Who Should Be On Upset Alert

Every week, I'll be giving my top 3 teams that I thnk should be on "Upset Alert." These are the 3 teams that are favored to win their game, but I think will have a lot of trouble, won't cover the spread, or could possibly lose.

Here are this weeks teams that should be on alert:

Oklahoma St (-15) against Houston

Here is an interesting match. Oklahoma St is at their best ranking since the Barry Sanders days. There were a lot of questions about their D coming into the season, but last week showed that they can play at a level that can help them contend for a Big 12 Championship.

Houston has scored over 40 points in 7 of their last 9 games. Also in last years bout, they put up 37 on OK St. They also have Case Keenum, who was the leading passer in the FBS (D1A) last season.

Oklahoma St's D is going to have to step up to cover this spread. Let's hope that they are still not high over last week's win against Georgia.


Notre Dame (-4 1/2) against Michigan

Where to start. Michigan's offense looked really good last week against Western Michigan. The 2 Freshman QB's, Forcier and Robinson, will have to step up big time this week as Notre Dame's defense will be a little tougher to contend with than a Broncos D who had to replace some key parts this off season. Michigan had 439 yds of total offense last week. Last season they only averaged 290 yds a game. A big improvement.

Notre Dame, also for that matter, also looked really good on offense last week. Clausen looked as good as any QB last week, but it was Neveda.

This game could go either way. But with the spread low, my gut tells me Michigan will win this one at the Big House. The last time my gut told me Michigan would beat ND, Michigan won 38-0.


LSU (-14 1/2) against Vanderbilt

The Tigers have a young quarterback and a younger defense, both of which are only going to get better with more game reps. Last week though, not so much. The defense gave up 478 yards against a Washington team that won 0 games last season. 157 of those yards were on the ground.

The only way Vanderbilt has a chance in this game is to keep the ball on the ground, keep the clock and chains moving, and slowly try to suck the life out of Tiger Stadium.

LSU should win this game easily, but the way the D played last week tells me Vandy has a small chance. LSU wins, Vanderbilt covers.