other: Upset (disambiguation)

An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win (the favourite), is defeated by an underdog who the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom. The underdog then becomes a giant-killer.

Examples of major upsets in politics

• 1948 - Unpopular Democratic United States President Harry Truman defeated the highly favored Republican candidate Thomas Dewey, which resulted in a famous newspaper headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman".
• 1972 - New York attorney Elizabeth Holtzman defeated 50-year incumbent congressman Emanuel Celler, who was also the Judiciary Committee chairman in the Democratic primary.
• 1989- Ernesto Ruffo Appel is elected Governor of Baja California defeating the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate becoming the first state governor not belonging to the PRI since 1929.
• 1990 - Paul Wellstone, an underfunded professor, defeated popular Senator Rudy Boschwitz in the United States Senate race. In Texas, Ann Richards defeated Clayton Williams in the race for Texas governor.
• 1994 - Texas Republican George W. Bush defeated highly favored and popular Democratic incumbent Ann Richards in the race for Texas governor.
• 2000- Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (Mexico) is elected President of Mexico in the 2000 presidential election defeating the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate Francisco Labastida. It was the first time that the PRI lost a presidential election.
• 2006 - Dave Loebsack, a Democrat and a political science professor at Cornell College, defeated 30-year incumbent Iowa congressman Jim Leach.
• 2006 - Nancy Boyda, a Democrat, analytical chemist and field inspector, defeated Kansas Congressman Jim Ryun, who had held the seat for five terms.
• 2006 - Carol Shea-Porter, a social worker, defeated two-term imcumbent Jeb Bradley.
• 2006 - Jim Webb, a Democrat who had served as Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, upset incumbent Republican senator and former Governor of Virginia George Allen, after Allen had made a series of mistakes, starting with the Macaca Controversy during the 2006 Midterm Elections in Virginia.
• 2006 - Dawn Marie Sass, a parole officer and store clerk at Boston Store, defeated incumbent Wisconsin Treasurer Jack Voight. She had run for the office twice previously, in 1998 and 2002. In her 2006 campaign, Sass won in a narrow upset (8,648 votes, or 0.42%), with little party support. She had spent almost $4000 on the race, most of it coming from her own pocket.
• 2007 - Greg Ballard defeated incumbent Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson, despite being outspent by a huge margin.

American Football

• 1969 - Super Bowl III - In arguably the biggest Super Bowl upset to date, the New York Jets, 18 1/2 point underdogs and champions of the lightly-regarded American Football League, shocked the National Football League's Baltimore Colts 16-7.
• 1981 - Super Bowl XV - The Oakland Raiders became the first wild card team to win a Super Bowl, trouncing the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10.
• 1985 - College football - Oregon State beat Washington 21-20. What is most notable is that the Huskies were 37-point favorites, and this game was considered the largest reversal ever in spread betting until 2007 (see below).
• 1986 - 1985 AFC Championship Game - The wild card New England Patriots, who had lost 18 straight games in Miami, won their first-ever AFC title by shocking the defending AFC Champion Miami Dolphins 31-14 at the Orange Bowl.
• 1995 - 1994 AFC Championship Game - The San Diego Chargers clinched their first AFC Championship by stunning the top-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers 17-13 at Three Rivers Stadium. The Chargers spotted the Steelers a 13-3 advantage before battling back.
• 1998 - Super Bowl XXXII - The Denver Broncos shocked the heavily-favored defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, 31-24, on a 1-yard touchdown run by game MVP Terrell Davis with 1:45 to play. The win was the first by an AFC team in 14 years and the first for Denver in five Super Bowl appearances.
• 1999 - 1998 NFC Championship Game - The Atlanta Falcons clinched their first NFC Championship by rallying to shock the 16-1 Minnesota Vikings 30-27 in overtime at the Metrodome. The Falcons trailed 27-20 late in the 4th quarter, and rallied to tie the game and force overtime after Vikings kicker Gary Anderson missed a potential Championship-clinching field goal attempt.
• 2002 - Super Bowl XXXVI - The New England Patriots, 14-point underdogs, shocked the St. Louis Rams to win 20-17 on an Adam Vinatieri field goal as time expired.
• 2003 - College football - Fiesta Bowl - The Ohio State Buckeyes, 11 1/2 point underdogs to the defending National Champion Miami Hurricanes, pulled off a 31-24 double-overtime thriller.
• 2006 - 2005 AFC Divisional Playoff - The sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the top-seeded Indianapolis Colts 21-18, becoming the first sixth seed ever to advance to a conference championship game. The Steelers would set further precedent, going on to win the AFC Championship and Super Bowl XL. In clinching the AFC Championship, the Steelers had beaten the AFC's top three seeds (Indianapolis, Denver, and Cincinnati).
• 2006 - The unranked UCLA Bruins defeated the #2 ranked USC Trojans, knocking USC out of the BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona and ending UCLA's seven year losing streak to the Trojans.
• 2007 - College football
• In the opening week of the 2007 season, Appalachian State beat #5-ranked Michigan 34-32 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is the first time a Division I FCS (formerly known as I-AA) team beats a Division I FBS Associated Press ranked team.
• Later in that season, USC was upset by Stanford 24-23 in Los Angeles. USC was ranked #1 in the Coaches Poll and #2 in the AP Poll and was a 40 point favorite to win the game. Stanford's backup quarterback, Tavita Pritchard, started the game and Stanford converted on two 4th downs in the final drive, scoring the tying touchdown and subsequent go-ahead PAT to go up by one point with 49 seconds left. A Stanford interception sealed the victory. The Cardinal's win was the greatest point spread ever overcome in college football history, surpassing the aforementioned 1985 Oregon State-Washington game.
• On December 1, the Pitt Panthers toppled the 28 1/2 point-favored West Virginia Mountaineers 13-9 at Morgantown, West Virginia. The shocking defeat cost West Virginia a berth in the BCS Championship Game (They would settle for a berth in the Fiesta Bowl). The loss to Pitt would mark the final game of head football coach Rich Rodriguez's seven year tenure at West Virginia University, as he resigned later on in the month to take the same job at the University of Michigan.
• 2008 - Super Bowl XLII - The wild card New York Giants shocked the world when they defeated the 18-0 New England Patriots 17-14 with a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left, denying New England's bid for the NFL's first undefeated season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The 2007 Giants were the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl and just the second one to win a conference title, after the 1975 Dallas Cowboys.