We are now well into the college football season and the upsets are becoming more rare. But that isnʻt stopping the roll we are on here at Fantom Sports. With last week’s 2-2 result against the spread, the overall record on Upset Alert picks is now 6-3 with two outright wins. Here are five more matchups for the Week 3 Upset Alert.
Western Michigan (+28.5) at Iowa
Week 3 Upset Alert #1: First things first, it is hard to imagine Iowa scoring 28 or more points. The high goal for the Hawkeyes this season is 25 points per game. Currently, they stand at 22.
Western Michigan is not very good, I will just say that. WMU squeaked by Saint Francis in the season opener and a week ago, the Broncos allowed 45 points in the first half to Syracuse. Despite that, there is still optimism that Western can keep this game within four touchdowns. Redshirt freshman running back Jalen Buckley has been a great replacement for last yearʻs leading rusher Sean Tyler. Buckley has 281 rushing yards on 38 carries for a seven yards per attempt average. They just need to give him the ball more. The quarterback situation has still not been figured out with three players all in the mix for the number one spot.
While Iowa will likely win this game, a big day from Buckley could put Western Michigan in a good position to cover the spread.
Alabama at South Florida (+33)
Week 3 Upset Alert #2: We are walking a tight rope with this game. A rule of thumb is to never bet against Alabama in a revenge game. The Crimson Tide are of course coming off a miserable loss to Texas at home last Saturday and are looking for a boost of confidence in Tampa. Since 2010, Alabama is 13-1 after a loss with an average margin of victory of 21.4. Only one of those games were against a Group of 5 FBS opponent, ULM in 2015. The Tide won 34-0.
Donʻt expect South Florida to curl up and take the punches with a program like Alabama coming to their stadium. The Bulls are led on offense by do-it-all QB Byrum Brown who leads the team in both passing and rushing yards. Against Western Kentucky, Brown threw for 166 and rushed for 160. He will be the key for South Florida to keep this game within five touchdowns.
Alabama looks like they have lost of lot of explosiveness offensively. Evident against Texas, the Tide did not have the usual success throwing the deep ball with Jalen Milroe at quarterback. Similar to Upset Alert #1, Alabama should walk out of Tampa with a win, but the Bulls will bring the heat at home.
Wyoming (+30) at Texas
Week 3 Upset Alert #3: Woah! Why is Texas on here? They might be back, but donʻt let that distract you from an aggressively high 30-point spread against a tough Wyoming team. The Cowboys took down Texas Tech at home in Week 1 and have every belief they can limit the Longhorns on Saturday.
Remember that Texas opened their season with a 27-point win over Rice, failing to cover 35.5 points. Wyoming does not bring in an offense that will put up a lot of points, but they do have an aggressive defense that kept Texas Tech out of the end zone for three quarters in a comeback victory.
Wyoming has already tasted victory over a Big 12 team, and while they probably will lose the perfect record, expect the Cowboys to grind their teeth and stay within 30 points with Texas.
FIU (+7) at UConn
Week 3 Upset Alert #4: The FIU Panthers have scared me every single time they have played this season. In Week Zero, FIU had four passing yards against Louisiana Tech. Then Keyone Jenkins stepped in. The true freshman from Miami Central High School threw for 292 against Maine in a 14-12 win over the FCS opponent. 201 of those yards went to Kris Mitchell, who seems like the next big-time receiver out of FIU. The offense looked even better last week against former Conference USA rival North Texas as the Panthers got a 100 yard rushing day out of another Miami Central product, Kejon Owens.
Things are moving forward once again for FIU and they have a long trip up north to UConn on the schedule. The Huskies will be without starting quarterback Joe Fagnano, who was injured in last weekʻs loss at Georgia State. It was a rough game for UConn in other places as well. Georgia State ran for 250 yards on the Connecticut defense and breakout star Marcus Carroll ran in three scores.
With the upward trajectory of FIUʻs offense and UConn having to use the inexperienced TaʻQuan Roberson at QB, it could be back-to-back losses to Panthers for UConn.
Georgia Southern (+20) at Wisconsin
Week 3 Upset Alert #5: I went against Georgia Southern last week and to repay the Eagles for their performance against UAB, I am taking them as 20-point underdogs against Wisconsin.
Wisconsin had a hard time slowing down Cam Ward and Washington State and Georgia Southern flies into Camp Randall with a high-power offense. The Eagles got two great performances from QB Davis Brin this season and will need another big day from Brin to take down the Badgers.
Georgia Southern should also have some confidence after upsetting Nebraska a year ago, eventually being the final straw in Scott Frostʻs tenure as the coach of the Huskers. While the Eagles wonʻt recreate the 640 yard offensive outburst from last yearʻs Big Ten win, Clay Helton will have his team ready to attack and give the Badgers back-to-back losses.
Also Worth Mentioning
Some more matchups that nearly made the Week 3 Upset Alert list
San Diego State (+24.5) at Oregon State
Akron (+25) at Kentucky
Iowa State at Ohio (+3.5)
BYU (+8) at Arkansas
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