Appalachian State started it all back in September when the
Division 1-AA team went into the Big House and upset Michigan to start the
college football season.
Since then, we have seen more upsets in sports in the last
five months than we probably have seen in the last five years.
We saw a 41-point favored USC team lose to Stanford, the
Colorado Rockies improbable run and their winning 21 of 22 to make it to the
World Series, and Maryland top college basketball powerhouse North Carolina.
Then Sunday came.
The New York Giants pulled off one of the biggest upsets of
all time by beating the undefeated New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl
XLII.
How could a Giant team, which many doubted would even make the
playoffs, knock off the heavily favored Patriots?
How did they hold the most prolific scoring offense in NFL
history to just 14 points?
And who would have ever thought Eli Manning could outplay
NFL poster child Tom Brady on the biggest stage?
But now that the Super Bowl is over, the question now is,
?Did the Giants pull off the biggest upset in Super Bowl history??
While I?m sure there will be many takes on this topic over
the course of the coming days, here is my top five Super Bowl upsets of all
time:
No. 5: Super Bowl
IV: Kansas City Chiefs 23, Minnesota Vikings 7
Despite the Jets? surprising upset the year before, most
people still didn?t respect the AFL and listed the Vikings as 13-point
favorites. Besides being underdogs, the Chiefs also had to deal with the
accusation that quarterback Len Dawson was involved in a gambling scandal.
However, the Chiefs jumped out to a 16-point halftime lead
and never looked back, giving the AFL its second consecutive upset in the Super
Bowl. Dawson threw for 142 yards and a touchdown in winning game MVP honors.
No. 4: Super Bowl
XXXII: Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24
The Packers had everything going for them entering Super
Bowl XXXII, just like the Patriots did this year. They were led by the NFL?s
only three-time MVP, Brett Favre, had one of the best defenses in the league
led by Reggie White and were the defending Super Bowl champions.
With all that on the Packers? side, Green Bay was favored by
12 points over Denver.
The Packers got off to a fast start as well, taking the
opening kickoff down the field for a touchdown. However, from then on the
Broncos just kept handing the ball off to Terrell Davis, who rushed for 157
yards and scored a Super Bowl record three times. With the win, John Elway and
the Broncos won their first Super Bowl and ended the NFC?s winning streak in
the big game at 12.
No. 3: Super Bowl
XXXVI: New England Patriots 20, St. Louis Rams 17
Heading into Super Bowl XXXVI, not many people gave the
Patriots a chance against the Rams and in the ?Greatest Show on Turf,? as the
Rams were favored by two touchdowns.
In the game, the Patriots jumped out to a 17-3 lead, but NFL
MVP Kurt Warner led the Rams on two late scoring drives to tie the game at 17
with 1:30 left on the clock. With no timeouts left for the Patriots, many
figured we would witness the first overtime game in Super Bowl history, but Tom
Brady led his team down the field to set up a game-winning field goal by Adam
Vinatieri. And the rest is history. The Patriots went on to win three Super
Bowls in four years, and Brady established himself as one of the best
quarterbacks in football history.
No. 2: Super Bowl
XLII: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14
Entering this year?s Super Bowl, many considered the
Patriots a team of destiny that would not be denied their undefeated season.
The Giants, on the other hand, had an up-and-down season but had played the
Patriots close in the regular season finale. Even though New York played New
England close the first time they met, the Patriots were still favored by 12
points.
From the opening kickoff, the Giants? defense gave Brady all
he could handle, sacking him five times and knocking him down countless of
other times. Still, Brady led his team the length of the field for a go-ahead
touchdown, seeming to seal the game and the perfect season for the Pats.
However, Manning got the ball back with just under three minutes left in the
game and had a Brady-esque performance, throwing the game-winning touchdown
with 30 seconds left to pull off the second greatest Super Bowl upset ever.
No. 1: Super Bowl
III: New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7
The Jets pulled off the biggest Super Bowl upset ever by
beating the NFL?s Colts. At the time the AFL was still considered an upstart
league that couldn?t match the talent level of the NFL. The first two Super
Bowls gave support to that claim as the Packers beat the Chiefs and Raiders by
a combined score of 68-24.
Despite being 18-point underdogs, Broadway Joe guaranteed a
Jets victory and then came out and backed up his guarantee with his
performance. The Jets never trailed in the game, as Namath threw for 206 yards
on his way to being named Super Bowl MVP. The upset also gave the AFL its first
of two Super Bowl victories before merging with the NFL and becoming the AFC in
1970.
While the Jets might have pulled off the greatest Super Bowl
upset of all time, the Giants gave them a run for their money. But the Giants
still did one thing Sunday with the win: The G-Men pulled off the biggest upset
in my lifetime.
Greg Schmitz is a senior majoring in communication arts.
Let him know what you think is the biggest upset in Super Bowl history at [email protected].
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