I’m sure most college sports fans can tell you what George Mason did in 2006: It made an unlikely run to the Final Four. And it’s pretty common knowledge what Boise State did in 2007 to get its athletic program into the national spotlight: It came back to upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl with a few trick plays.
But those two schools can eat their hearts out. When Fresno State won the College World Series this year, it blew those other two upsets — and any other impressive upsets of recent years — out of the water. When the Bulldogs finished off Georgia 6-1 to secure the national title, it was the greatest upset since ... well, I can’t really come up with a valid comparison. It’s truly one of the biggest Cinderella stories in the history of college athletics. I’m going to go out on a limb and call it the upset of the century.
“Write it down. Underdog does not mean anything,” Tommy Mendonca, a Fresno State third baseman, told ESPN after his team won the championship. “We showed anything can happen.”
Fresno State began the season ranked in the top 25 before dropping 12 of its first 20 games of the season. At that point, the school was barely considered a factor in its conference, let alone a contender for the national title. Fresno State predicting it would win the national championship then would have been roughly equivalent to Al Groh claiming Virginia’s football team would win the national championship in the press conference after last weekend’s USC game.
When the regular season ended, Fresno State had a measly 33-27 record. That’s middle of the pack — and in a mid-major conference. Fresno State had no chance at an at-large berth in the 64-spot NCAA Tournament, so nothing short of winning the conference tournament could have kept the team alive. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, and people everywhere who love to see David topple Goliath, the Bulldogs survived the WAC Tournament and headed to nationals.
The NCAA Tournament seeds were announced, and Fresno State was handed a fourth seed in its region. This ranking is the equal to being seeded between 13th and 16th in the NCAA Tournament for basketball. Remember that George Mason got all that coverage from being a 10 seed.
The Bulldogs’ run once the tournament started was nothing short of miraculous. They began with a win against No. 3 national seed Arizona State and then took on No. 6 Rice, winning decisively 17-5. The Bulldogs held on to beat No. 2 North Carolina in the semifinals and finally took the championship win against No. 8 Georgia. A run like that is unprecedented.
The whole event is somewhat paradigm-shifting. Who says a third-party candidate won’t win the presidential election this fall? Who says you can’t pull up that D to an A in the last two weeks of the semester? Remember Fresno State. Write it down. Underdog does not mean anything.
If I still haven’t convinced you that Fresno State winning the College World Series is the upset of the century, here’s a fact: No team seeded outside of the top 48 teams, besides Fresno State, has ever made it to a Final Four in any sport in NCAA history. Fresno State not only made it there, it won it all.
“They’re a true champion, and they did it the hard way,” Georgia coach David Perno, whose team fell to Fresno State in the finals, told ESPN. No kidding, coach.
For any team, surviving 10 conference and national tournament matches against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation would be a huge challenge. That a team barely considered worthy to be in the NCAA Tournament pulled it off is simply astonishing.
I started following the Bulldogs when I heard about them making it to the national semifinals. I watched as the Bulldogs topped Georgia to secure the title. The next morning, as I searched the Washington Post’s sports section, Fresno State’s victory barely received a mention on page two of the section. It’s sad, really, that the upset of the century didn’t receive more love from the press. I’m sure there a few underdogs out there who could have used some inspiration.
Next time you feel like the odds are against you and the man is on your back bugging you, think of the Bulldogs. Think of what it must have felt like to be given the lowest seed in a tournament, not given a chance by so-called experts to win it. Remember the upset of the century. And then, write it down: Underdog does not mean anything.
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