College Football 2017: Top 5 teams on upset alert in Week 3

It’s Big Ten versus the SEC as Purdue travels to take on Missouri. These two teams have not met since the 1980 Liberty Bowl and you would have to go back to 1953 to find the Boilermakers last trip to Columbia. None of that matters in this game. The Tigers enter the game seven-point favorites.

Missouri started the season with a shootout win over Missouri State 72-43 and followed that up with a home loss last weekend to South Carolina 31-13. Tigers quarterback Drew Lock is pretty good, but right now he has inflated stats due to his seven-touchdown performance against Missouri State. With an improving Purdue defense, they may be able to keep Lock in check enough to allow their offense enough time to work.

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Speaking of the Purdue offense, quarterback David Blough has a 74.4 completion percentage through two games. He’s thrown for 410 yards and five touchdowns so far and the Tigers’ inexperienced secondary may have trouble containing him. The Boilermakers would also be wise to keep feeding the ball to sophomore running back Tario Fuller. Last week against Ohio, Fuller ran for 142 yards and a touchdown on only 16 carries.

Coming into the season, it seemed Missouri would be improved over their 4-8 record last year, but I wasn’t sure what to make of Purdue. Through two games, I’ve been impressed by the Boilermakers, especially hanging with Louisville in the opening week. This definitely will be a tough battle and Purdue has a realistic shot of leaving Columbia victorious.