FCS Howard Bison defeat UNLV for biggest upset in college football history
In one of college football’s wildest games of Week 1, the Howard Bison knocked off UNLV Saturday night for the biggest upset by point spread in NCAA history.
It was no Appalachian State-Michigan type game or even a Liberty over Baylor-caliber upset, yet the Howard Bison’s victory over the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels became the NCAA’s biggest upset in college football history.
The Bison, an FCS squad out of the MEAC, were 45-point underdogs against the Rebels and were paid $600,000 by UNLV to come out and play this game. Howard is coming off an abysmal 2016 season where they posted a 2-9 record and lost their two games versus FBS schools by a combined 77 points.
Opening up 2017 with a new head coach, the Bison ignored the underdog role and stunned the Rebels for a 43-40 victory in Las Vegas. It was reported by some that the Bison were as high as 600-1 odds to win the game and since 2005, teams favored by 40 points or more were 253-0 with regards to straight up wins and losses.
THE UPSET IS OFFICIAL !
— Howard Athletics (@HUBisonSports) September 3, 2017
Howard: 43
UNLV: 40 #HowardFB #MissionPossible
The Bison joined the Liberty Flames in a group of unthinkable upsets on Saturday. The Flames, who were at 33-point underdog at Baylor, outlasted the Bears 48-45 in Waco, Texas. Liberty is beginning their transfer to FBS and kicked off the transition with a bang.
Howard posted 43 points behind the dual-threat ability of quarterback Caylin Newton, who is in fact the younger brother of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Caylin passed for just 140 yards on 15 completions, but it was his legs that made the difference- running for 190 yards and two touchdowns on a whopping nine yards per carry average.
Howard has Caylin Newton, Cam's brother, at quarterback. The dual-threat freshman piled up 330 total yards, 3 TDs at UNLV.
— Allen Moff (@AllenMoff_RC) September 3, 2017
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The Bison are not the first and only team in college football history to win a game while being 40+ point underdogs. The largest upset by point spread before Howard’s win on Saturday came back in 2007 when the Stanford Cardinal, 39-point favorites, knocked of USC 24-23.
Howard will visit another FBS school in Kent State next week, while UNLV visits Idaho.