Red Flags: 5 college football teams on upset alert in Week 5

4. Oklahoma Sooners

Opponent: at TCU | Time: Saturday, Oct. 1, Noon ET | Spread: OU -6.5

Coming off of a loss in Norman to Kansas State, there’s no way that Oklahoma is going to turn around and lose another Big 12 game, right?

Well, a trip to Fort Worth might hold a bit more of a challenge than many of the Sooners faithful might expect. The Horned Frogs have jumped out to a 3-0 start to the season and offer an offense that could very much challenge an Oklahoma defense that had no answers for Adrian Martinez as they have Max Duggan under center along with a host of talented weapons.

I have zero doubt that Jeff Lebby will be in the kitchen cooking up an offense that will be more effective with Dillon Gabriel at the helm against a defense that has been suspect. But the worry really comes from the OU defense at this point and TCU could provide a real challenge to that aspect of the Sooners and create an opportunity for another upset.

3. Minnesota Golden Gophers

Opponent: Purdue | Time: Saturday, Oct. 1, Noon ET | Spread: MINN -11.5

Just doing superficial scouting, this might not look like a considerably tough matchup for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have been rolling behind the Kirk Ciracca-led offense with Tanner Morgan and Mohamed Ibraheim just cruising. Meanwhile, Purdue comes into this game at 2-2 with no Power Five wins to their credit.

But when you look a bit deeper, the Boilermakers’ two losses came against Penn State and Syracuse, two 4-0 teams, and were by a combined seven points. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s best win came against Michigan State last week, a team that might be spiraling into dismay, while the other three wins were against two of the worst FBS teams of 2022 (New Mexico State, Colorado) and FCS Western Illinois.

This is all to say that the Golden Gophers have not faced a quality opponent and, while Purdue has its issues, Aidan O’Connell and a good defense provide the biggest challenge yet, which could put Minnesota in trouble.