The Howard University football team beat UNLV on Saturday in Las Vegas, 43-40. That’s notable because Howard’s been really awful for a while, and it’s an FCS team that’s now punched up to beat an FBS squad on its home field. But mainly, because of this:
Cam Newton’s little brother just led the biggest Vegas upset in college football history
QB Caylin Newton’s Bison faced a 45-point spread. Then, they won.
The spread was 45.5 in some places. That’s the biggest point-spread upset ever. (The biggest upset overall? That’s Appalachian State over Michigan, but still.)
Howard’s star player is Cam Newton’s little brother. Caylin Newton, a three-star freshman from Atlanta, had 140 yards passing and 190 rushing, with three total touchdowns.
Here was Caylin in high school:
Winning while plus-45 in Vegas breaks a record previously held by a Stanford win over USC in 2007.
The Cardinal were about 40-point underdogs in that game, depending on where you placed your bet. Stanford’s win helped to kick off a long-running feud between Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll, the Stanford and USC coaches at the time.
Here, a 45-point spread wasn’t even unreasonable, considering Howard has:
- In 2016, lost 52-13 to Maryland and 52-14 to Rutgers
- In 2015, lost 49-0 to Appalachian State and 76-0 to Boston College
The Bison went 3-19 over the last two years. Those 76 points they gave up to Boston College are probably more points than Boston College has scored in a decade against all other opponents. They’ve been one of the worst teams in all the land, and they’ve done an especially bad job when they’ve punched up against FBS teams.
The decisive play for Howard:
Maybe this is a new era, though. That’d be great.
The Bison have a new head coach in ex-Virginia boss Mike London, and his debut could’ve hardly gone better. Congrats to HU on overcoming the longest Vegas odds any team in college football history has ever overcome.
If you’re a UNLV fan, you did not have a good night.
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