College football rankings: Teams with most wins vs. AP No. 1 opponents
Any team can beat any other team on any given Saturday in college football. But it's not often that the No. 1 team in the country goes down.
In modern times, the best chance of seeing that happen is in a matchup between the top ranked and the No. 2 team, usually in a semifinal or national title game.
But other times, it's the unranked or lower ranked team that pulls off the upset and shocks the world. Which programs have the most wins against No. 1 opponents?
T-10. Penn State
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 4
Most recent: Notre Dame (1990)
Penn State's first win against a top-ranked team in 1981 against Dan Marino and Pitt, and Joe Pa picked up two more in the decade, both in national championship games: in 1982 against Georgia and 1986 against Miami. PSU edged the No. 1 Irish in South Bend as the 18th ranked team.
T-10. Arkansas
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 4
Most recent: LSU (2007)
The Hogs knocked off a top-ranked Texas team three times, in 1964 and 1965 as a Top 10 team itself and in 1981 as an unranked team in a rout. Arkansas had to wait a few decades to do it again, in 2007 against an LSU team that went on to win the BCS national championship. Darren McFadden ran for over 200 yards in a triple overtime 50-48 victory.
T-10. UCLA
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 4
Most recent: Ohio State (1975)
UCLA's first and last win against a top-ranked team came against Ohio State, the latter in the Rose Bowl in a 23-10 victory as the No. 23 team. It also has the distinction of ending Nebraska's first football dynasty, beating the Huskers in the 1972 opener and snapping NU's 32-game win streak.
T-10. Wisconsin
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 4
Most recent: Ohio State (2010)
That win against the Buckeyes is the Badgers' last in this category and culminated in the team winning a Rose Bowl as co-Big Ten champion. Looking into the past, Wisconsin was the only team to beat OSU the year it won its first national title (1942), doing so as the No. 6 team, and it upset Northwestern in 1962. The unranked Badgers toppled No. 1 Michigan in 1981.
T-6. Texas
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 5
Most recent: Oklahoma (2008)
Texas holds the distinction of beating No. 1 teams while itself ranked in the Top 10. Maybe the most bittersweet came against the Sooners, who thanks to a tiebreaker in the Big 12, went on to play for the national title, losing against Florida. But the Longhorns also own what might be the most impressive win against a No. 1 team in college football history — knocking off USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl and winning the national championship.
T-6. Auburn
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 5
Most recent win: Alabama (2017)
Three of Auburn's win in this category came in the 21st century, and the last two in the last decade against arch-rival Alabama. The first, the legendary "Kick Six" when Chris Davis made history returning a Tide field goal attempt all the way for a game-winning Auburn touchdown. That game knocked Bama out of the national title race and put Auburn in the SEC Championship Game, where it beat Missouri before falling to Florida State in the BCS title game.
T-6. Ohio State
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 5
Most recent: Alabama (2014 College Football Playoff semifinal)
Ohio State went on to win the national championship three of the last four times it knocked off the top-ranked team — 2014 against the Tide, in 2002 against Miami in the BCS title game, and 1968 against USC in the Rose Bowl. OSU also upset No. 1 Iowa during the Hawkeyes' magical run in 1985. In '02, the Bucks ended a Miami win streak that dated back to the 2000 season.
T-3. Oklahoma
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 7
Most recent: Missouri (2007)
OU has been in the Top 10 each time it beat a No. 1 team, doing it three times against Nebraska, including two perfect Husker teams in 1987 and 2000. Oklahoma upset top-ranked Penn State in the Orange Bowl for the national championship in 1985. The year before, OU came away perfect against two No. 1 teams, tying rival Texas and beating Nebraska.
T-3. Purdue
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 7
Most recent: Michigan (1976)
Four of these seven wins were against Notre Dame, with three others against Big Ten teams, including Michigan State, national champion Minnesota in 1960, and Michigan in '76. Purdue also holds the honor of winning 10 games against Top 5 teams while itself unranked, including twice in 2021 (No. 2 Iowa and No. 3 Michigan State), a record in the Top 25 poll era.
T-3. USC
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 7
Most recent: Washington (1984)
Usually, it's the No. 1 ranked Trojans handing out the beatings, but USC has returned the favor as the underdog, too. Two of Troy's first wins against top-ranked competition came against rival Notre Dame. In 1978, USC handed eventual AP national champion Alabama its sole defeat and upended No. 1 and undefeated Ohio State in the 1980 Rose Bowl, in Earle Bruce's first season replacing Woody Hayes.
T-2. Miami
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 9
Most recent: Florida State (2000)
The U ran roughshod over teams good and bad from the 80s to the new century, including a statement W over Nebraska in the 1984 Orange Bowl that kick-started the Hurricanes' dynasty. Miami bumped off Oklahoma for another national title in 1988 and then upset No. 1 and defending national champion Notre Dame in 1989. Three of Miami's last four wins in this category came against rival Florida State, including the '88 opener, and against perfect Seminoles teams in '91 and '00.
T-2. Notre Dame
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 9
Most recent: Clemson (2020)
The Irish wasted no time in the poll era getting on this list, beating Northwestern back in 1936, and ND won a pair of national championships in wins against No. 1 ranked Alabama (1973) and Texas (1977). But it was the 1988 home game against Miami — known in college football lore as "Catholics vs. Convicts" — that everyone remembers: ND snapped the Canes' 36-game win streak with a one-point victory en route to a national title, and beat No. 1 Clemson during the Covid season.
1. Alabama
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Wins vs. AP No. 1 teams: 11
Most recent: Georgia (2023 SEC Championship Game)
Alabama has done much of its damage as the No. 1 team, but has also brought its A-game against top-ranked competition, especially in the Saban era. Eight of these 11 wins came during his tenure, including vs. Clemson in two CFP national title games, one against LSU for the BCS title, over first-ever CFP No. 1 Mississippi State, and twice against Georgia in SEC Championship Games.
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