And tonight's UMBC Upset Trophy goes to...

[weezie]

The Detroit Lions?!:eek:

[BigWayne]

Well actually the Bills might have beaten them to it.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I'm not a gambler so I'm not sure if this is a legit bet, but I'm guessing a money line parlay on the Bills and Lions would have won a lot of money.

[BD80]

I'm not a gambler so I'm not sure if this is a legit bet, but I'm guessing a money line parlay on the Bills and Lions would have won a lot of money.

Anyone that bet that parlay should be immediately and continuously drug-tested. In perpetuity.

[rsvman]

The Bills and the Lions. The Bills win is bigger, in my opinion. The Pats may become their usual selves later in the season, but have been lackluster thus far. The Bills looked like they couldn't win an intramural game until yesterday, and the Vikings are not horrible.


Oh, and in college football, perhaps the biggest upset of the season thus far: Old Dominion University, a school that didn't even have a football program until 2009, over Virginia Tech. Oh, and they won with their back-up quarterback because of an injury to their starter.

[BD80]

… Oh, and in college football, perhaps the biggest upset of the season thus far: Old Dominion University, a school that didn't even have a football program until 2009, over Virginia Tech. Oh, and they won with their back-up quarterback because of an injury to their starter.

Not even close. Butler over Youngstown State.

https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/09/06/butler-youngstown-state-upset-fcs-pioneer-league

Youngstown State - 63 scholarships.

Butler - 0 scholarships.

[weezie]

...The Bills win is bigger, in my opinion...

No way rsv!

Not one living soul on planet earth thought that the Lion was going to beat the pat. Not



one.

[rsvman]

Not even close. Butler over Youngstown State.

https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/09/06/butler-youngstown-state-upset-fcs-pioneer-league

Youngstown State - 63 scholarships.

Butler - 0 scholarships.

I'm gonna argue this one. Old Dominion was 0-3. Then they lost their starting quarterback to injury. They were 38-point underdogs even WITH their starting quarterback. Have to imagine if the injury had occurred before the game, they would've been at least 45-point underdogs.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I'm gonna argue this one. Old Dominion was 0-3. Then they lost their starting quarterback to injury. They were 38-point underdogs even WITH their starting quarterback. Have to imagine if the injury had occurred before the game, they would've been at least 45-point underdogs.

Not to quibble, but they were 28 to 29 point under dogs....and it turns out their second string QB is better than the starter.....not all starter injuries are equal.....

[YmoBeThere]

and it turns out their second string QB is better than the starter...not all starter injuries are equal...

Ex post facto rationalization. Going into the season when they were slotted by the coach as 1st and 2nd string there was a reason. Do you sit what you believe is your better player behind a not as good player? Sure you can argue that you might, but please do so with a straight face.

[rsvman]

Not to quibble, but they were 28 to 29 point under dogs...and it turns out their second string QB is better than the starter....not all starter injuries are equal....

Thanks for the correction. Still a huge upset. I agree that not all starter injuries are equal, but generally speaking, the line would have been even wider if the injury to the stater had happened in practice the week before the game.

[killerleft]

Ex post facto rationalization. Going into the season when they were slotted by the coach as 1st and 2nd string there was a reason. Do you sit what you believe is your better player behind a not as good player? Sure you can argue that you might, but please do so with a straight face.

Sometimes there are factors other than talent. Didn't learn the playbook, disciplinary stuff, never looked as good in practice as in games. Or, the most likely? The coach was wrong. It happens.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Ex post facto rationalization. Going into the season when they were slotted by the coach as 1st and 2nd string there was a reason. Do you sit what you believe is your better player behind a not as good player? Sure you can argue that you might, but please do so with a straight face.

Not necessarily. There was supposedly "a reason" Drew Bledsoe was first string and Tom Brady second string. There was "a reason" Tikki Barber was second string. There was "a reason" Tua what's his name was behind Hurts.

There are lot of second stringers who are going to actually be better game players than the person starting ahead of them. It happens in every sport. Based on this guy's performance against ODU, where the offense of VT was just fine - he looked every bit as good to me as Josh Jackson.

Sometimes "the reason" someone is second string is that the coaching staff is miscalculating...or that the second stringer is more of a game player than a practice player...or has made rapid improvements in his game...and maybe the gap wasn't big to begin with. Most people agree that there was a big big gap at Duke between QB's 1 and 2. That's actually the exception, not the rule, in CFB.

I would LOVE to assume this is a drop off at VT. I do not assume that.

[Turk]

I would LOVE to assume this is a drop off at VT. I do not assume that.

My betting friends might say this was a classic example of a "trap game". The Hokies were guilty of looking past ODU toward their matchup with the undefeated Blue Devils.

(The Steelers committed a similar sin last year against Jax in the playoffs... And you can stick your ex post up your facto - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) :cool:

[HereBeforeCoachK]

My betting friends might say this was a classic example of a "trap game". The Hokies were guilty of looking past ODU toward their matchup with the undefeated Blue Devils.

(The Steelers committed a similar sin last year against Jax in the playoffs... And you can stick your ex post up your facto - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) :cool:

HAH...well, I think VT looked past ODU because of ODU's stinker of a season so far.....methinks Duke had nothing to do with that. And yeah, I kinda agree with you on the Steelers.....

[YmoBeThere]

Sometimes there are factors other than talent. Didn't learn the playbook, disciplinary stuff, never looked as good in practice as in games. Or, the most likely? The coach was wrong. It happens.

What we are discussing here is the nature of one upset being more of an upset than another. "Not to quibble, but they were 28 to 29 point under dogs...and it turns out their second string QB is better than the starter....not all starter injuries are equal.... " Did anyone here reliably and verifiably have reason to believe going into the game that their backup quarterback was significantly better than their starter?


Not necessarily. There was supposedly "a reason" Drew Bledsoe was first string and Tom Brady second string. There was "a reason" Tikki Barber was second string. There was "a reason" Tua what's his name was behind Hurts.

There are lot of second stringers who are going to actually be better game players than the person starting ahead of them.

One, your examples are data mining. A few anecdotes doesn't offset dozens and dozens of backup quarterbacks who don't ever gain mindshare because they don't perform better than the starter in front of them. Yes, it makes for great underdog stories, but there is a reason for that.

Two, as an Asian American with a lot of vowels in my last name, we tend to prefer being referred to by our proper names, not "Tua what's his name". Though I may be misrepresenting his position on this.


That's actually the exception, not the rule, in CFB.

Interesting, is there any of evidence for your assertion?


(The Steelers committed a similar sin last year against Jax in the playoffs... And you can stick your ex post up your facto - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) :cool:

Rationalizing a loss hurts, doesn't it? That's the joy of sports or perhaps the "agony of defeat".