AP upset archive
Biggest College Football Upsets of 1971
The season's 25 strongest AP-defined upsets, led by the quality of the ranked team defeated and the game-time ranking gap.
25
Upsets ranked
17
Unranked winners
0
Market-confirmed
Top 25 AP upsets
- Historic upsetWeek 7Road
Unranked USC 28, No. 6 Notre Dame 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 40/50 · Rank gap 40/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
80
AP score
- Historic upsetWeek 3Road
Unranked Tulsa 21, No. 7 Arkansas 20
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 8Road
Unranked Texas A&M 17, No. 8 Arkansas 9
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 36/50 · Rank gap 36/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
72
AP score
- Major upsetPostseasonNeutral
No. 16 Stanford 13, No. 4 Michigan 12
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 24/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
68
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 9Road
Unranked Michigan State 17, No. 9 Ohio State 10
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 34/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
68
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 7Road
Unranked Washington State 24, No. 10 Stanford 23
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 10Road
Unranked San José State 13, No. 10 Stanford 12
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 6Home
Unranked Oregon State 24, No. 11 Arizona State 18
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 8Home
Unranked Ole Miss 24, No. 11 LSU 22
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
No. 8 Oklahoma 48, No. 3 Texas 27
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 46/50 · Rank gap 10/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
56
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 13Home
No. 12 Tennessee 31, No. 5 Penn State 11
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 42/50 · Rank gap 14/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
56
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 11Home
No. 14 LSU 28, No. 7 Notre Dame 8
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 38/50 · Rank gap 14/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
52
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 4Road
No. 19 Duke 9, No. 10 Stanford 3
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 32/50 · Rank gap 18/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
50
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 3Road
No. 10 Colorado 20, No. 6 Ohio State 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 40/50 · Rank gap 8/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 5Road
Unranked Clemson 3, No. 14 Duke 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 5Road
No. 19 Stanford 17, No. 11 Washington 6
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 30/50 · Rank gap 16/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
46
AP score
- UpsetWeek 6Home
No. 16 Arkansas 31, No. 10 Texas 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 32/50 · Rank gap 12/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
44
AP score
- UpsetWeek 1Road
Unranked Pittsburgh 29, No. 15 UCLA 25
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 22/50 · Rank gap 22/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
44
AP score
- UpsetWeek 10Road
Unranked Northwestern 14, No. 16 Ohio State 10
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 20/50 · Rank gap 20/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
40
AP score
- UpsetWeek 1Home
Unranked South Carolina 24, No. 17 Georgia Tech 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 18/50 · Rank gap 18/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
36
AP score
- UpsetWeek 7Home
Unranked Illinois 21, No. 17 Purdue 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 18/50 · Rank gap 18/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
36
AP score
- UpsetWeek 2Home
Unranked Georgia Tech 10, No. 18 Michigan State 0
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 16/50 · Rank gap 16/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
32
AP score
- UpsetWeek 5Road
Unranked Tulane 37, No. 18 North Carolina 29
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 16/50 · Rank gap 16/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
32
AP score
- UpsetWeek 6Home
Unranked Oregon 23, No. 18 Washington 21
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 16/50 · Rank gap 16/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
32
AP score
- UpsetWeek 2Home
Unranked Duke 28, No. 19 South Carolina 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.