Shocking first weekend
Huge underdogs Liberty, Howard stun with victories.
Texas’ loss to Maryland was discouraging to any Longhorn backer. It was not, however, historically humiliating.
That ignominious distinction belonged to UNLV. The Rebels went off as a 45-point favorite over I-AA Howard at the few sports books that would even post a line on the game. Final score: Howard 43, UNLV 40.
Favorites of 40-plus points were 253-0 straight up from 2005 until this year.
Baylor wasn’t too far off in terms of all-time embarrassment. The Bears were a 33-point favorite over Liberty, another I-AA program. (We now officially call them “FCS.”) The Flames racked up 585 yards of total offense and twice built 10-point leads before beating the Bears 48-45.
Before Saturday, the big- gest recorded upset in col- lege football history was Stan- ford’s 24-23 victory over USC in 2007 as a 39-point under- dog. That one deserves an asterisk, though, because Stanford is a Power Five program. Losing to the Cardi- nal isn’t the same as losing to Howard or Liberty.
Liberty’s shocker over Baylor now slots in at No. 5 on the list of the biggest upsets in the past 25 years — right behind Texas State’s 30-13 victory at Houston as a 36½point dog in 2012.
The victories by Howard and Liberty came on the 10-year anniversary of Appa- lachian State’s 34-32 upset of Michigan. Back then, few point spreads were available for games involving lower-division teams. One Las Vegas sports book spokesman told us Appalachian State would have been about a 35-point dog.
Texas was merely an 18½point favorite over Maryland. Then again, favorites of 17 points or more historically win straight up 90 percent of the time.
This week, the Longhorns are a heavy favorite again — by 26 points over San Jose State. The difference? The Spartans already have lost by 20 at home to Charlie Strong’s South Florida squad and clearly aren’t as good as the undervalued Terps.
Not to say we’d bet on the Horns. Best to stand back and watch for a few more weeks.
Will more history be made in Week 2? Doubtful. Right now the biggest line on the board is Alabama by 44 over Fresno State. Not sure if the Crimson Tide will cover, but we can guarantee they will not lose.
Texas State is the sec- ond-biggest dog of the week, getting 36 points at Colo- rado. There’s no chance the punchless Bobcats win. The Buffs shut down high-powered Colorado State 17-3 last week, and the Bobcats man- aged only a 20-11 victory over I-AA Houston Baptist.