The lists of upsets goes on and on. So I started on the No.1 Spot for Ph.d's to research for their thesis' - Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ )
An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win (the favorite), is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom. The underdog then becomes a giant-killer.
The meaning of the word has popularly been attributed to the surprising defeat of the horse Man o' War by the horse Upset (the loss was the only one in Man o' War's career, though Man o' War later defeated Upset), though the term pre-dates that 1919 race.
