College football Week 10: 5 teams on upset alert

1. Alabama Crimson Tide

Rank: 1 | Opponent: 3 LSU Tigers | Time: 8:00 p.m. ET

There’s a chance that you’re saying to yourself, if the No. 3-ranked team in the country beats the No. 1-ranked team, is that really that much of an upset? That’s certainly a viable question to ask and, in many cases, the answer may very well be no. However, when that top-ranked team is the Alabama Crimson Tide and they’ve been as dominant as they have been in 2018, any loss would be considered an upset.

Throughout Nick Saban’s reign of terror on the college football world, there’s no denying that Bama’s driving force has been the strength of their defense. With one 5-star recruit after another coming in, they continually churn out near-NFL-caliber defenses, and they again have one on that level this season. However, what’s put them over the top this season has been their offense.

The inclusion of Tua Tagovailoa at starting quarterback has allowed the Tide to reach a new level. Not only can they suffocate teams defensively, but they have the offense now to run away from anyone and do it quickly. If you need evidence of that, Tua is still waiting to take his first fourth-quarter snap of the season.

Having said that, the LSU Tigers could make that happen. This is a defense with NFL-caliber talent of their own and, despite Tagovailoa’s success, he’s not faced a unit anywhere near this level. Thus, he will be put to the test. And with LSU’s offense taking a big step forward, they may have more success there than they have in years passed.

It may not be likely, but it’s certainly in the cards for Alabama to suffer their first loss of the season on Saturday night. Even separated by two spots in the rankings, it would be a tremendous upset if things played out that way.