Ivan Maisel's 10 biggest upsets

Georgia Tech players celebrate their upset of No. 4 Alabama, Sept. 12, 1981.

No. 10
California 17, Stanford 11
Nov. 22, 1986

The Golden Bears came into the Big Game with a 1-9 record, an eight-game losing streak and a lame-duck coach in former Cal quarterback Joe Kapp. He may not have been a successful mentor, but Kapp knew how to beat Stanford. Four years earlier, Cal employed the Play, the multi-lateral kickoff return through the Stanford band, to beat the Cardinal. Though No. 16 Stanford was 7-2 going into this matchup, Cal controlled the game throughout.

No. 9
Centre College 6, Harvard 0
Oct. 29, 1921

The Praying Colonels came north from Kentucky to shock the Crimson, the Miami of its day (think about that for a minute). Harvard entered the contest with a 25-game unbeaten string, but Centre was no slouch. Quarterback Bo McMillin, who would lead the Praying Colonels to an undefeated season, scored the game's only touchdown on a 32-yard run early in the third quarter.

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No. 8
TCU 6, Texas 0
Nov. 18, 1961

The No. 1 Longhorns came in expecting a victory that would propel them into games against Texas A&M and in the Cotton Bowl with a national championship on the line. Instead, the 2-4-1 Horned Frogs, only four years removed from the Cotton Bowl themselves, played inspired defense and knocked the Longhorns out of contention for the national title.

No. 7
Georgia Tech 3, Notre Dame 3
Nov. 8, 1980

No. 6
Georgia Tech 24, Alabama 21
Sept. 12, 1981

Two decades ago, the Yellow Jackets seemed to have signed a long-term lease on the basement of college football. But these two games were the spark of the program's renaissance. In the first upset, Tech (1-7) stunned the top-ranked Irish (7-0). The resulting fallout of the tie convinced Notre Dame coach Dan Devine that he had had enough; he resigned at the end of the season. A year later, coming off a, yes, 1-9-1 record, the Yellow Jackets opened their season by beating the 1-0, fourth-ranked Crimson Tide. Georgia Tech may have finished 1-10, but no one in Tuscaloosa forgot that young coach Bill Curry had beaten Bear Bryant. Six years later, the Tide hired Curry.

No. 5
Auburn 14, Alabama 13
Dec. 3, 1949

The schools stopped playing in 1907 after a dispute over per diem money for their players. The series resumed in 1948 when the powerful Crimson Tide humiliated the Tigers 55-0. More of the same was predicted for this game. Auburn had a strange 1-4-3 record; Alabama strutted into Legion Field at 6-2-1, confident that it would own the Tigers as it had the year before. Instead, Auburn won the game and made the Iron Bowl the rivalry that it is today.

No. 4
Penn State 14, Miami 10
Jan. 2, 1987

In a Fiesta Bowl that played out like a re-enactment of an old-time Western, the Nittany Lions played the Men Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Hurricanes swaggered into Phoenix wearing combat fatigues and stalked en masse out of a dinner with the Penn State team. Miami had it all, from Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Vinny Testaverde to the late Jerome Brown on the defensive line. However, a month of all-star banquets and a motor-scooter accident turned Testaverde's body into a large scab. He threw five interceptions, the last in the waning seconds near the Penn State goal line.

No. 3
Temple 28, Virginia Tech 24
Oct. 17, 1998

The quintessential don't-look-ahead game. The Owls (0-6), perennial Big East doormats, knocked the Hokies (5-0) out of national-championship contention and delivered a lesson in humility that helped carry Virginia Tech into the title game a year later.

No. 2
Notre Dame 7, Oklahoma 0
Nov. 16, 1957

The Irish (4-2) were good. The Sooners, (7-0) with a 47-game winning streak that began in 1953, were legendary. The Irish stunned the onlookers in Norman, who watched their boys go down to defeat for the first time in four years. The win briefly bolstered Notre Dame coach Terry Brennan's prospects in his fourth and next-to-last season in South Bend.

No. 1
Navy 14, Army 2
Dec. 2, 1950

This may be the last time any Army team ever overlooked any Navy team. The Cadets, with a 28-game unbeaten streak and favored by 21 points, took the 2-6 Midshipmen lightly. Navy, with two touchdowns late in the first half and a stunning display of defense (five forced turnovers, three inside its own 20-yard-line), sent a wave of delirium through the crowd of 100,000, which included President Harry Truman.