Sports logic means better talent, larger budgets, and more experienced players should win. But in reality, they don’t always happen. Sometimes underdogs pull off victories that shock fans and analysts alike as everyone tries to figure out what just happened. These players and teams just won, and decades later, nobody, not even the winners themselves, could fully explain it.
Appalachian State Beat Michigan Because Blocked Kicks Don’t Care About Rankings
On September 1, 2007, fifth-ranked Michigan opened the season against Division I-AA Appalachian State at home. The Wolverines were 33-point favorites, and this was supposed to be a glorified scrimmage since Michigan had never even played a Division I-AA opponent in its history.
Nobody even considered the fact that App State was also the reigning back-to-back FCS national champion with a dynamic spread offense. Still, Michigan scored on its opening drive, and everyone thought the blowout was underway. Then App State scored four touchdowns in its next five possessions to take a 28-14 halftime lead. Michigan clawed back to take a 32-31 lead with under five minutes left, but App State drove down the field anyway and kicked a 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining to go up 34-32.
Michigan completed a 46-yard pass to set up a 37-yard field goal attempt that would win the game until App State defensive back Corey Lynch blocked it, sealing the greatest upset in college football history.
Rulon Gardner Beat the Unbeatable Russian
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Aleksandr Karelin was a god among wrestlers. The Russian superheavyweight had gone 13 years without a loss in international competition, winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals and nine world championships. He was 6’3″, 290 pounds of pure muscle, and his signature “Karelin Lift” made him unstoppable.
Enter Rulon Gardner, a 29-year-old farm boy from Wyoming. He was huge, weighing in at 286 pounds, but wasn’t considered elite because he’d never medaled at a world championship. The match was supposed to be a coronation for Karelin’s fourth gold medal. Instead, Rulon held on defensively, refused to give Karelin the angles he needed for his devastating lift, and won 1-0 on a technicality when Aleksandr broke his grip.
NC State’s Airball-dunk Won the 1983 Championship
On March 29, 1983, NC State faced Houston in the NCAA championship game. Houston was stacked with future NBA legends Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and hadn’t lost a game all season. In sharp contrast, NC State had barely made the tournament as a sixth seed and had to win nine straight games to reach the finals.
The game stayed tight all night. With the score tied 52-52 and under five seconds left, NC State’s Dereck Whittenburg heaved a desperation shot from 30 feet out. It was an airball or a pass, depending on who you ask. Forward Lorenzo Charles caught it mid-flight near the rim and dunked it just before the buzzer beater. NC State won 54-52.
The maths doesn’t always ‘math’ in sports. Sometimes an airball leads to a championship. Other times, a Wyoming farm boy faces the Russian bear and doesn’t blink. Analysts can dissect film for hours, trying to pinpoint the exact reason these upsets happened. In reality, the truth is that on the right day, against the right opponent, underdogs can decide not to lose, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
