College Football: 10 Greatest Championship Saturday Upsets

The four teams of the College Football Playoff will be determined after Championship Saturday.

This Saturday marks the final Saturday of the college football regular season or first Saturday of the postseason depending on your point of view, as nine of the 10 FBS conferences will hold conference championship games, with some of the winner of the Power Five Conferences(ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12) earning spots in the College Football Playoff.

This Saturday has become known as "Championship Saturday" and has produced some of the most memorable upsets in college football history and caused chaos in determining which teams play for the national championship.

With that in mind, I have come up with a list of what I think are the 10 greatest upsets to ever occur on Championship Saturday.

Here now are the 10 Greatest Championship Saturday Upsets:

10. 2013 Ohio State-Michigan State(Big 10 Championship)

#2 Ohio State had gone 24-0 since Urban Meyer had taken over as head coach in 2012, and one more win would send them to the BCS Championship Game.

But #10 Michigan State, led by quarterback Connor Cook’s 301 yards and three touchdowns, stunned the Buckeyes 34-24 to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl and allow for Auburn to go to the Title Game and play Florida State.

Connor Cook was the MVP in Michigan State's upset of Ohio State in the 2013 Big 10 Championship Game.

9. 2001 Texas-Colorado (Big 12 Championship)

After Tennessee knocked off #2 Florida 34-32 earlier in the day, #3 Texas had a chance to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl and play #1 Miami for the national title with a win over #9 Colorado in the Big 12 Championship Game.

However, Texas quarterback Chris Simms turned the ball over four times in the first half, which put the Longhorns in a 29-10 hole, that backup quarterback Major Applewhite come close to digging the Longhorns out of it, but it wasn’t enough as Colorado defeated Texas 39-37.

Chris Simms' 4 1st half turnovers doomed Texas's chance to play for the national championship in 2001.

8. 1998 UCLA-Miami

UCLA was ranked #2 in the BCS standings and one of three undefeated teams entering Championship Saturday as they traveled to the Orange Bowl to play the Miami Hurricanes in a game that had been rescheduled from September because of a hurricane.

However, UCLA could not contain Miami running back Edgerrin James, who ran for 299 yards on 39 carries and scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 50 seconds left to give the Hurricanes a 49-45 upset and opening the door for...

Edgerrian James(5) ran wild over the UCLA defense as his school record 299 yards helped Miami knock off UCLA.

7. 1998 Kansas State-Texas A&M (Big 12 Championship)

#3 Kansas State, who learned of the Bruins loss during their game with #10 Texas A&M, and needing just to beat the Aggies to play for the national championship.

It seemed that the Wildcats were on their way to the Fiesta Bowl(where the National Championship Game was played that year) as they held a 27-12 lead in the 4th quarter, only to have the Aggies come back to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Then in double overtime, A&M quarterback Brandon Stewart fired a swing pass to Sirr Parker, who turned the play into a game-winning 32-yard touchdown to give the Aggies a 36-33 double overtime win and send one-loss Florida State to the Fiesta Bowl to play undefeated Tennessee.

6. 2014 Wisconsin-Ohio State (Big 10 Championship)

Even they were #6 and higher ranked than the Badgers, Ohio State entered the Big 10 Championship Game as 4 ½ point underdogs because the Buckeyes were down to their third string quarterback in Cardale Jones.

But Jones’s three touchdowns and running back Ezekiel Elliott’s 220 yards, the Buckeyes destroyed Wisconsin 59-0 and leapfrogged TCU and Baylor, to enter the inaugural College Football Playoff, and end up winning the national title with Jones at quarterback.

In his first career start, quarterback Cardale Jones(12) lead Ohio State to a 59-0 win over Wisconsin and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

5. 2003 Kansas State-Oklahoma (Big 12 Championship)

#1 Oklahoma was a two-touchdown favorite as they played #13 Kansas State for the Big 12 Championship.

But the Sooners would be shellshocked by the Wildcats 35-7 as Kansas State quarterback Eli Roberson threw four touchdown passes and running back Darren Sproles ran for 235 yards.

Despite the loss, somehow Oklahoma finished #2 in the BCS standings over Pac-10 champion USC and played in the BCS Title Game, which they lost 21-14 to LSU causing a split national championship between USC and LSU.

Darren Sproles chewed up the Oklahoma defense as he ran for 235 yards in Kansas State's 35-7 upset over the Sooners.

4. 2001 Tennessee-LSU (SEC Championship)

One week after their win over #2 Florida and #3 Texas’ loss in the Big 12 title game(see number 9), Tennessee jumped to #2 in the BCS rankings and needing a win over #21 LSU in the SEC Championship Game, which had been moved back a week because of the 9/11 attacks, to play Miami for the national title.

It looked good for the Volunteers as they built a 17-7 lead and had knocked out LSU starting quarterback Rohan Davey out of the game, until backup Matt Mauck helped the Tigers to outscore the Vols 24-3 over the last 33:52 of the game to give the Tigers a 31-20 win and send Nebraska, who had lost to Colorado 62-36 in their final game of the regular season and didn’t even play for their conference championship, to the Title Game.

Matt Mauck come off the bench and ran for two touchdowns to lead LSU to a 31-20 upset victory over Tennessee.

3. 1996 Texas-Nebraska(Big 12 Championship)

After learning that his Texas Longhorns were 21-point underdogs to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Texas quarterback James Brown said that he thought Texas would beat Nebraska by 21 points.

While they did not win the game by three touchdowns, the Longhorns did upset the Huskers 37-27, thanks in large part to a 61-yard pass play from Brown to tight end Derek Lewis on 4th-and-inches from the Texas 28-yard-line, that set up Priest Holmes’ 3-yard game-clinching touchdown run.

The upset denied the Cornhuskers a chance at a third straight national championship and help send Florida to the title game where they would rout their instate rival Florida State 52-20 for the national championship.

2. 2006 USC-UCLA

Even though they had lost Heisman Trophy winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush to the NFL the year before, the USC Trojans were in line to play in the National Championship Game if they defeated their crosstown rival the UCLA Bruins, who entered the game with a 5-6 record.

But the Bruins hold the Trojans to just nine points, ending their streak of 63 straight games of scoring at least 20 points, and defeat USC for the first time since 1998 with a 13-9 win which opens the door for the Florida Gators to play Ohio State for the National Championship.

UCLA defensive lineman Brian Ruziecki waves the school's flag after the Bruins' upset of USC in 2006.

1.2007 Pittsburgh-West Virginia

It seemed like a forgone conclusion that #2 West Virginia would be in the BCS Championship Game as they were 28-point favorites over 4-7 Pittsburgh.

But the Pitt defense held the vaunted Mountaineer offense, which averaged 42 points per game, to 183 yards of total offense and nine 1st downs, to pull off the 13-9 upset which coupled with #1 Missouri’s 38-17 to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game, allowed for two-loss LSU to make it to the Title Game, where they defeated Ohio State for the national championship.

Larry Williams sits on the field in disbelief after his West Virginia Mountaineers lost their chance to the play for the national championship following a 13-9 loss to 28-point underdog Pitt.