Upset Alert! Week 9
The excitement only continues to mount as we enter week nine in college football. Every game matters and with every key matchup, there is opportunity for an upset. This week’s Upset Alert! will as always, feature teams from this week’s slate of games that may be in danger of being upset and here they are!
#2 Florida Gators
The Gators have already gotten past most of the tough games on their schedule unscathed and unbeaten, but they have another test to pass this week against the feisty 10th ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The Dogs will bring their bite to this fight with the 18th ranked offense in total yards and points scored in the nation. The Gators will try to chomp down on that attack with one of the country’s best defenses, one that allows just 12.1 points per game.
Florida hasn’t put up big numbers on the offensive side of the ball, but they have opportunistic to say the least. The Gators create turnovers and force the opposition to make mistakes, but they haven’t faced a team with an air attack like the Georgia’s all season. Yes, Florida beat LSU and South Carolina, two great teams, don’t get me wrong, but neither has the kind of down field big-play threats that Georgia has. Georgia’s wide-out Tavarres King has burned defenses all year, averaging almost 20 yards per reception.
Florida has surprised people all year, winning games with virtually no passing game (118th in the country), but to beat Georgia, they’ll need to score points to keep up. I like the seven-point underdog Dogs to win this one outright and pull the upsettttt!
#3 Kansas State Wildcats
The Wildcats have been even more surprising this year at #3 and undefeated, but they are certainly at risk this week as they take on the 14th ranked Red Raiders of Texas Tech. After a couple of down seasons, the Raiders have reloaded and showed their gunslinging ways in last week’s shootout overtime win 56-53 against TCU. Based on this score, you might think T Tech lacks defense strength, it’s quite the contrary. Even after getting scorched for 53 last week, the Raiders D is ranked a respectable 34th, allowing just 21.6 points per contest.
Of course, the Wildcats have an effective attack as well, but they prefer to pound the run, for 233.9 yards per game in fact. Quarterback Collin Klein has emerged as the Heisman frontrunner after last week’s brilliant performance against West Virginia, where he completed 19 for 21 throws for more than 300 yards and three scores, not to mention that he rushed for four more TDs in the same game!
Texas Tech has its own Heisman candidate in QB Seth Dodge, who has already racked up 28 passing touchdowns this season. But with two good defenses hitting the field (K State allows just 16.1 points per game) something’s gotta give and since the Cats are home, I think they will narrowly avoid an upset with Tech covering +7.5 points. Whew! That was close K State.
