Upset (competition)
American football
#### American football

* Heading into the [2007 college football season](/wiki/2007_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_season "2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season"), the [Michigan Wolverines](/wiki/2007_Michigan_Wolverines_football_team "2007 Michigan Wolverines football team") were ranked as the pre\-season Number 5 team, and among the favorites for that year's [BCS National Championship](/wiki/Bowl_Championship_Series "Bowl Championship Series"). As an early season tune\-up game, Michigan had booked the lower division [Appalachian State Mountaineers](/wiki/2007_Appalachian_State_Mountaineers_football_team "2007 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team") for their [first game of the season](/wiki/2007_Appalachian_State_vs._Michigan_football_game "2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game"). The Mountaineers surprised the football world by leading 28–17 at the half. Though Michigan clawed their way back to lead 32–31 late into the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers kicked a field goal with 26 seconds left in the game to take the lead 34–32\. Michigan managed to use only 20 seconds of game time to drive the ball down to the App State 27\-yard line, and as time was expiring the Mountaineers' Corey Lynch blocked a Michigan field goal attempt to secure the upset for App State. The game marked only the second time, to that point, that a lower\-division school had beaten a top\-division AP\-ranked team.
* In [Super Bowl III](/wiki/Super_Bowl_III "Super Bowl III"), the senior [National Football League](/wiki/National_Football_League "National Football League") was playing their third interleague championship game against the upstart [American Football League](/wiki/American_Football_League "American Football League"). The NFL had won the prior two matchups without much difficulty, and it looked poised to do so again, as the [Baltimore Colts](/wiki/1968_Baltimore_Colts_season "1968 Baltimore Colts season"), with a 13–1 record, behind [quarterback](/wiki/Quarterback "Quarterback") [Earl Morrall](/wiki/Earl_Morrall "Earl Morrall"), who led the league in touchdown passes that season and was named NFL Most Valuable Player. The team also had several future Hall of Fame players on the roster, including quarterback [Johnny Unitas](/wiki/Johnny_Unitas "Johnny Unitas"), relegated to a back\-up role following an early\-season injury, [tight end](/wiki/Tight_end "Tight end") [John Mackey](/wiki/John_Mackey_%28American_football%29 "John Mackey (American football)"), as well as a defense led by perennial all\-pro [Bubba Smith](/wiki/Bubba_Smith "Bubba Smith"). The [New York Jets](/wiki/New_York_Jets "New York Jets") were led by [Joe Namath](/wiki/Joe_Namath "Joe Namath") at quarterback, who earlier in the week had "guaranteed" victory against the Colts. Namath's top target, future Hall of Fame wide receiver [Don Maynard](/wiki/Don_Maynard "Don Maynard"), was hobbled by an injury, but Namath led the Jets on a run\-focused attack that leaned heavily on fullback [Matt Snell](/wiki/Matt_Snell "Matt Snell"), who ran for 121 yards and scored the Jets' only touchdown. The Jets defense confounded Morrall, who had only six completions on 17 attempts, with three interceptions in the first half, including an interception to the Jets' [Jim Hudson](/wiki/Jim_Hudson "Jim Hudson") while Colts' star receiver [Jimmy Orr](/wiki/Jimmy_Orr "Jimmy Orr"), uncovered in the end zone, waved his hands to no avail. Colts' head coach [Don Shula](/wiki/Don_Shula "Don Shula") put the hobbled Unitas in the game in the second half, and despite a late game touchdown, lost the game 16–7\.

How did the Jets defense confound Earl Morrall?