004 - Cricket - Bangladesh beat Australia at Cardiff Mohammad Ashraful the Bangladeshi captain scored his first international century to put Bangladesh in a good position and from there they upset Australia
• 2004 - Basketball-2004 NBA Finals - The Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1. This is one of the biggest upsets in basketball history because the Lakers had won 3 of the last 4 NBA Finals and had a starting lineup featuring four future Hall of Famers (Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton, Karl Malone).
• 2004 - Football (soccer) - Greece, a 150-1 long shot according to some bookmakers, win Euro 2004 by defeating hosts Portugal twice as well as giants France and the Czech Republic.
• 2004 - Olympic Basketball - Puerto Rico defeats the USA in the first game of the Olympics by 17 points in a game that was dominated from the beginning from the Puerto Rican national team. Several weeks before, the USA won a friendly match prior to the Olympics by over 40 points.
• 2004- American League Championship Series - The Boston Red Sox shock the New York Yankees, falling behind 3 games to 0, only to win the next 4 games to eliminate the Yankees and win their first pennant in 18 years. It marked the first time in Major League Baseball history that a 3-0 series deficit was overcome.
• 2005 - Formula 1 - Fernando Alonso and his team Mild Seven Renault unexpectedly defeated Seven time Champion Michael Schumacher and his glamour team Scuderia Ferrari for both drivers and constructor's championship while Ferrari struggled all year with a poor car and crippling tyre rule changes.
• 2006 - American football - AFC Divisional Playoff - The sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the top-seeded Indianapolis Colts 21-18, becoming the first sixth seed ever to advance to a conference championship game. The Steelers would set further precedent, going on to win the AFC Championship and Super Bowl XL.
• 2006 - Ice hockey - In the semifinals of the women's tournament at the Winter Olympics, Sweden defeats the USA 3-2 in a shootout. This marked the first time that either the USA or eventual gold medalist Canada lost in an international women's hockey competition to any third nation.
• 2006 - College basketball — NCAA Tournament — The George Mason Patriots upset four teams consecutively in the Washington, D.C. Regional to make it to the Final Four. The 11th-seeded Patriots beat #6 seed Michigan State, a participant in the previous year's Final Four; defending national champions and #3 seed North Carolina; #7 seed Wichita State; and top seed UConn before finally losing to eventual champions #3 Florida in the Final Four. The Patriots were given 400-1 odds to win the NCAA Tournament and were within two games of doing so.
• 2006 - Ice hockey - 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs - The 8th seeded Edmonton Oilers shocked the #1 seeded Detroit Red Wings, the #5 San Jose Sharks, and the #6 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim en route to a Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup finals to the Carolina Hurricanes.
• 2006 - American football - The unranked UCLA Bruins defeated the #2 ranked USC Trojans, knocking USC out of the BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona and ending UCLA's seven year losing streak to the Trojans.
• 2007 - Mixed martial arts - UFC - At UFC 69: Shootout, Matt Serra defeats heavily favored Georges St. Pierre via TKO at 3:25 in the 1st round.
• 2007 - Cricket World Cup 2007: Ireland beat top seed and world number 4 Pakistan to advance to the Super 8 Stage. This match was considered as one of the greatest sporting upsets ever, and the Pakistani Coach Bob Woolmer was found dead after the match.
• 2007 - College football
  • In an epic Fiesta Bowl (part of the 2006 season), Boise State, an underdog despite being unbeaten in the regular season, stuns Oklahoma with a touchdown on a last-second trick play to tie the game in regulation, a halfback option pass for a touchdown in overtime, and a Statue of Liberty play on the ensuing extra point to win the game with a two-point conversion.
  • In the Sun Bowl, Mizz loses to Oregon State after Oregon goes for a two point conversion in the fourth quarter.
  • In the opening week of the 2007 season, Appalachian State beats #5-ranked Michigan 34-32. This is the first time a Division I FCS (formerly known as I-AA) team beats a Division I FBS Associated Press ranked team.
  • Later in that season, USC is upset by Stanford 24-23 at home. USC was ranked #1 in the Coaches Poll and #2 in the AP Poll and was a 40 point favorite to win the game. Stanford's backup quarterback, Tavita Pritchard, started the game and Stanford converted on two 4th downs in the final drive, scoring the tying touchdown and subsequent go-ahead PAT to go up by one point with 49 seconds left. A Stanford interception sealed the victory. The Cardinal's win was the greatest point spread ever overcome in college football history, surpassing the aforementioned 1985 Oregon State-Washington game.
• 2007 - Basketball In the 2007 NBA Playoffs, the Golden State Warriors, who barely got into the playoffs on the last game of the regular season and entering the playoffs as the #8 seed, knocked off the Dallas Mavericks, who entered the playoffs as the #1 seed in the Western Conference with an NBA-best 67 wins during the regular season. The Warriors won in 6 games. This was the first ever #8 seed to defeat the #1 seed since the NBA started using a best-of-7 format in its first round.
• 2007 - ICC World Twenty20 Zimababwe beat Champions Australia in their first match ever in the World Twenty20. Brendan Taylor Mastered the upset with a patient half century.
• 2008 - American football - Super Bowl XLII - The New York Giants shock the previously unbeaten New England Patriots 17-14 with a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left, denying New England's bid for the first undefeated season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins and avenging a loss five weeks earlier in the regular season finale.

The first "upset" victory

1919 - Horse racing - The term "upset" is thought to derive from a horse of the same name. In the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes, 7-2 longshot Upset handed favorite Man o' War the only loss of the stallion's career. Man o' War suffered an uncharacteristically poor start; while he was turned around in the melee behind the starting line, the tape was sprung. Man o' War "was almost left at the post," the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.* Though the champion had enough power to correct this error and gained ground gamely to attain third place on the inside rail in the last eighth, the second mistake could not be surmounted and led to his defeat. Johnny Loftus on Man o' War may have waited just a few seconds too long to make his move on the backstretch turn, where Man o' War was blocked in by other horses, including Upset. Loftus was cleared of charges but the following year the Jockey Club refused to renew his jockey's license.

• (This was before mechanical starting gates were widely used. Horses circled behind the starting line, then lined up behind a cord strung across the track, which was jerked out of the way when the race starter dropped a flag. Race courses which do not use a starting gate still use this method today. Steeplechase races do this due to the high number of starters.)

2002 - George Thompson, a lexicographic researcher, used the full-text online search capabilities of the New York Times databases to disprove this claimed coinage. The verb to upset and the noun upset, were traced to the years 1865 and 1877, respectively. [3]

See also

• Underdog (competition)
• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Upsets