Greatest I-AA over I-A of All-Time

[TexasTerror]

Was posed this question on KatFans.com...

Brought up three games, Furman over UNC in 1999, UC-Davis over Stanford in 2005 and Montana St over Colorado in 2006...

Was there any games that were bigger wins than those? Any major wins over BCS conference schools or pre-BCS that were big I-AA wins over I-As?

[Hansel]

Montana over Idaho

I keed I keed

[skinny_uncle]

https://www.siualumni.com/images/users/DAEAF59D-E88A-4D4A-B981-CC03F876499E.jpg

[Jacks76]

UC-Davis over Stanford gets my vote.

Paul

[Hansel]

Colorado has won National titles and been to BCS games in the not so distant past, had MSU showed up for their last three games I think many would consider that win #1

[FargoBison]

UC-Davis over Stanford gets my vote.

Paul

I agree.

[ccd494]

Maine-Mississippi State wasn't bad, I mean, Miss. State kinda was, but the SEC is the SEC. And MSU beat Florida later that year, leading to a Florida paper writing a story about how Maine was better than Florida. Ron Zook was fired shortly after.

[Hansel]

Maine-Mississippi State wasn't bad, I mean, Miss. State kinda was, but the SEC is the SEC. And MSU beat Florida later that year, leading to a Florida paper writing a story about how Maine was better than Florida. Ron Zook was fired shortly after.
didn't Maine end up 5-6 that year?

funny how the teams with the big IA wins often don't have great seasons (though UD did OK after beating Navy)

[UNHWildCats]

Was posed this question on KatFans.com...

Brought up three games, Furman over UNC in 1999, UC-Davis over Stanford in 2005 and Montana St over Colorado in 2006...

Was there any games that were bigger wins than those? Any major wins over BCS conference schools or pre-BCS that were big I-AA wins over I-As?

granted Montana St is looking pathetic itself, but Colorado is for sure. Surely considering how pathetic Colorado is UNH over Northwestern could be mentioned before that game, im not saying UNH over Northwestern was one of the greatest I-AA over I-A but surely would rate over the Colorado game.

[skinny_uncle]

granted Montana St is looking pathetic itself, but Colorado is for sure. Surely considering how pathetic Colorado is UNH over Northwestern could be mentioned before that game, im not saying UNH over Northwestern was one of the greatest I-AA over I-A but surely would rate over the Colorado game.
Beating a Big 10 team is always sweet.
:D

[GreenDay17]

granted Montana St is looking pathetic itself, but Colorado is for sure. Surely considering how pathetic Colorado is UNH over Northwestern could be mentioned before that game, im not saying UNH over Northwestern was one of the greatest I-AA over I-A but surely would rate over the Colorado game.

I think the two are pretty much on par and wouldn't rate either above the other. Northwestern's 2 wins come against teams that are a combined 0-8 this year and Colorado, as you point out, is pathetic (but almost pulled one off today). A case could actually be made that Montana State's win is bigger by the shear fact that they are themselves abysmal, while UNH is not.

[skinny_uncle]

I think the two are pretty much on par and wouldn't rate either above the other. Northwestern's 2 wins come against teams that are a combined 0-8 this year and Colorado, as you point out, is pathetic (but almost pulled one off today). A case could actually be made that Montana State's win is bigger by the shear fact that they are themselves abysmal, while UNH is not.
You make a good point. My favorite SIU win of all time is probably the 1967 upset of a Tulsa team that was ranked in the top 10 nationally at the time. It occurred during a season that we went 3-7. It was incredible.

[BULLDOG8180]

The Citadel over Arkansas 10-3 in 1992.

[Wellington]

Montana 35 - Oregon State 14 in 1996
Video/highlights of the game:
http://streamingmedia.montanagrizzlies.com/umgriz/2005_2006_an/Media/Football/1996_Highlig/fb961.wmv

[BearsCountry]

Come on the classic Missouri State over UNLV game in 1990. :)

[Jacks76]

Furman over NC.

And who can forget Portland State's demolition of Hawaii?

Paul

[Mr. C]

The Citadel over Arkansas 10-3 in 1992.
This one for me was the mother of all I-AA vs I-A upsets. Jack Crowe, the Arkansas coach got fired the next day by AD and former coach Frank Broyles. That was a Citadel team that was ranked No. 1 in I-AA that season (until losing in the playoffs). Great, great team.

A lot of those other ones were teams beating lousy I-As.

The Furman-UNC one was pretty good (the 28-3 score was A LOT more lopsided than it looked — total domination).

Should Northwestern recover this year, New Hampshire's win a couple of weeks ago might be one of the best.

App State has had some good ones over Wake Forest.

Some of the best near misses were Georgia Southern loss to Oregon State (was this in 1998, 1999, or 2000?) and App State's loss in the final minute at Auburn in 1999 (22-15). ASU won everywhere but on the scoreboard (fumble by Karim Razzak as he was going into the end zone for a TD, a bunch of missed FGs and PATs that night).

[RadMann]

Navy is Navy but UD did beat a 2003 Navy team that later won a bowl that same year. Not one of the top I-AA wins but a win against a quality I-A team.

[ravens]

Furman over NC.

And who can forget Portland State's demolition of Hawaii?

Paul

True, and Furman came VERY close to a repeat last week.:nod:

[Tealblood]

The week after The citadel beat Arkansas, Arkansas went to Columbia to play the gamecocks Ark. 45 USC 0 or something pretty close I know the 45 is correct can not remember if the chickens scored

[igo4uni]

Beating a Big 10 team is always sweet.
:D

I would love to see UNI beat Iowa before I die!! :nod: :nod:

[fuEMO]

I'm going to throw a couple of Furman games in the mix.

1982 Furman 28 USC 23. Furman takes a fieldgoal off the board to later score a touchdown. Game not as close as the score. Furman's first year to particapate in the I-AA playoffs. Got man handled by SC ST 0-17.

1983 Furman 17 GaTech 14. This was a Bil Curry coached GaTech team. Furman backs Stanford Jennings and Robbie Gardner outperform GaTech all-time leading rusher Robert Lavette. Bobby Lamb stars as young unproven backup. Helluva game to watch.

1984 Furman 34 NC St 30. State had a big time tailback but the BL led Paladins shock'em in Raleigh.

1985 Furman 42 NC St 20. This was IMO a bigger butt kickin than the 28-3 UNC game. Yep we lost to GSU in the championship game.:mad: But Furman is riding a 4 game winning streak against IA schools.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

Rather than voting on what kind of reputation the IA team has that lost, it's more important to think in terms of how good that one particular team was that was beaten. How good were these IA teams the year that they got beat? Colorado, for instance, has made a name for itself, but it hasn't been worth a toot lately. Furman's '99 game against UNC may have been the largest marigin of victory, but how good was UNC that year?

[NSUDemon98]

Was posed this question on KatFans.com...

Brought up three games, Furman over UNC in 1999, UC-Davis over Stanford in 2005 and Montana St over Colorado in 2006...

Was there any games that were bigger wins than those? Any major wins over BCS conference schools or pre-BCS that were big I-AA wins over I-As?

Surely you didn't overlook your own conference on purpose...2001-Northwestern St. over TCU in OT.

[GABison]

2006 - NDSU 29 Ball State 24 - 535 total offensive yards for NDSU xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx

Hey it's a start! NDSU is now 1-0 against IA.

If we beat Minnesota on Oct. 21st(?), would that be in the top ten?

[Go...gate]

The Citadel over Arkansas 10-3 in 1992.

That also gets my vote.

[GoAgs72]

The UC Davis - Stanford game probably got as much press coverage as any 1A/1AA game ever from newspapers, magazines and TV. They are still mentioning it in SF Bay newspapers. It was probably based on the supposed disparity in the relative strengths of the teams.

[UNHknowledge]

Condisering UC-Davis was a D-II to I-AA transition team, I'd have to put them at the top for the Stanford win. UNH/Northwestern game isn't even as impressive as the Rutgers win to me because anyone that has seen UNH lately should have expected us to beat Northwestern. When we beat Rutgers, we were coming off a 5-6 season, Rutgers had just beaten Mich St., and we had a freshman QB making his first ever career start (Ricky Santos). Just the beggining of an unbelievable story.

[UNHWildCats]

2006 - NDSU 29 Ball State 24 - 535 total offensive yards for NDSU xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx

Hey it's a start! NDSU is now 1-0 against IA.

If we beat Minnesota on Oct. 21st(?), would that be in the top ten?

If NDSU beats Minny I will put them #2!

[rcny46]

The Citadel over Arkansas 10-3 in 1992.

That one has my vote as well,with Maine over Miss.State number two.

***** El Cid,`68.

[00bluehen]

Navy is Navy but UD did beat a 2003 Navy team that later won a bowl that same year. Not one of the top I-AA wins but a win against a quality I-A team.
Navy got wrecked by Texas Tech in the Houston Bowl in 2003. They won their bowl game in 2004 (also beat UD that year).

[Baldy]

2002:
Northeastern 31
Ohio 0

Granted, Ohio U has never been an elite team, but they did finish 4-8 that year, and the margin of victory is awfully impressive.

[Tod]

I'm going to throw a couple of Furman games in the mix.

1982 Furman 28 USC 23. Furman takes a fieldgoal off the board to later score a touchdown. Game not as close as the score. Furman's first year to particapate in the I-AA playoffs. Got man handled by SC ST 0-17.

1983 Furman 17 GaTech 14. This was a Bil Curry coached GaTech team. Furman backs Stanford Jennings and Robbie Gardner outperform GaTech all-time leading rusher Robert Lavette. Bobby Lamb stars as young unproven backup. Helluva game to watch.

1984 Furman 34 NC St 30. State had a big time tailback but the BL led Paladins shock'em in Raleigh.

1985 Furman 42 NC St 20. This was IMO a bigger butt kickin than the 28-3 UNC game. Yep we lost to GSU in the championship game.:mad: But Furman is riding a 4 game winning streak against IA schools.

Impressive. But...correction, Furman WAS riding a four game winning streak against I-A schools. :(

[ASU Kep]

Has a I-AA ever beaten a ranked I-A? If not, anybody care to do some research as to the closest we've gotten?

[BULLDOG8180]

The Citadel over Arkansas 10-3 in 1992.

To add a little more credibility:

The week after The Citadel's victory

Arkansas traveled to South Carolina, and beat the gamecocks 45-7

Also, that year, Arkansas defeated Tennessee 25-24 on the road, beat LSU 30-6 at home. They also battled Auburn to a 24-24 tie at Auburn.

[pksundevil]

Has a I-AA ever beaten a ranked I-A? If not, anybody care to do some research as to the closest we've gotten?

According to my ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, Colgate was undefeated/ranked in the Top 20 in the late 1970s (don't have book in front of me, so don't have year/score right now) when Delaware beat them.

[89Hen]

According to my ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, Colgate was undefeated/ranked in the Top 20 in the late 1970s (don't have book in front of me, so don't have year/score right now) when Delaware beat them.
The answer to Kep's question is no; a I-AA has never beaten a ranked I-A team. The UD/CU game that you talk about was a DII Delaware beating an undefeated DI Colgate team that actually wasn't ranked when they played. Colgate was 9-0 and #19, but actually dropped out of the Top 20 (was still 20 then) after moving to 10-0. They obviously finished 10-1.

[89Hen]

Navy got wrecked by Texas Tech in the Houston Bowl in 2003.
Very true, but has any other I-AA beaten a I-A that even went to a bowl?

Also, how about UD beating two I-A's at home in a season (1985) when they didn't even make the playoffs. :eyebrow:

As for this topic, I'd vote for El Cid over Arkansas and Maine over MissSt. I hate the SEC. :p

[ASU Kep]

The answer to Kep's question is no; a I-AA has never beaten a ranked I-A team. The UD/CU game that you talk about was a DII Delaware beating an undefeated DI Colgate team that actually wasn't ranked when they played. Colgate was 9-0 and #19, but actually dropped out of the Top 20 (was still 20 then) after moving to 10-0. They obviously finished 10-1.

I'm almost happy to hear that. It'll just make it all the more special when ASU defeats my childhood UGA bulldogs in 2009. Of course, if any of the rest of ya'll can pull it off before then, I'd be happy as hell for you guys too. :D

[GannonFan]

Very true, but has any other I-AA beaten a I-A that even went to a bowl?

Also, how about UD beating two I-A's at home in a season (1985) when they didn't even make the playoffs. :eyebrow:

As for this topic, I'd vote for El Cid over Arkansas and Maine over MissSt. I hate the SEC. :p

I disagree with the Maine one - I know MJ will object but Mississippi St was simply god awful the year before and this game was so early in the year that the system under the new regime hadn't really taken hold yet. Sure, Miss St went on to beat Florida that year, but they also went 3-8 that year and got destroyed by anyone good. They were not a good team.

Heck, I kinda disagree with the Citadel one too - that was a 3-7-1 Arkansas team and while they went on to beat S.Carolina and Tennessee, it's hard to look past the other 6 losses, including an embarrassing one at home to a newly re-eastablished SMU team.

Actually, it's hard to think of a really good one, I mean, how many times did the I-AA team beat a I-A team that went on to have a winning record that year? There aren't many, unfortunately.

[Cap'n Cat]

This one for me was the mother of all I-AA vs I-A upsets. Jack Crowe, the Arkansas coach got fired the next day by AD and former coach Frank Broyles. That was a Citadel team that was ranked No. 1 in I-AA that season (until losing in the playoffs). Great, great team.

A lot of those other ones were teams beating lousy I-As.

The Furman-UNC one was pretty good (the 28-3 score was A LOT more lopsided than it looked — total domination).

Should Northwestern recover this year, New Hampshire's win a couple of weeks ago might be one of the best.

App State has had some good ones over Wake Forest.

Some of the best near misses were Georgia Southern loss to Oregon State (was this in 1998, 1999, or 2000?) and App State's loss in the final minute at Auburn in 1999 (22-15). ASU won everywhere but on the scoreboard (fumble by Karim Razzak as he was going into the end zone for a TD, a bunch of missed FGs and PATs that night).




Agree with Mr. C. Still can't believe that Citadel/Arky thing.

[Mr. C]

When The Citadel was pulling that one off (in a day of much more limited TV play for college football), ABC kept breaking in with highlights and stuff. It was considered a huge deal, instead of getting just a casual mention like most of the games get now. Jack Crowe's firing the next day got a lot of attention, too. The fact that Arkansas was pretty good, The Citadel was one of the best I-AA teams around and the firing makes it the best for me. I remember a lot about it and I wasn't even covering I-AA at the time. I was covering a lot of prep and junior college football and volleyball at the Los Angeles Times then. Trust me, it registered around Times Mirror Square big time.

[HI54UNI]

I would love to see UNI beat Iowa before I die!! :nod: :nod:

Ditto!