Red Flags: 5 college football teams on upset alert in Week 4
- Could Colorado shock the world in Eugene?
- Dissheveled Alabama could be in a world of hurt, courtesy of the Lane Train
- Kyle McCord and Ohio State get the first real test
We had a scant slate of games in terms of looking for college football upsets a week ago. Even then, however, we saw the Red Flags well enough to have the two upsets of the week (Florida beating Tennessee, Missouri toppling Kansas State) on our radar. But Week 4 offers a Cheesecake Factory type of menu of potential upsets.
There are six matchups between teams ranked inside the Top 25 this week, a stat that doesn't even include the highly touted Florida State at Clemson matchup in it as the latter is not currently ranked. With an upset with at home in Death Valley, though, they certainly would be.
So how do we construct our college football upset picks this week with such a loaded slate? It's simple. As always, we just look for the biggest Red Flags. With that, let's get into the college football upsets that are brewing in Week 4.
2023 Upset Picks Record: 6-9
Note: All lines are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. For more college football odds, picks and predictions, visit BetSided.
College football upset picks: 5 teams on upset alert in Week 4
5. Oregon Ducks
Opponent: 19 Colorado | Time: Saturday, Sept. 23, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC) | Spread: ORE -21.0
There is a high, high chance that the Oregon Ducks are going to put a swift and merciless end to the Colorado Buffaloes hype train after the 3-0 start to the Deion Sanders era. Oregon is a legitimate Top 10 team in the country, the Buffs are without Travis Hunter after he was injured in the Colorado State win, and the game is one of the toughest environments in college football, Autzen Stadium.
When you then factor in some of the questions about Colorado at the lines of scrimmage and overall defensively, specifically with Hunter not on the field, the chips are stacked heavily in Dan Lanning and Bo Nix's favor.
But at this point, I'm not dumb enough to completely count out Coach Prime's Buffs.
We can safely assume that Oregon is going to put up plenty of points in this game. Even with the departure of Kenny Dillingham to take the Arizona State head coaching job, Nix and the Ducks offense have remained explosive and dangerous. Colorado simply doesn't have the dudes or the depth to contend with that consistently defensively.
The sneaky truth about the Ducks, however, is that the defense is a bit suspect. That unit put Oregon in danger against Texas Tech a couple of weeks ago in Lubbock, allowing Tyler Shough to put up big numbers. If Shough wasn't turnover-happy, particularly late in the game, the Red Raiders may well have won.
Shedeur Sanders not only has been much better protecting the football this season, but Colorado might also have more explosive weapons. That's the path for the Buffs to put a scare into Oregon and it's not difficult to see. It might not be the most likely outcome, but the Colorado hype train somehow reaching even more ridiculous levels is not entirely out of the question.