The Notre Dame Fighting Irish had high hopes entering the 2024 season. With a trip to College Station a success in front of a national audience in Week 1, their sights were set on the College Football Playoff as they ran through what looked like an easy schedule.
However, their Week 2 opponent — THE Northern Illinois Huskies — had other plans.
Northern Illinois Receives Massive Payday To Upset Notre Dame
Typically, when Group of Five schools head to the Power Four schools — or, in this case, Notre Dame — there’s a monetary figure incentivizing them to do so. In the case of the Fighting Irish inviting the Huskies to town in Week 2, that sum turned out to be $1.4 million dollars.
That figure seems large — and it is — but the upset itself is actually larger.
At kickoff, Notre Dame was such a heavy favorite that the spread moved to -28 in favor of the Irish. That line was one of the biggest for any FBS vs. FBS game for the entire Week 2 slate.
Using data from the past 30 years of college football, we examined the closing lines for all the biggest upsets.
However, the +28 upset didn’t come into the top 10 results of all the shocking upsets we’ve seen in college football’s recent history.
Still, the Huskies received a handsome payday and are the popular side of history following their upset win.
Biggest Point Spread Upsets in College Football History
Here are the biggest point-spread upsets that we could find using data over the last 30 years.
1) Howard (+45.5) vs. UNLV
Date: Sept. 2, 2017
Final Score: Howard 43, UNLV 40
2) Stanford (+40.5) vs. USC
Date: Oct. 6, 2007
Final Score: Stanford 24, USC 23
3) Syracuse (+37) vs. Louisville
Date: Sept. 22, 2007
Final Score: Syracuse 38, Louisville 35
4) Temple (+35.5) vs. Virginia Tech
Date: Oct. 17, 1998
Final Score: Temple 28, Virginia Tech 24
5) Texas State (+35) vs. Houston
Date: Sept. 1, 2012
Final Score: Texas State 30, Houston 13
6) Central Michigan (+34.5) vs. Western Michigan
Date: Nov. 11, 2000
Final Score: Central Michigan 21, Western Michigan 17
7) Liberty (+34) vs. Baylor
Date: Sept. 2, 2017
Final Score: Liberty 48, Baylor 45
8) James Madison (+33.5) vs. Virginia Tech
Date: Sept. 11, 2010
Final Score: JMU 21, Virginia Tech 16
9) Appalachian State (+33) vs. Michigan
Date: Sept. 1, 2007
Final Score: App State 34, Michigan 32
10) UL-Monroe Warhawks (+32.5) vs. Liberty
Date: Oct. 16, 2021
Final Score: UL-Monroe 31, Liberty 28
Just Missed: Northern Illinois (+28) vs. Notre Dame
Date: Sept. 7, 2024
Final Score: NIU 16, Notre Dame 14
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