Pac-12 Football: 5 teams on upset alert in Week 3

After losing by 18 points at USC, Stanford heads even further south this weekend as they continue a road swing to start the 2017 season. This time the Cardinal head to San Diego to face the undefeated two-time defending Mountain West champion Aztecs. Stanford will open the game as a 9.5-point favorite, but they cannot get too confident after wilting against the Trojans.

The Week 0 win against Rice in Australia almost seems like a mirage at this point. It certainly obscured the fact that the Cardinal still miss having a guy like Kevin Hogan or Andrew Luck under center. Keller Chryst just is not that caliber of quarterback, and it showed as he struggled to complete 50 percent of his passes against the Trojans. Bryce Love looks like a legitimate successor to Christian McCaffrey, though, after rushing for 160 yards and a score on USC’s defense.

San Diego State is a legitimate threat to reach the New Year’s Six this season. They already have one win over a Pac-12 team after knocking off Arizona State last weekend. A second over a ranked opponent like Stanford would build up momentum potentially toward something even bigger. The College Football Playoff is not entirely infeasible for a Group of Five team, especially when they play a quality schedule.

On their home field, the underdog Aztecs have plenty of motivation to overrun their visitors from the Bay Area. In the duel between running backs, look for Rashaad Penny to rack up better numbers than Love as San Diego State not only beats the spread but comes away with another big upset of a Pac-12 program.