AP upset archive
Biggest College Football Upsets of 2001
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
14
Unranked winners
0
Market-confirmed
Top 25 AP upsets
- Historic upsetWeek 8Home
Unranked Auburn 23, No. 1 Florida 20
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 50/50 · Rank gap 50/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
100
AP score
- Historic upsetWeek 14Road
Unranked Oklahoma State 16, No. 4 Oklahoma 13
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 44/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
88
AP score
- Historic upsetWeek 10Road
Unranked Syracuse 22, No. 5 Virginia Tech 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 42/50 · Rank gap 42/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
84
AP score
- Historic upsetWeek 7Road
Unranked Georgia 26, No. 6 Tennessee 24
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 11Home
Unranked Michigan State 26, No. 6 Michigan 24
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 10Home
No. 20 Stanford 38, No. 4 UCLA 28
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 32/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
76
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 14Home
No. 14 Colorado 62, No. 2 Nebraska 36
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 48/50 · Rank gap 24/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
72
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 12Home
Unranked Oregon State 49, No. 8 Washington 24
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 36/50 · Rank gap 36/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
72
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 6Road
Unranked Clemson 47, No. 9 Georgia Tech 44
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 8Home
Unranked Arkansas 10, No. 9 South Carolina 7
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 2Home
Unranked Fresno State 44, No. 10 Oregon State 24
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 12Road
Unranked NC State 34, No. 10 Florida State 28
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 14Road
Unranked Ohio State 26, No. 11 Michigan 20
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 15Road
No. 9 Colorado 39, No. 3 Texas 37
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 46/50 · Rank gap 12/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
58
AP score
Full Game · 2001 Texas vs. Colorado (Big 12 Championship Game Full Game)
- Major upsetWeek 7Road
Unranked Colorado 16, No. 12 Kansas State 6
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 28/50 · Rank gap 28/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
56
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 11Home
Unranked Pittsburgh 38, No. 12 Virginia Tech 7
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 28/50 · Rank gap 28/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
56
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 15Road
No. 5 Tennessee 34, No. 2 Florida 32
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 48/50 · Rank gap 6/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
54
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 10Home
No. 3 Nebraska 20, No. 2 Oklahoma 10
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 48/50 · Rank gap 2/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
50
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 10Home
No. 19 Florida State 52, No. 10 Maryland 31
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 32/50 · Rank gap 18/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
50
AP score
- Major upsetPostseasonRoad
No. 21 Georgia Tech 24, No. 11 Stanford 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 30/50 · Rank gap 20/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
50
AP score
- Major upsetPostseasonRoad
No. 12 LSU 47, No. 7 Illinois 34
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 38/50 · Rank gap 10/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 11Home
No. 16 Washington State 20, No. 9 UCLA 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 14/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 13Home
No. 16 Washington 26, No. 9 Washington State 14
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 14/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- Major upsetWeek 7Home
Unranked Ohio State 38, No. 14 Northwestern 20
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 24/50 · Rank gap 24/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
48
AP score
- UpsetWeek 16Home
No. 12 LSU 31, No. 8 Tennessee 20
AP evidence · primary
Opponent strength 36/50 · Rank gap 8/50
Market evidence · supporting
No betting line · Pregame win chance —
44
AP score
Full Game · 2001 LSU vs. Tennessee (SEC Championship Game Full Game)
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.