The top 10 teams in history were surprised in Week 1 of college football after losing to FSU
Tomahawk strike at FSU football game in Dublin, Ireland
Florida State Athletics captured this video from the sidelines of Aviva Stadium before FSU played Georgia Tech on August 24, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland.
Contributed video by FSU Athletics
The Florida State football team suffered an unlikely overseas loss at the start of the 2024 college football season.
The Seminoles (0-1, 0-1 ACC) lost 24-21 to ACC opponent Georgia Tech (1-0, 1-0 ACC) on a last-second field goal despite being ranked No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches preseason poll and the AP Top 25 poll. They entered the game as 10.5-point ACC favorites over Georgia Tech. Despite building an 8-0 lead on the game’s first drive, FSU’s offense never found its stride in its first game as a Seminole under quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.
How this loss will affect the Seminoles’ national rankings and, more importantly, their College Football Playoff record remains to be seen. What is known, however, is the list of top-10 teams Florida State catapulted itself into on Saturday by losing to an unranked opponent in Week 1, and how rare that has been in college football.
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Here’s what you need to know about past upset wins by unranked opponents against top-10 opponents in Week 1:
When was the last time a top-10 team lost to an unranked team in the first week of college football?
Before Florida State was beaten by Georgia Tech on Saturday, the last top-10 team in the first week of the college football season lost to an unranked team last season when Duke defeated No. 9 Clemson at home in Durham, North Carolina.
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History of the top 10 college football teams beaten by unranked opponents in Week 1
Here’s a look back at the top 10 college football teams since 2000 that were beaten by an unranked team in Week 1:
Note: Some websites considered these games as Week 1 games even though they took place in Week 2 of their respective seasons, taking into account the designation Week 0.
- 2000: UCLA defeats No. 3 Alabama
- 2001: Fresno State defeats No. 10 Oregon State
- 2002: Colorado State defeats No. 7 Colorado
- 2005: TCU defeats No. 7 Oklahoma
- 2016: Wisconsin defeats No. 5 LSU
- 2016: Texas defeats No. 10 Notre Dame
- 2021: Virginia Tech defeats No. 10 North Carolina
- 2022: Florida defeats No. 7 Utah
- 2023: Duke defeats No. 9 Clemson
- 2024: Georgia Tech defeats No. 10 FSU
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Unranked teams beat an opponent from the AP Top 10 Conference in the season opener
According to Jorge Sedano, live commentator for ESPN’s ACC Network on X (formerly Twitter), Florida State is the fifth AP top-10 team in the last 40 years to lose to an unranked conference opponent in its season opener.
Here’s a look at the other top-10 teams that Sedano said were beaten by an unranked conference opponent in their season opener:
- 2020: Mississippi State defeats No. 6 LSU
- 2020: Indiana defeats No. 8 Penn State
- 2021: Virginia Tech defeats No. 10 North Carolina
- 2023: Duke defeats No. 9 Clemson
- 2024: Georgia Tech defeats No. 10 Florida State
