USC was favored by 41(!) points over Standford and lost.
Is this the record or has a college football team been favored by even more points and lost the game?
I’m not sure if it counts, but my alma mater the University of Michigan lost to Appalachian Sate, and I don’t think there was even a line out on the game.
I was thinking of posting this same question, first after Syracuse, a 36-point underdog, won over Louisville, and now because of Stanford. Two such upsets in the first half of the same season have to be unusual.
The thread title is misleading/incorrect. USC would’ve “covered the spread” if they had won by > 41 points. Stanford would’ve “beaten” the spread by losing by less than 41 points. They did considerably better than that, of course.
I think there was a line on the Michigan - App State game, but I can’t recall what it was. I just checked the coverage of the game and there was no mention made of a point spread.
This Yahoo article says there was no Michigan - Appalachian St. line, at least in Las Vegas.
Right, there was no line on Mich-App St.
It probably would have been bigger.
This is still a ridiculous upset. And Leinert broke his collarbone this weekend. And, Reggie Bush and NO are 0-4.
Rough week to be a Trojan.
According to one article I read, the Syracuse win was a record, and of course the Stanford win is the new record.
Don’t forget a pretty rough month for the most famous Trojan of all.
Hector?
The two other biggest points spread upsets before Saturday were:
In 1998, an 0-5 Temple team beat 5-0 Virginia Tech 28-24 as a 36-point underdog. That game is usually cited as the biggest upset of the past 10 years, point-spread wise.
A 1985 game in which Oregon State beat Washington 21-20 is often considered the largest point-spread upset. Oregon State was anywhere from a 36 to a 38-point 'dog, depending on which line you use.
If there had been a line on the Michigan App State game, it would have been around 23 points per one article I read, and that’s only because of the stupidity of early season rankings. If App State played Michigan this week, my guess is the line would 10 or less.
George Lucas!
This puts Cal at #2! Roll on You Bears! 
Now, if Stanford can beat Cal in the Big Game, there season will be complete - no matter how they play in their other games!
Go, Cardinal! give 'em the axe!
The decible level in Death Valley (LSU) was around 115 when the USC loss was announced over the PA system.
It’s good to be king. 
Pff. Dream on. You guys may never see the Axe again.
As a Cal fan, I’m a little pissed off. First, I wanted the Nov 10 game in Berkeley (that I’m attending) to have been USC’s first loss - more epic that way.
And, second, I hate to see Stanfurd win. Ever.
What if I had put $1000.00 down on Stanford. What would I have won?
Do you think some people in Las Vegas did bet on Stanford?
You would have won $1000 dollars. That’s it. There was no moneyline wager available for that game.
Somewhat off topic, I was doing some Googling to see if anyone had a spread for the Michigan-App. State game and I found this Sun Times article from September 5th which quotes:
Emphasis mine.
Talk about a interesting comment in retrospect with Illinois, Syracuse and Standford pulling upsets over top 5 teams this season. Va Tech had better watch out for Duke this week!
It’s also worth mentioning that in most cases the point spread is a poor measure of how “big” an upset is. The point spread is not a predictor of the final score differential nor is it a measure of how much better one team is. It’s more or less a measure of how many bettors will be betting on one team versus the other.
In the case of a high-profile, popular and heavily televised team like USC (with a fan base in very close proximity to Vegas no less) you can be certain that many amateur gamblers would be laying money on USC to cover simply out of blind loyalty instead of careful consideration of the match-up.
The “USC tax” on any point spread is probably at least a touchdown. This fact is validated by the fact that USC has only covered the spread in 1 of their last 10 games.
It’s too bad that the training manager at our company is gone. He’s a huge USC fan, with his cubicle a shrine to the Trojans.
Back in the '01 Las Vegas Bowl, Utah beat USC by 10 to 6, so I asked everyone in the company to email him asking him the score. Lots of people were tired of his cockiness and were more than happy to participate.
This would have been fun as well.