Upset Alert: 3 college football teams in danger of losing in Week 3

College football upset alert No. 2: Pittsburgh Panthers

Rank: 25 | Opponent: Syracuse Orange | Time: Saturday, Sept. 19, Noon ET

You probably couldn’t dream up two different results from two teams in the same Power 5 conference as what the Pittsburgh Panthers and Syracuse Orange managed to do a week ago. Dino Babers’ Orange got the doors blown off by North Carolina in a 31-6 loss while the Panthers trounced Austin Peay in a 55-0 victory.

And with that leading to a matchup between the two teams in Pittsburgh in Week 3, you’d have to imagine that the Panthers have a distinct advantage. However, with this just being the second game of the season for each team, there is the chance that the first games they played actually didn’t tell us that much about these two teams.

Pitt, especially with star defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman opting out, has some stars but is also not a deep team and is also one with questions. They beat up on an inferior Austin Peay team that, in fact, Syracuse would likely also beat handily. Meanwhile, the Orange fell flat against a Tar Heels team that might be the second-best squad in the ACC but also hung with UNC for three quarters.

If Syracuse is going to pull off an upset, they’ll need quarterback Tommy DeVito to simply be better and the rushing attack to be at least somewhat effective. But the elite secondary led by Andre Cisco can force inconsistent Kenny Pickett into bad throws and turnovers and give the Orange a legitimate shot at pulling off the road win.