Few sports produce volatility and unpredictability as well as college football. There’s the potential for chaos every week and even big favorites are vulnerable to devastating upsets.
Inevitably, there is always at least one matchup every Saturday that leaves you double-checking to make sure your CBS Sports app isn’t malfunctioning. Those games – the ones where David manages to topple Goliath – are the ones that really separate college football from other major American sports.
Everyone remembers where they were when Appalachian State knocked off No. 5 Michigan in 2007. That same season, Stanford defeated No. 2 USC as a whopping 41-point underdog. Back in 2017, HBCU Howard went to UNLV and pulled off the biggest point-spread upset in the history of the sport.
How many of those stunners will we see in the 2024 season?
Week 5 of the 2024 college football season provided some of the most notable upsets thus far, and two sets of Wildcats did all the damage. First Kentucky went into Oxford and got the top-10 win that had eluded it a week earlier, and then Arizona went into Salt Lake City and got a top-10 win of its own over a shorthanded Utah squad.
Week 1
Vanderbilt 34, Virginia Tech 27 (OT)
Spread: Virginia Tech -13.5
The Hokies traveled to Nashville,Tennessee as nearly two-touchdown favorites, but it didn’t take long for things to go haywire. New Mexico State transfer quarterback Diego Pavia gave Virginia Tech all kinds of problems with his arm and his legs, and the Commodores held a 17-0 lead late into the first half.
Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones managed to flip the switch, and his strong second half showing put the Hokies ahead by a touchdown with 4:21 left in regulation. However, Vanderbilt was able to answer with a late game-tying drive, and Pavia won the contest in overtime with a 4-yard scoring scamper.
Pavia finished with 294 total yards and three total touchdowns. Virginia Tech simply wasn’t ready for the challenges presented by the Commodores’ new signal caller.
Week 2
NIU 16, No. 5 Notre Dame 14
Spread: Notre Dame -28.5
After their Week 1 win over Texas A&M at Kyle Field, the Fighting Irish looked like true playoff contenders, and their schedule appeared rather forgiving. By the time kickoff rolled around in Week 2, Notre Dame was a 28.5-point favorite over Northern Illinois, but no one informed the Huskies that they were supposed to be cannon fodder for a national title hopeful.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard opened the scoring with an 11-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter, but the offense stalled after that. NIU scored the game’s next 13 points to take a six-point lead into the second half.
The Irish did manage to retake the lead midway through the third quarter, thanks to a big run by Jeremiyah Love, but once again the offense sputtered down the stretch. With six minutes left in the game, Leonard threw an inexplicable interception that gave the Huskies new life.
On the ensuing drive, NIU possessed the ball for 5:24 as it gradually pushed the ball into Notre Dame territory to set up a field goal. The Huskies even overcame a controversial spot that forced them to send the kicking unit out earlier than they would have liked.
Senior kicker Kanon Woodill drilled perhaps the biggest field goal of his entire life, nailing a 35-yard attempt to give NIU the lead with just 31 seconds remaining.
Notre Dame had a chance to set up a field-goal attempt, but it could only get to the NIU 44-yard line before running out of time. Head coach Marcus Freeman sent his special teams unit out attempt a 62-yard kick for the win, but that prayer was blocked, and the Huskies sealed their biggest win in program history.
In the wake of this historic upset, the Irish tumbled from No. 5 to No. 18 in the AP Top 25, and Huskies came in at No. 25. That marked the first time the Huskies were ranked since 2013.
Week 5
Kentucky 20, No. 6 Ole Miss 17
Spread: Ole Miss -15.5
A week after narrowly missing an upset of No. 1 Georgia, Kentucky managed to finish the job on the road against No. 6 Ole Miss. The Wildcats’ defense held one of the nation’s most high-octane attacks in check for four quarters, and the offense came through in the clutch.
The Rebels came into this game averaging 670.8 yards of offense per game. The Wildcats held them to just 353 yards on the afternoon, including just 92 on the ground. Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart was limited to just 261 yards and a touchdown, and he was sacked four times. One of those sacks was on a critical second down during the Rebels’ final drive of the game.
Prior to that drive, the Kentucky offense orchestrated a six-play, 83-yard drive of its own. At first, that possession looked like it’d be quite brief. The Wildcats got into a quick 4th-and-7 situation, but quarterback Brock Vandagriff gave them new life when he connected with star receiver Barion Brown for a 63-yard gain.
Even the end of the drive was contained with a heart-stopping moment when Gavin Wimsatt fumbled the ball at the 2-yard line. However, Kentucky tight end Josh Kattus jumped on the loose ball in the end zone for the touchdown.
From there, the Kentucky defense did its part by forcing a 48-yard Ole Miss field goal attempt for the tie. Rebels kicker Caden Davis hooked the kick well wide, and the Wildcats got the upset that had eluded them a week earlier. That was cause for celebration, including some crowd surfing, in the locker room.
Arizona 23, No. 10 Utah 10
Spread: Utah -7.5
The spread doesn’t indicate a massive upset here, but a top-10 team did fall at home, and that’s especially rare at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Even without Cam Rising at quarterback, the Utes were the clear favorites in this one, but their offense sputtered against the Wildcats, and it cost them.
The drop off from Rising to backup quarterback Isaac Wilson was on full display, and Arizona took full advantage. The Wildcats picked off Wilson twice, including one truly puzzling interception midway through the third quarter when the game was still within reach for Utah.
On the other side of the ball, the Wildcats made rushed for 169 yards to keep the Utes off balance. The biggest play of the night came when quarterback Noah Fifita hit Keyan Burnett for a 35-yard score to plunge the proverbial dagger into the home team’s heart.
As was the case with the Wildcats from the “Bluegrass State,” these Wildcats had plenty to sing about in the locker room on Saturday night.
