College football Week 1: 5 teams on upset alert

3. Georgia Bulldogs

Rank: 15, Opponent: Appalachian State

There’s a good chance that most of the country is underrating the Georgia Bulldogs coming into the 2017 season. Last season, they had high hopes for the return of Nick Chubb and freshman quarterback Jacob Eason in the first year under head coach Kirby Smart. However, the Dawgs struggled mightily for much of the year. A big factor was a porous defense, but equally as detrimental to their success was an offensive line that vastly underperformed.

Heading into the 2017 campaign, though, the expectation is that those two main issues should be remedied, which is particularly important on the offensive line. With Chubb and Eason, along with a plethora of other weapons, all returning, this team has a chance to be dangerous. But as we’ve seen before, Appalachian State has proven that they’re always ready to catch big-name programs by surprise.

One year ago, the Mountaineers came a poorly called fourth quarter away from knocking off Tennessee. Granted, the Volunteers weren’t the top-notch team many expected them to be last season, but it was still a statement of how good this App State team is. Coming out of the Sun Belt, they’re a great coached team that seems to always have playmakers on both sides of the ball. If Georgia enters their opener with any kind of complacency, they may not be talented enough to overcome a surely hungry Mountaineers team.