College football Week 1: 5 teams on upset alert
1. Miami Hurricanes
Rank: 8 | Opponent: 25 LSU | Date: Sunday, Sept. 2 (7:30 p.m. ET)
On both sides of the ball, the Miami Hurricanes have an advantage over the LSU Tigers. Even with head coach Ed Orgeron seemingly finding the best quarterback option he’s had in his tenure in Joe Burrow, the questions about the LSU offense will persist. Not only is Burrow still somewhat of an unknown commodity, but the turnover in terms of offensive coordinators and the schemes that we’ve seen from them don’t inspire much confidence.
And while the LSU defense is very good as they’re led by the likes of cornerback Greedy Williams and linebacker Devin White, they still fall short of what Miami throws out on that side of the ball. The Hurricanes are another team that will be in the conversation for having the best defense in all of college football. Then when you factor in the explosiveness of their offense, they seemingly should come out and make a statement against LSU in a primetime Sunday night game.
Having said that, I still have my doubts about Miami quarterback Malik Rosier. His inconsistency and generally low ceiling that he put on display last season are concerning. Even if he has an elite receiving group to throw to, you can only do so much if your quarterback is going to make big mistakes in key moments, which Rosier seems susceptible to.
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Again, I think Miami is by far the better team in this matchup. But putting Rosier up against a very good LSU defense still gives me pause. If the Tigers are to pull off the upset, it’ll be on the back of their defense — but that’s certainly in the cards in this matchup.