Picking upsets for Week 2 in college football is in order. Which ranked teams will in the unfortunate footsteps of North Carolina, LSU and Washington?
Fans who love a good college football upset didn’t have to wait long to see them in the 2021 season. Week 1 opened the door for a number of teams to get knocked off and it surely happened. North Carolina lost to Virginia Tech, Washington was shockingly upended by Montana, and LSU was dominated by UCLA in the Saturday nightcap.
And that’s before we even delve into the other near-upsets. Ohio State got a big scare from Minnesota, Northern Iowa gave Iowa State all they could handle, Oklahoma was at odds with Tulane and Oregon survived Fresno State. At the end of the day, it was a wild week to open up the 2021 college football season.
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So how do we follow that up? The slate isn’t necessarily as deep as it was last week but, with what we saw to start the year, these teams deserve to be on upset alert in college football Week 2.
Week 2 College football upset picks No. 5: Miami Hurricanes
Rank: 22 | Opponent: Appalachian State Mountaineers | Time: Saturday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m. ET
No one should’ve expected Miami to be in the same ballpark as Alabama last week, even if the Crimson Tide were starting a new quarterback. The Hurricanes just aren’t on that level of a National Championship contender. But they should be better than App State — the operative phrase being should be.
For starters, quarterback D’Eriq King was lackluster, especially as a passer. Sure, he went 23-of-31 but he threw two interceptions and only threw for 178 yards. While the Mountaineers don’t have near the defense of Alabama, that could be a concern as the quarterback is still coming back from a torn ACL and might not have the same juice as a runner.
Beyond that, the Miami defense was a concern after losing their top two pass-rushers last season and it showed. The Hurricanes have enough athletes to perform better against the Appalachian State offensive line but Manny Diaz’s team is clearly vulnerable through the air. And App State showed they can perform offensively in beating East Carolina.
This isn’t the most likely upset but the Mountaineers remain one of the better Group of 5 teams in the country and Miami hasn’t proven anything positive to start the season. Until we see that, this situation is primed for a potential upset.