This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/e8odie on 2025-09-17 19:59:02+00:00.

Using cfbscorigami as my source, I looked into every game involving at least one FBS team in which a team scored at least 50 points and lost the game. The table below shows every such game in chronological order, as well as noting if the game was in-conference or not and if the game included overtime or not (showing an “N” if it didn’t, and the number of overtime periods if it did).

season winner score loser score in-conf? OT?
1990 Wyoming 52 San Diego State 51 Y N
1993 Minnesota 59 Purdue 56 Y N
1993 Utah State 58 BYU 56 N N
1996 California 56 Arizona 55 Y 4
1996 Central Michigan 52 Kent State 51 Y N
1996 Pittsburgh 53 Temple 52 Y N
1997 Missouri 51 Oklahoma State 50 Y 2
1999 Army 59 Louisville 52 Y 2
2000 Oregon 56 Arizona State 55 Y 2
2000 Northwestern 54 Michigan 51 Y N
2001 Akron 65 Eastern Michigan 62 Y 3
2001 Arkansas 58 Ole Miss 56 Y 7
2001 Middle Tennessee 70 Idaho 58 Y N
2001 Hawaii 52 Miami (OH) 51 N N
2003 Louisiana 57 Middle Tennessee 51 Y 4
2003 Arkansas 71 Kentucky 63 Y 7
2003 TCU 62 Houston 55 Y N
2004 Eastern Michigan 64 Central Michigan 58 Y 4
2004 Tulane 59 UAB 55 Y N
2004 San Jose State 70 Rice 63 Y N
2005 Ball State 60 Western Michigan 57 Y 5
2005 TCU 51 BYU 50 N 1
2007 Memphis 55 SMU 52 Y 3
2007 Tennessee 52 Kentucky 50 Y 4
2007 Boise State 69 Nevada 67 Y 4
2007 Colorado 65 Nebraska 51 Y N
2007 Delaware 59 Navy 52 N N
2007 Navy 74 North Texas 62 N N
2008 Florida Atlantic 57 Florida International 50 Y 1
2008 Eastern Michigan 56 Central Michigan 52 Y N
2008 Temple 55 Eastern Michigan 52 Y N
2008 Fresno State 55 Toledo 54 N 2
2009 Fresno State 53 Illinois 52 N N
2010 Michigan 67 Illinois 65 Y 3
2010 Tulsa 56 Southern Miss 50 Y N
2011 Kansas State 53 Texas A&M 50 Y 4
2011 Northern Illinois 63 Toledo 60 Y N
2011 Toledo 66 Western Michigan 63 Y N
2011 Baylor 67 Washington 56 N N
2012 Marshall 54 Rice 51 Y 1
2012 East Carolina 65 Marshall 59 Y 2
2012 Texas Tech 56 TCU 53 Y 3
2012 Georgia Tech 68 North Carolina 50 Y N
2012 Texas 56 Baylor 50 Y N
2012 Oregon 62 USC 51 Y N
2012 Louisiana Tech 62 Texas State 55 Y N
2012 West Virginia 70 Baylor 63 Y N
2012 Texas A&M 59 Louisiana Tech 57 N N
2013 Wyoming 59 Hawaii 56 Y 1
2013 San Jose State 62 Fresno State 52 Y N
2013 Pittsburgh 58 Duke 55 Y N
2013 Fresno State 52 Rutgers 51 N 1
2013 Rutgers 55 SMU 52 N 3
2013 Navy 58 San Jose State 52 N 3
2014 Western Kentucky 67 Marshall 66 Y 1
2014 California 59 Colorado 56 Y 2
2014 Western Kentucky 66 Old Dominion 51 Y N
2014 Baylor 61 TCU 58 Y N
2014 California 60 Washington State 59 Y N
2014 Washington 59 Eastern Washington 52 N N
2015 Arkansas 53 Ole Miss 52 Y 1
2015 Oregon 61 Arizona State 55 Y 3
2015 Mississippi State 51 Arkansas 50 Y N
2015 TCU 55 Texas Tech 52 Y N
2015 Rutgers 55 Indiana 52 Y N
2015 Oklahoma State 70 Texas Tech 53 Y N
2015 Southern Miss 56 Texas State 50 N N
2016 UNLV 69 Wyoming 66 Y 3
2016 Louisiana Tech 55 Western Kentucky 52 Y N
2016 Middle Tennessee 77 Florida Atlantic 56 Y N
2016 Oklahoma 66 Texas Tech 59 Y N
2016 Pittsburgh 76 Syracuse 61 Y N
2016 Texas State 56 Ohio 54 N 3
2016 BYU 55 Toledo 53 N N
2016 Arizona State 68 Texas Tech 55 N N
2017 Boise State 59 Colorado State 52 Y 1
2017 Louisiana-Monroe 56 Louisiana 50 Y 2
2017 UCF 62 Memphis 55 Y 2
2017 Western Michigan 71 Buffalo 68 Y 7
2017 Arkansas State 67 Louisiana-Monroe 50 Y N
2017 Oklahoma 62 Oklahoma State 52 Y N
2017 Ohio 58 Massachusetts 50 N N
2017 Toledo 54 Tulsa 51 N N
2018 Ohio State 52 Maryland 51 Y 1
2018 Massachusetts 62 Liberty 59 Y 3
2018 Texas A&M 74 LSU 72 Y 7
2018 SMU 62 Connecticut 50 Y N
2018 Oklahoma 59 West Virginia 56 Y N
2019 SMU 59 East Carolina 51 Y N
2019 Washington State 54 Oregon State 53 Y N
2019 Louisville 62 Wake Forest 59 Y N
2019 UCLA 67 Washington State 63 Y N
2019 New Mexico 55 New Mexico State 52 N N
2020 Texas 63 Texas Tech 56 Y 1
2020 Arkansas State 59 Georgia State 52 Y N
2020 North Carolina 59 Wake Forest 53 Y N
2021 Kansas 57 Texas 56 Y 1
2021 Ole Miss 52 Arkansas 51 Y N
2021 North Carolina 58 Wake Forest 55 Y N
2021 Memphis 55 Arkansas State 50 N N
2021 Florida 70 Samford 52 N N
2021 Wake Forest 70 Army 56 N N
2022 SMU 77 Houston 63 Y N
2022 Eastern Kentucky 59 Bowling Green 57 N 7
2022 Ohio 59 Fordham 52 N N
2022 North Carolina 63 Appalachian State 61 N N
2023 Memphis 59 South Florida 50 Y N
2024 Texas Tech 52 Abilene Christian 51 N 1
2024 Washington State 54 San Jose State 52 N 2
2024 James Madison 70 North Carolina 50 N N

Data, analysis, and notes:

  • From 1869 to 2025 so far (week 3), there have been 109 110 such games. Despite the data reportedly going back to 1869, the first instance was in 1990, which if we start averaging from there it makes for 3.14 such games per season.
  • Counting the conferences of both teams, the Big 12 perhaps expectedly shows up the most with 31 appearances. After them, the MAC has the second most appearances (26), then CUSA (24), then Pac-12 (20), then Sun Belt (18), then SEC (16), then ACC (15), then AAC (14), then WAC and Mountain West (13 each), then Big Ten (12), then independents (9), then collectively all of FCS or otherwise not FBS (7), and lastly the Big East (2).
  • As far as individual teams, again perhaps expectedlty Texas Tech shows up the most with 7 appearances and an unfortunate 2-5 record in these games. Everyone else with at least 3 such games has at least a 33.3% win percentage, compared against the Red Raiders’ 28.6%. The teams with the next most appearances all have 5: Arkansas, North Carolina, SMU, TCU, and Toledo. Then the teams with the next most appearances all have 4: Baylor, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, Memphis, San Jose State, Wake Forest, and Washington State.
  • The 2011 Alamo Bowl between Baylor and Washington is (I think) the only postseason game to show up on this list. [shoutout to /u/huskiesowow for pointing out that I was originally missing this one]
  • By current conference makeup, the MAC is the only conference to have every team appear on the list as either the winner or the loser. The Mountain West comes close with only Air Force never appearing in such a game, and the American is only missing two teams with Charlotte and UTSA. Conversely, the ACC has the smallest representation with only 53% of the conference appearing anywhere on the above table.
  • Individual matchups that’ve appeared multiple times include: Arkansas/Ole Miss which has happened 3 times (with Arkansas winning 2 of those); North Carolina/Wake Forest which has happened twice AND in consecutive seasons (UNC’s 2-0), TCU/Texas Tech which has happened twice (1-1), Central Michigan/Eastern Michigan which has happened twice (EMU’s 2-0), and Arizona State/Oregon which has happened twice (Oregon’s 2-0).
  • On a season-by-season basis, 2007 represents itself with its chaotic nature with 6 such games - the most of any season from 1990 (technically 1869) to 2011 - but the era from 2012 to 2017 was truly the height of these games as it features the peak year (2012 having 9 such games) and the span averaging 7.3 such games per season. Just a couple seasons ago, 2023 only had a measly 1 such game, the lowest count since 2009. So far 2025 hasn’t had such a game, but we’re still early.
  • Many of these games are close in MOV with 20 (18%) being 1pt games, 59 (54%) being 3 or fewer, and 90 (82%) being one-score games. Conversely, the largest MOV in such a game was 21 (77-56).
  • 43 games (39%) involved at least 1 overtime period. 12 of those overtime games included 4 or more overtime periods.