So, how's your bracket looking? Of course you picked Georgia State over Baylor and UAB over Iowa State. I'm sure you had Villanova going down to N.C. State and Virginia falling to Michigan State because you are just so smart.
Upsets are the joyous agitation of March Madness. Yet smashed brackets are such an accepted part of the NCAA basketball tournament that they are almost a cliche -- the ole "Bracket Busters!" We might not see them coming but we always know they will.
In college football, we don't see huge upsets coming. So they are much different than in tournament hoops. Not saying they're better, just more "You've got to be kidding."
Which leads us to today's topic: Biggest Pac-12 upsets since the turn of the century.
Note: This isn't of all time. So no Oregon State over Washington in 1985 or Stanford over Notre Dame in 1990 or Arizona State over Nebraska in 1996. We also require Pac-12/10 membership, so Utah over Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl, though we surely have adopted it when debating relative conference strength (cough, cough), doesn't count, nor does Colorado over Oklahoma in 2007.
Further, because we're not looking to spread misery, we're not bringing up upset non-conference losses. So, Oregon State, we won't even mention that game against Sacramento State in 2010.
10. Washington 29, No. 3 Washington State 26, 2002: There were so many subplots and plot twists to this one, the most controversial of Apple Cups, that it's impossible to succinctly encapsulate here. This is a great review of just how nutty this high-stakes game was. It started with the Cougars as national title contenders -- yes, you read that correctly -- and ended after three overtimes and four-plus hours and a borderline call with a hail of bottles hurled to the field by the outraged Martin Stadium crowd. It was Rick Neuheisel's last great moment at Washington and Mike Price's last regular season game at Washington State. It also was the last Apple Cup that featured two winning teams until 2013.
9. Stanford 20, Washington 3, 2006: Fair to say that from 2003-2008, Washington suffered its worst six-season stretch in program history. This game just nipped the 27-23 loss at Arizona in 2003 for the Huskies' most bumbling, humiliating upset defeat. Washington was a 15 point favorite in Tucson, where the Wildcats were riding a 13-game Pac-10 home losing streak, but the Huskies, despite being unranked, were an eye-popping 18.5-point favorite against this Walt Harris-coached Stanford team, which appeared to be on its way to becoming the Pac-10's first 0-12 squad. The Cardinal, which ended a program-worst 11-game losing streak with this win, would score only 127 points all season, and this was one of just two games in which they eclipsed 17 points. Defense? Ranked 113th in the country, yet it dominated the listless Huskies. Stanford finished 1-11 with losses to San Jose State and Navy. Though the Huskies only went 5-7, and this game capped a six-game losing streak, there's a difference between middling and historically bad, see the point spread.
8. Stanford 49. No. 5 Oregon 42, 2001: If Oregon had not imploded in the fourth quarter of this game -- it led 42-28 -- the Ducks would have finished unbeaten and played Miami for the BCS national title. Heck, Joey Harrington might have won the Heisman Trophy. As it was, Stanford turned one of two blocked punts and an interception by Harrington into touchdowns. The Ducks even squandered a huge break, as they led 42-41 with 5:32 left when they blocked a PAT. But on third-and-1 from the Oregon 30, Harrington was hit by safety Tank Williams and the ball was picked off. Stanford then drove for the winning points. The loss ended the Ducks' nation-best 23-game home win streak.
7. Oregon State 31, No. 2 California 28, 2007: Who can forget Kevin Riley's ill-fated -- and ill-thought -- scramble and previously imperturbable coach Jeff Tedford hurling his clipboard to the turf? The Bears, favored by 14, were on the cusp of rising to No. 1 in the nation for the first time in 56 years, but it was not to be. With the ball on the Beavers' 12-yard line with 14 seconds left, Riley couldn't find an open receiver and he tried to run for the end zone, gaining only 2 yards, and the clock ran out before the field goal team could get on the field. This became the first of three consecutive defeats as the Bears crumbled, losing six of their next seven. Though Cal won nine games the next season, you could make a case the Bears never recovered from this loss during Tedford's once-promising tenure.
6. Arizona 42, No. 5 Oregon 16, 2013: This was perhaps the Ducks' worst performance during their sustained rise to the nation's super-elite. It was a four-quarter butt-kicking from a better prepared, hungrier team. Oregon, an 18.5-point favorite, trailed 28-9 at the half and never made a substantial run. Ka'Deem Carey rushed for 206 yards, and Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota threw two interceptions, his first since the 2012 season. What was clear after this game, which was infelicitously preceded by the Ducks trash-talking the Rose Bowl, was Arizona was going to be in big, big trouble when it visited Autzen Stadium in 2014.
T5. Arizona 31, No. 2 Oregon 24, 2014: There was simply no way Arizona was going to beat the Ducks twice in a row, right? Not only did Oregon have a three-year starter at quarterback in Heisman Trophy candidate Mariota, the Wildcats only countered with redshirt freshman Anu Solomon, who would be making his first road Pac-12 start in the conference's toughest venue. That is why Oregon was favored by 21.5 points. But Oregon made key mistakes -- including a costly, controversial unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the fourth quarter -- and Arizona made key plays on defense in the season's major upset. This time, however, Oregon recovered from a disappointing loss, whipped the Wildcats in the Pac-12 Championship game and earned a berth in the College Football Playoff.
T5. Washington 16, No. 3 USC 13, 2009: There was a lot to this one, other than it being a 19-point underdog winning. For one, the Huskies had gone winless the previous season. For another, this was a meeting between new Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian and his mentor, Pete Carroll. The game served as a "Hello World" moment for Washington quarterback Jake Locker, as the Huskies had only ended a 15-game losing streak the week before against FBS bottom-feeder Idaho. It's often forgotten that Matt Barkley sat out with an injury, and backup Aaron Corp was overmatched. The Trojans passed for just 110 yards, which is the fewest by a USC team in the Carroll era. Speaking of "eras," this also was the first loss of the season for a Trojans program headed for a decline, including the departure of Carroll to the Seattle Seahawks in the offseason. Hey, who is USC's coach now?
4. No. 14 Stanford 17, No. 2 Oregon 14, 2012: Yes, this was a battle of ranked teams, but don't superimpose the perspective of the Stanford teams that would give the Ducks high-powered offense trouble. Recall that Oregon, an 18-point favorite, had whipped Stanford and Andrew Luck the previous two seasons, so what chance did the Cardinal have in Autzen Stadium with newbie Kevin Hogan behind center? Yet, after the Ducks missed a field goal to open overtime, much-malinged kicker Jordan Williamson hit a 37-yard boot for the victory. Still, the big winner was the Cardinal defense. The Ducks had scored at least 42 points in 13 consecutive games, but they were stymied by Derek Mason's crew.
3. Oregon State 27, No. 1 USC 21, 2008: Sure, Oregon State had upset USC in Corvallis before -- their last meeting in Reser Stadium, in fact -- but this was a much better crew than the 2006 Trojans. The Beavers, 25-point underdogs, rolled behind 186 yards and two TDs from Jacquizz Rodgers in their first win against a top-ranked team in 41 years. USC would go on to finish 12-1, stomping Penn State in the Rose Bowl. It was probably the best team in the nation that season -- it was unquestionably the most talented -- but Oregon State proved that once a giant killer, always a giant killer. What is sometimes forgotten about this game, particularly outside the West Coast, is this was a good Oregon State team. It finished 9-4 and ranked 18th.
2. UCLA 13, No. 2 USC 9, 2006: There are two things here. One, this loss by the Trojans, favored by 11.5 points, knocked them out of their third consecutive BCS title game on the season's final weekend, so it was a big one. Two, this loss by the Trojans came via UCLA, their hated and, at the time, marginalized rival, one that had lost seven consecutive games in the series, including 66-19 the year before. The Bruins would finish 7-6 while USC ended up 11-2, won the Rose Bowl and finished ranked No. 4, but it's debatable which fan based ended up more happy.
1. Stanford 24, No. 2 USC 23, 2007: Simply, this is the biggest upset in college football history, at least if you use the 41-point spread. In 2007, Jim Harbaugh's first season, Stanford was bad. It went 1-11 the previous season and would finish 2007 4-8. The previous weekend, it lost to Arizona State 41-3 to fall to 1-3. Further, starting quarterback T.C. Ostrander, was out due to illness and backup Tavita Prichard was making his first career start. Prichard didn't put up good numbers, but he converted a fourth-and-20 play with a pass to Richard Sherman -- yeah, that Richard Sherman -- and then threw the game-winning TD pass on fourth-and-goal from the 10-yard line to Mark Bradford. The defeated ended USC's 35-game home winning streak. USC was undone by John David Booty, who was ill-advisedly playing with a broken finger, throwing four interceptions, including on the Trojans' desperate final possession.