The best upsets are the ones no one sees coming.
Northern Illinois’ stunning defeat of Notre Dame certainly fit the bill. Just a week ago, the Irish looked like a surefire playoff team after upending Texas A&M on the road
The best upsets aren’t about luck.
There was nothing unconventional in NIU’s game plan. The Huskies were the more physical, more fundamentally sound, more deserving team Saturday.
The best upsets cast our collective conscious backward, toward the other moments when the seemingly impossible suddenly became real.
In this case, NIU didn’t have to work too hard. Notre Dame’s good for one of these every few years.
OK, so maybe Saturday’s stunner didn’t check every box — much of the game felt like watching two aging walruses attempt to nudge each other off a rock — but after a Week 1 that was mostly chalk, it served as the first serious twist in the story of the s Week 0 defeat was the first big upset, but the Noles’ lawyers have filed a motion to quash any mentions of the 2024 season.)
It was a fitting release for a nation primed for chaos after Saturday’s early slate teased so many near misses.
In New Orleans, Tulane had No. 17 Kansas State on the ropes well into the second half, and only a controversial penalty kept the Green Wave from tying the game in the final moment.
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