Arizona State’s Big 12 championship one of biggest upsets in sports betting history

The Arizona State football team has literally defied the odds this season.

The Sun Devils were picked to finish last in their first season in the 16-team Big 12 by the media. They were projected to win 4.5 games by the oddsmakers.

And at the beginning of the 2024 season, the Las Vegas oddsmakers had ASU +10,000 to win the Big 12 Conference. That’s 100 to 1 odds. If you had wagered $100 on the Sun Devils to win the Big 12 in August, you would have walked away with $10,000 this week.

Arizona State (11-2) went on an improbable run the second half of the season, winning six consecutive games — including three victories over ranked teams. It culminated on Saturday with a resounding 45-19 victory over No. 16 Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game.

The Sun Devils received the No. 4 seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff, which comes with a bye to the quarterfinals. They will play in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1 against the winner of No. 5 Texas vs. No. 12 Clemson.

How improbable was Arizona State’s run to the Big 12 title? According to Vegas Insider, it’s the sixth-greatest upset in betting history, just behind the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004 (+12,000).

Biggest Upsets in Sports Betting History

Here are the Top 7 upsets in sports betting history, according to Vegas Insider.

It’s hard to imagine anything ever topping Leicester City’s magical 2015 run to the English Premier League championship. A $10 bet would have resulted in a $50,000 payout.

Inarguably the greatest single-game sports upset ever, the U.S. men’s hockey team beat the Soviet Union 4-3 in the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was the height of the Cold War, and the Soviets were a hockey power. A few days before the Olympics started they thumped the U.S. 10-3. As Al Michaels said when the final horn sounded: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

In Sept. 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals were 4.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final National League Wild Card spot with just 15 games to play. At that point their odds to win the World Series were 999 to 1. Somehow, the Cardinals made the playoffs and went on to beat the Texas Rangers in the World Series.

Filling in for an injured Trent Green, unknown backup QB Kurt Warner put up record numbers to lead “The Greatest Show on Turf” to a 13-3 record and a 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in the 2000 Super Bowl. The Rams were 300 to 1 underdogs to win the Super Bowl when the 1999 season started.

Boston Red Sox fans had known nothing but pain prior to the 2004 season. The team had not won a championship since 1918 and were 120 to 1 longshots to win the World Series when the 2004 season started. They famously rallied from a 3-0 deficit to the New York Yankees in the ALCS, then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to break the “Curse of the Bambino.”

Coming off a 3-9 season in the Pac-12, under a cloud of NCAA sanctions left behind by former coach Herm Edwards, the Arizona State football team was picked to finish last in its first season in the Big 12. Vegas gave them 100 to 1 odds to win the Big 12 — and they did just that. The Sun Devils (11-2) are not done yet. They are three victories from a national championship, and will play in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals on Jan. 1.

Rich Strike came out of nowhere to win the 2022 Kentucky Derby. An 80 to 1 longshot, Rich Strike blew past favorites Epicenter and Zandon to claim the improbable victory.

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