College football upset alert, Week 14: Texas A&M among 5 teams in danger of losing

College football upset alert No. 4: Iowa State Cyclones

Rank: 9 | Opponent: West Virginia Mountaineers | Time: Saturday, Dec. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET

As mentioned, the first game of the season for the Iowa State Cyclones, despite some sizeable expectations for Matt Campbell’s team, resulted in a 17-point loss to Louisiana. Since that unfortunate upset loss, though, the team from Ames has been steadily proving themselves further, so much so that they’ve now entered the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings.

On the heels of their comeback win over Texas last week and showing well in every game since the opening loss — including their three-point defeat at Oklahoma State — the Cyclones have big aspirations moving forward. The issue is that this team has some very obvious flaws and a quality Big 12 opponent like West Virginia can take advantage of them.

There’s no question that Iowa State has been at their best this season when they are controlling the offensive tempo and, frankly, are putting big numbers on the board. In fact, the win over Texas was the first time this season that they’ve won when they fail to score fewer than 30 points. Subsequently, the Cyclones could be in trouble against a Mountaineers defense conceding only 17.8 points and 274 total yards per game.

If West Virginia can simply turn this game into a defensive battle, they are the better defense with a capable offense, which could set them up for a win. The Mountaineers aren’t getting the overall respect they deserve for how good of a team this is but an upset win in Ames would put plenty of people on notice.