Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE
Every Friday, the Rant Sports staff of college football writers provides us with their Upset Alert picks for the weekend in college football.
Here are this week’s upset alert picks:
Andrew Scott likes the Arizona State Sun Devils to pull off a 31-28 upset over the Missouri Tigers tomorrow night in Columbia. The Sun Devils are coming off a 45-14 thrashing of the Illinois Fighting Illini and have shown an explosive offense so far through two games, scoring a total of 108 points in the process. Can Todd Graham’s squad keep up the momentum and head into the Pac 12 opener against the Utah Utes on the 22nd 3-0?
Freddie Vickers likes the Ball State Cardinals to knock off the Indiana Hoosiers tomorrow night in Bloomington. The Hoosiers lost quarterback Tre Roberson earlier in the week due to a season-ending leg surgery, and will be teetering on Saturday evening. The Cardinals bring the nation’s eighth-best rushing attack to the contest and Indiana has yet to see an offense of their caliber after knocking off traditional weaklings Indiana State and UMASS in their first two match-ups. Expect a Ball State upset here, folks.
Chris Hengst likes the Stanford Cardinal to knock off the Rant Sports No. 2 USC Trojans tomorrow evening in Palo Alto. The USC defense gave up 29 points and a total of 450 yards offense against a Syracuse Orange team that was lightly heralded to put it mildly. On top of that, the Cardinal have won four of the last five contests against USC and always seem to rise to the occasion in this huge rivalry tilt.
If the Stanford offensive line can exert themselves early and set the tone, Chris believes quarterback Josh Nunes will have the time necessary to pick apart the Trojans secondary and lead the Cardinal to victory. Rant’s Patrick Schmidt roundly disagrees with Chris’ pick. His reasons why are outlined in an article he wrote earlier in the week.
While he wouldn’t full commit to it, James Gomez thinks the Boise State Broncos should be wary of a visiting Miami (OH) Redhawks team. James notes that the Boise offense has looked a little unsure of itself so far in the early going and Miami brings an experienced quarterback in Zac Dysert and an array of talented receivers that could test a young Boise secondary. James’ hesitancy may have something to do with his burgeoning reputation among the Boise State Twitter faithful as the team’s No. 1 doubter– a role he appears to have embraced and takes pride in.
Rant’s resident half man-half machine Riley Schmitt is taking the Northern Iowa Panthers to knock off the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday afternoon in Iowa City. Riley notes that UNI went toe-to-toe with the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randle and the Hawkeyes offense has been anything but explosive so far in 2012. The Panthers are traditionally a giant killer and won’t be intimidated by the hostile Kinnick Field crowd. Riley takes UNI in a 17-13 upset.
Shannon Smallwood likes the country’s buzziest team, the Louisiana-Monroe Redhawks to keep their David killing Goliath streak alive by knocking off the Auburn Tigers on Saturday. Auburn has a huge confidence issue so far this season due to the pathetic quarterback play of Kiehl Frazier and could sputter against a Redhawks team that’s riding high and won’t be lacking in confidence or swagger. Shannon also thinks the South Alabama Jaguars have a shot to knock off the North Carolina State Wolfpack in Raleigh on Saturday evening.
Our Patrick Schmidt believes the Tennessee Volunteers will firmly establish themselves as an early SEC surprise by knocking off the Florida Gators. To read in more detail about Patrick’s choice, check out this article.
Connor Muldowney is picking the Utah State Aggies to take down the Wisconsin Badgers tomorrow evening at Camp Randle. Connor notes the Utah State defense is just stout enough to hold down a Wisconsin offense that has stuttered so far, in spite of having one of the nation’s top running backs in Montee Ball.
Rant College Football Featured Columnist David LaRose sees the North Carolina Tar Heels sweeping aside a Louisville Cardinals team that’s been the subject of plenty of talk in recent weeks. Although Louisville won easily in its first two games, they are a young team that features only nine seniors and the North Carolina offense could easily take advantage of this fact on both sides of the ball.
Enjoy the games tomorrow and always make sure to check back every Friday for the Rant Sports College Football Weekly Upset Alert!
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Kris Hughes is the College Football Network Manager for Rant Sports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Facebook page.
Kris is also the host of the Rant Sports College Football Hour on the TSC Radio Network on Sunday evenings at 8 Central Time and Rant Sports Radio on the Blog Talk Radio Network Wednesday evenings at 8 Central Time.
