Monday’s question of the day: Which football team’s loss (college or pro) was the most surprising?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to chime in and tell them why they are wrong.

Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times

So USC was involved in the most eye-rubbing upset of the weekend? Well, that’s half right. It was actually former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez who helped pull off the stunner, leading the Jets to a 16-9 victory over the Patriots at the Meadowlands, a place where New England had beaten them eight consecutive times. Not only did Sanchez withstand the defensive scheming of Bill Belichick – rookie quarterbacks just don’t do that – but the Jets defense kept Tom Brady and the Patriots out of the end zone, something no team has done in three years. For the Jets, Sanchez is the anti-Favre – he manages the game, doesn’t try to win it with his arm alone, and has taken the time to actually learn the offense.

Andrea Adelson, Orlando Sentinel

Of all the upsets this weekend, the most shocking has to be BYU’s embarrassing 54-28 loss to Florida State. It wasn’t so much that the Cougars lost. It was the way they lost. They completely imploded on their own field, turning the ball over five times and looking more like the No. 107 team in the country rather than the No. 7 team.
BYU not only dashed its own BCS hopes, it dealt a serious blow to the credibility of the Mountain West. If you want to clamor for an automatic BCS berth and national respect, you must win big games against BCS teams at home. Especially when you are the favorite playing against an unranked Florida State team that almost lost to I-AA Jacksonville State.

Paul Doyle, Hartford Courant

The excuses are set up for the New England Patriots: Tom Brady’s rustiness, Wes Welker’s absence, the simple law of averages catching up to them. Sorry, but we suspect the reasons behind New England’s loss to the Jets was something more significant. The Patriots of the Brady/Bill Belichick era have dominated their old AFL rival (13-4 overall, 8-0 at Giants Stadium before Sunday), no matter who was roaming the sidelines for New York. But Rex Ryan, with all his bluster and swagger, is different, and this is why the NFL’s New York-Boston rivalry has changed. The Patriots usually answer trash talking with an on-field lesson. This time, New England had no response and was beaten by a better team. Sorry, but none of us expected that in Week 2. Maybe Brady will be the old Brady by the end of the season, and the Patriots will be contending for another Super Bowl. Or maybe we saw the start of a power shift in the AFC East.