This past weekend had to be the weekend of the underdog. Upsets occurred everywhere, from top 25 college football (Florida State lost to North Carolina State and Michigan lost to Syracuse) to the NFL (Oakland defeated the New York Giants), and even in tennis at the U.S. Open, where Lindsey Davenport and Patrick Rafter upstaged higher ranked, higher profile players like Martina Hingis and Pete Sampras.

Of course, at the head of this weekend’s upset table is the Iowa State Cyclones’ win over the Iowa Hawkeyes. Naturally, tried and true Cyclones fans knew (wink,wink) that their team would win. Despite 15 consecutive losses to the Hawkeyes, the Cyclones were due for a big win.

And after the Cyclones’ four quarters of domination, some have even called it the biggest win in Iowa State football history. It may just be. With that in mind, I bring up the phenomenon of the underdog victory.

Underdogs are irresistible. I’m sure that every sports fan has had that ‘feeling’ that a lower-rated, lesser thought of team can upset the bigger, badder and better team that they are playing on a given day.

Who doesn’t like to see a top team get knocked down a peg by a team with a worse record? Unless you are a fan of the higher rated team, or possibly bet some money on that team (who bets on games, anyway?), it’s almost a natural feeling to go for the underdog.

It comes down to who plays the better game. The athletes who make the fewest mistakes, who receive the lucky bounces and who outplay their opponents on virtually every level will win. At least, they should.

However, that’s not to say they will. Underdogs fall into that area, and I think that’s what makes sports so interesting. As sports fans, we just never know what may happen on the links, on the ice or on the diamond. That’s one of the things that makes sports so much fun: the unpredictability.

There are varying degrees of underdog victories. There are the initial shock, but conceivable, victories, such as the Minnesota Twins’ 1991 World Series win over the Atlanta Braves.

It was conceivable that the Twins could win, since both the Braves and Twins went from last in their divisions the year before to league champions the year later.

It was shocking, in that the Twins upset the heavily-favored Toronto Blue Jays to get to the World Series, and then staved off elimination by winning in Atlanta before coming home to win the championship.

There are the minor miracles, like North Carolina State’s 1983 NCAA college basketball championship win over Houston. Houston had future NBA Hall of Famers in Hakeem (then known as Akeem) Oiajuwon and Clyde Drexler, while the Wolfpack had Sidney Lowe and Thurl Bailey, both future members of the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves.

It was a miracle that North Carolina State upended the favored Houston Cougars, but considering that the Wolfpack made it all the way into the finals after going through the field of 64, it shows what kind of heart and determination to win the Wolfpack had. When two teams reach the finals of the Big Dance, it’s anybody’s game.

And then there are the out-of-nowhere victories. One recent victory (besides the Cyclones’ win on Saturday) that stands out in my mind is Northwestern’s win at Notre Dame in college football a few years ago.

Opposing teams don’t go into South Bend and win — especially teams that have been cellar dwellers in their conference for as long as Northwestern had been up to that win.

That victory really set the tone for the Wildcats’ entire season, as they represented the Big 10 in the Rose Bowl. It may have also signaled a drop off in the Notre Dame program, as the team has underachieved in recent years.

Nevertheless, I think everyone loves an underdog. We all have a soft spot in our hearts for the team or athlete who has no chance to win. And if they can do it, then maybe there’s hope for all of us.

Justin South is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Ankeny.