Ranking the Biggest College Football Upsets of the 2023 Season

No matter how a college football season plays out, the biggest upsets of the campaign always help shape the outcome.

In 2023 alone, three of the four programs headed to the College Football Playoff had a massive win as underdogs.

Since the term "biggest" is very subjective, let's define it. For this piece, it's a measure of impact. Plenty of underdogs faced a larger spread—Texas State against Baylor, for example—but some of those results didn't have a major impact on the national picture.

Each matchup included a spread of five-plus points.

While I debated including the CFP selection committee's upset of Florida State, that probably shouldn't be part of this exercise. Thought hard about it, though.

If you look at the property deed on Lincoln Riley's home, I believe it says Kyle Whittingham is the owner.

Utah's perpetually underrated head coach continued his dominance of the Trojans—and this time, it happened with a backup quarterback. Veteran star Cam Rising never played in 2023 because of a knee injury, so Bryson Barnes took his turn as the villain in USC's story.

Along with three touchdown passes, Barnes' late 26-yard scamper set up Cole Becker's 38-yard field goal as time expired. On the road as seven-point underdogs, Utah won 34-32.

USC's season just imploded from there.

Consecutive losses to Notre Dame and Utah sparked a horrid collapse for the Trojans, who trudged to 7-5 and fell incredibly short of their national championship aspirations in Caleb Williams' last college season.

What if Louisville owned an 11-1 record entering the ACC Championship Game? Would it have bolstered Florida State's appeal to the CFP selection committee on that fateful Sunday?

Thanks to Kentucky, we'll never know.

During the regular-season finale, seven-point underdog Kentucky did its SEC brethren a solid and clipped rival Louisville 38-31 in dramatic fashion. Ray Davis ripped off a 37-yard touchdown with 1:02 remaining, and Jordan Lovett grabbed a last-second interception to seal the victory.

The result formally eliminated the Cardinals—who at least held a place in the conversation as a one-loss team—from the CFP race.

And it certainly didn't hurt Alabama's future case.

One week before Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma in the final (for now) edition of Bedlam, Kansas caught OU looking ahead.

Led by a tremendous day from the rushing attack, the Jayhawks pulled off a thrilling upset. Devin Neal powered in a nine-yard rushing score with 55 seconds left, and the KU defense survived Dillon Gabriel's last-second mini-Hail Mary to lock in the Jayhawks' 38-33 triumph.

This shocking finish in Lawrence altered the Big 12 race.

Yes, butterfly effect and all that, but Oklahoma only lost to OSU down the stretch. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, fell to both UCF and Texas. Flip this result—don't even change Bedlam—and OU would've landed a rematch with Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Instead, the 7-0 Sooners squandered a game as 7.5-point favorites and soon after also lost their spot as a Big 12 co-favorite.

Whew buddy, another result that didn't help Florida State.

Entering this Week 8 matchup, Virginia hadn't defeated an opponent from the Football Bowl Subdivision. In fact, the Cavaliers even trailed lower-division William & Mary by 10 points in an unspectacular 27-13 win.

So, naturally, the Wahoos went on the road and upset North Carolina—then ranked 10th in the country with a 6-0 record.

Typical win as 21.5-point underdogs, really.

Following that shocking 31-27 defeat, the Tar Heels collapsed. They dropped four of their last six games and plummeted from Florida State's top competition and a lurking CFP threat to a simple bowl qualifier.

Heading into the Pac-12 Championship Game, one fact clashed with a widely held opinion: Washington beat Oregon in mid-October, and Oregon had played much, much better than Washington since that game.

As a result, the wise people in Vegas labeled Oregon a 9.5-point favorite for the showdown in, well, Las Vegas.

Washington, however, kept on winning.

Although an early 20-3 lead became a 24-20 deficit, the Huskies recovered to earn a 34-31 victory. They won a conference title, sealed a place in the College Football Playoff and vaulted Michael Penix Jr. past Bo Nix in the Heisman Trophy discussion, too.

Thanks to Georgia's loss on the following day, UW climbed to No. 2 nationally—the program's best ranking since 1997.

Last season, Alabama hushed a raucous crowd in Austin with a last-minute field goal to squeak out a 20-19 win.

Texas had its revenge in Tuscaloosa.

Quinn Ewers passed for 349 yards and three touchdowns, propelling the Longhorns to an impressive victory. Texas, a seven-point underdog, turned a 16-13 fourth-quarter deficit into a 34-24 statement win.

Hindsight only bolsters the impact of this result. Texas would've been part of the four-team CFP field regardless of how the selection committee ruled between Bama and Florida State. Because of the head-to-head win, the Longhorns never trailed Alabama in the CFP rankings.

While the Horns' other victories all matter, they can directly link their pursuit of a national title with their win at Alabama.

Steve Sarkisian's victory over his former boss padded Texas' resume for the CFP. Nick Saban, however, edged a one-time star pupil, Kirby Smart, to snatch a similarly critical win.

Given what transpired on Selection Day, how the committee ranked Texas and FSU may have created controversy anyway. Were it not for a 27-24 upset of top-ranked Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, Alabama—a five-point 'dog—wouldn't have been part of the argument.

One turnover defined the game.

Georgia's third-quarter fumble gifted Bama a field goal, which proved to be the difference in the margin. The loss terminated UGA's hopes of a third straight national championship.

Oh, and it placed the Crimson Tide back in the CFP spotlight for the eighth time in 10 years.