AP upset archive
Biggest College Football Upsets of 1946
The season's 12 strongest AP-defined upsets, led by the quality of the ranked team defeated and the game-time ranking gap.
12
Upsets ranked
9
Unranked winners
0
Market-confirmed
Top 12 AP upsets
- Historic upsetWeek 7Road
Unranked Wake Forest 19, No. 7 Tennessee 6
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 38/50 · Rank gap 38/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
76
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 5Home
Unranked Indiana 14, No. 10 Illinois 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 32/50 · Rank gap 32/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
64
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 7Home
Unranked Ole Miss 9, No. 11 Arkansas 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 30/50 · Rank gap 30/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
60
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 5Home
Unranked Oregon State 6, No. 14 USC 0
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 24/50 · Rank gap 24/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 8Road
Unranked Princeton 17, No. 14 Pennsylvania 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 24/50 · Rank gap 24/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- Major upsetPostseasonNeutral
No. 5 Illinois 45, No. 4 UCLA 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 2/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
46
AP score
- Major upsetPostseasonNeutral
No. 13 Rice 8, No. 8 Tennessee 0
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 36/50 · Rank gap 10/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
46
AP score
- UpsetWeek 3Road
Unranked LSU 7, No. 16 Rice 6
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 20/50 · Rank gap 20/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
40
AP score
- UpsetWeek 5Home
No. 15 Wisconsin 20, No. 12 Ohio State 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 28/50 · Rank gap 6/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
34
AP score
- UpsetWeek 2Road
Unranked Cincinnati 15, No. 18 Indiana 6
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 16/50 · Rank gap 16/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
32
AP score
- UpsetWeek 3Home
Unranked Miami 13, No. 18 William & Mary 3
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 16/50 · Rank gap 16/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
32
AP score
- UpsetWeek 6Road
Unranked Syracuse 21, No. 19 Holy Cross 12
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 14/50 · Rank gap 14/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
28
AP score
How the ranking works
An upset qualifies only when the winner was unranked or ranked below an AP Top 25 opponent at kickoff. Regular-season games use that game's AP poll week; postseason games use the last regular-season AP poll before bowl and playoff results. The 100-point score splits evenly between defeated-opponent strength and ranking gap. Betting lines and pregame win probability are shown separately as supporting evidence and never change the AP score, so missing market data cannot lower a game.