Red Flags: 5 college football teams on upset alert in Week 3
- Could UNC find itself in trouble again?
- Two SEC teams caught in bad spots
- Ohio State could shock the world in the wrong way
3. Kansas State Wildcats
Opponent: at Missouri | Time: Saturday, Sept. 16, Noon ET (SECN) | Spread: KSU -4.5
Make no mistake, the 2-0 start for Missouri has anything but a resounding endorsement of the Tigers in the 2023 season.
A 35-10 win over South Dakota followed by a 23-19 win over Middle Tennessee is not going to move the needle all that much. With that being said, Kansas State has won more impressively to this point, but the level of competition hasn't tested the Wildcats by any stretch of the imagination either. To this point, Chris Kleiman's group has taken down Southeast Missouri State and Troy.
One thing that remains to be tested, crucially, is the Kansas State defense. We know that Will Howard and the Wildcats offense are going to find ways to move the ball, but the other side of the ball hasn't been remotely tested and, more importantly, was the biggest concern coming into this season.
Missouri's offense might not be the ones to test them, but Brady Cook has been an efficient passer if nothing else to start the year. If the K-State secondary that replaced several starters isn't up to snuff, the Tigers could concenivably take advantage of that on Saturday afternoon in Columbia.
This is the least confident college football upset pick of the week, bar none. But that's largely because I'm not entirely sure what either of these teams are at this point, which is a red flag for Kansas State on the road against a rival.