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AP upset archive

Biggest College Football Upsets of 1953

The season's 11 strongest AP-defined upsets, led by the quality of the ranked team defeated and the game-time ranking gap.

11

Upsets ranked

6

Unranked winners

0

Market-confirmed

Top 11 AP upsets

  1. Historic upsetWeek 6Home

    Unranked Purdue 6, No. 6 Michigan State 0

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 40/50 · Rank gap 40/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    80

    AP score

  2. Major upsetPostseasonNeutral

    No. 4 Oklahoma 7, No. 1 Maryland 0

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 50/50 · Rank gap 6/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    56

    AP score

  3. UpsetWeek 5Home

    No. 20 Stanford 21, No. 12 UCLA 20

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 28/50 · Rank gap 16/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    44

    AP score

  4. UpsetWeek 1Home

    Unranked Rice 20, No. 15 Florida 16

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 22/50 · Rank gap 22/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    44

    AP score

  5. UpsetWeek 9Home

    No. 8 Wisconsin 34, No. 7 Illinois 7

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 38/50 · Rank gap 2/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    40

    AP score

  6. UpsetWeek 5Home

    Unranked Army 14, No. 16 Duke 13

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 20/50 · Rank gap 20/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    40

    AP score

  7. UpsetWeek 8Home

    No. 10 Texas 21, No. 9 Baylor 20

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 2/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    36

    AP score

  8. UpsetWeek 1Road

    No. 20 Baylor 25, No. 14 California 0

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 24/50 · Rank gap 12/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    36

    AP score

  9. UpsetWeek 7Home

    Unranked Oregon 13, No. 17 USC 7

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 18/50 · Rank gap 18/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    36

    AP score

  10. UpsetPostseasonNeutral

    Unranked UTEP 37, No. 19 Southern Miss 14

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 14/50 · Rank gap 14/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    28

    AP score

  11. UpsetWeek 6Home

    Unranked Pennsylvania 9, No. 20 Navy 6

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 12/50 · Rank gap 12/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance —

    24

    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.