The 2017 college football season is here. What teams are on upset alert from the onset of the year?
Week 1 is finally here and it’s super exciting for college football fans everywhere. All the talk can finally be over and we can start settling things on the field.
Every Thursday we’ll be bringing you teams that will be on upset alert that week. These will be teams that could be vulnerable against a lesser opponent or teams that nobody is picking despite the teams being relatively even and good match-ups.
We’ll go in the order from the highest point spreads to the least. The lines on each game come from Sportsbook Review. Let’s get to it.
5. Ohio State Buckeyes (vs. Indiana)
I know exactly what everyone is thinking. How can a national championship contender be on upset alert this early in the season? The Buckeyes are not playing some lower level MAC team the first week, but they open with a road conference game against Indiana. Ohio State is a 20 point favorite.
There are some interesting side notes for this game. Indiana has first year coach Tom Allen, who was the Hoosiers defensive coordinator. Former Hoosier head coach Kevin Wilson is now the Buckeyes offensive coordinator. In addition to the coaches, this game is being played on a Thursday night with a special edition of ESPN’s College Gameday being broadcast before the game. The Indiana fans will be hyped for the special occasion.
As for the players, Indiana has Richard Lagow at quarterback who has a cannon for an arm. He will have experienced wide receivers Nick Westbrook and Luke Timian going up against an inexperienced Buckeye secondary in their first game as a unit. On the other side of the ball, Indiana was much improved last year on defense and looks to continue that trend with nine starters returning. The Hoosier defense could really cause disruptions to J.T Barrett and the passing game.
Related Story: Ohio State Football: 2017 game-by-game predictions
With those factors and just the general first game feeling out process most teams experience, this game will be closer than the experts think. Not saying Indiana is going to pull off the shocker, but remember what happened last season when the Buckeyes went on the road as a three touchdown favorite. They lost their only game of the regular season.