TGS SPECIAL REPORT...UPSET LIST UPDATE AND NHL PREVIEW!
by Bruce Marshall, Goldsheet.com Editor

This season, however, the list has been shaking like the active fault lines on the Pacific Rim of Fire. We’ve already had to make a change at the top when 44½-point favorite UNLV was shocked by FCS Howard, 43-40, in opening week. That same night, 33-point dog Liberty moved into the Top 15 of the all-time list when it dumped Baylor, 48-45. Two weeks later, 34½-point underdog Idaho State would crack the Top 10 all-time list with a 30-28 shocker at Nevada. Thus, by the middle of September, we had already witnessed three of the thirteen all-time pointspread upsets in records that date almost 70 years! A good time, then, to publish the updated list, which appears a bit below.

Keep in mind, too, that until fairly recent times, spreads were rarely posted on non-conference games involving FCS, or the former Division I-A, entries. One of the most famous of these early-season shockers, The Citadel’s 10-3 win over Arkansas in opening week of 1992 that cost Razorback HC Jack Crowe his job, didn’t even have a posted spread. Indeed, as recently as the early ‘80s the weekly college “big board” might have only 30, or fewer, games, and that would include the Ivy League, whose spreads were regularly posted until the early ‘90s. By comparison, there were college slates this September with as many as 70 listed pointspreads!
With the bulk of intersectional play almost complete for 2017, we think it is probably remote that the all-time upset list will be breached again this campaign. The most revealing characteristic of the three aforementioned major upsets this September is that all involved FCS entries; most of their games vs. FBS foes for 2017 will have been played by the end of this month. Likely, then, we have seen the last of the all-time stunners for 2017...or maybe not, and there really is something in the water this season!
COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S BIGGEST UPSETS!!
TGS’s list of the biggest upsets since we began keeping detailed records in 1950.
The leaders over the last 67 football seasons:
2017.......... Howard (+44½) over UNLV 43-40 at UNLV
2007.......... Stanford (+40½) over Southern California 24-23 at Southern Cal
2007.......... Syracuse (+37) over Louisville 38-35 at Louisville
1985.......... Oregon State (+36) over Washington 21-20 at Washington
1985.......... Texas-El Paso (+36) over BYU 23-16 at Texas-El Paso
1998.......... Temple (+35½) over Virginia Tech 28-24 at Virginia Tech
2012.......... Texas State (+35) over Houston 30-13 at Houston
1972.......... Missouri (+35) over Notre Dame 30-26 at Notre Dame
2017.......... Idaho State (+34½) over Nevada 30-28 at Nevada
2000.......... Central Michigan (+34½) over Western Michigan at W. Michigan
1974.......... Purdue (+34) over Notre Dame 31-20 at Notre Dame
2010.......... James Madison (+33½) over Virginia Tech 21-16 at Va. Tech
2017.......... Liberty (+33) over Baylor 48-40 at Baylor
1982.......... Northwestern (+32) over Minnesota 31-21 at Northwestern
1997.......... North Texas (+32) over Texas Tech 30-27 at Texas Tech
2015.......... Portland State (+31½) over Washington State 24-17 at Wash. St.
1991.......... Cincinnati (+31) over Louisville 30-7 at Louisville
2015.......... New Mexico (+30½) over Boise State 31-24 at Boise State
2012.......... Louisiana-Monroe (+30½) over Arkansas 34-31 in OT at Arkansas
1999.......... Rutgers (+30½) over Syracuse 24-21 at Rutgers
2011.......... Texas Tech (+29½) beat Oklahoma 41-38 at Oklahoma
2010.......... South Dakota (+29) over Minnesota 41-38 at Minnesota
2005.......... Ball State (+29) over Northern Illinois at Northern Illinois
1992.......... Iowa State (+29) over Nebraska 19-10 at Iowa State
1969.......... New Mexico (+29) over Kansas 16-7 at New Mexico
1969.......... San Jose State (+29) over Oregon 36-34 at Oregon
2016.......... South Alabama (+28½) over Mississippi State 21-20 at Miss. State
2013.......... Nicholls State (+28½) over Western Michigan 27-23 at W. Michigan
2010.......... Jacksonville State (+28½) over Mississippi 49-48 in OT at Ole Miss
2007.......... Pittsburgh (+28½) over West Virginia 13-9 at West Virginia
2016.......... Kentucky (+28) over Louisville 41-38 at Louisville
2013.......... Georgia Southern (+28) over Florida 26-20 at Florida
2016.......... Eastern Washington (+27½) over Washington St. 45-42 at Wash. St.
2010.......... North Dakota State (+27½) over Kansas 6-3 at Kansas
1999.......... Cincinnati (+27½) over Wisconsin 17-12 at Cincinnati
1976.......... Purdue (+27½) over Michigan 16-14 at Purdue
2011.......... Iowa State (+27) over Oklahoma State 37-31 in OT at Iowa State
1996.......... UNLV (+27) over San Diego State 44-42 at UNLV
1996.......... Memphis (+27) over Tennessee 21-17 at Memphis
1951.......... Lehigh (+27) over Rutgers 21-6 at Rutgers
...AND ABOUT THAT SECRET?

The new season begins within two weeks, and once again TGS NHL selections will be available online Monday thru Saturday at 12:15 PM PDT, accessible from our website at www.goldsheet.com.
As we do at the beginning of each season in all the pro sports we cover, we would like to provide some recommended "futures" on the upcoming NHL season. So, on the eve of the 2017-18 NHL term, a few of our best “over/unders” for the new campaign (in this case of pro hockey, it’s over/under season points, as opposed to wins in MLB, NBA, and the NFL) are presented below. The following NHL Regular Season Points are provided by the Westgate “Superbook” in Las Vegas. As a reminder, note that our 2017-18 NBA "wins" preview appears in two weeks!


