College football 2020: 6 teams that will be on upset alert in Week 8

3. Notre Dame (at Pitt)

If Notre Dame tries the same strategy against Pitt that they used last week against Louisville, they’re not winning this game. It’s that simple.

Ian Book isn’t as good as people think, and going against a defense the quality of the Panthers may further expose Book and his limitations.

Notre Dame needs to be able run the ball as they’ve done so well all season. Lead by Kyren Williams, the Irish have an elite rushing attack that has four solid guys that can hurt you in their own way. Notre Dame seeming abandoned that last week and it almost came back to bite them.

It’s unknown if Kenny Pickett will be back under center for the Panthers this week, but if he is, he can certainly improve the chances of a major Pitt upset.

4. Penn State (vs. Indiana)

Penn State’s going to be good this year. We all know that. Indiana? They won’t win the East, but they could cost someone the division.

Penn State comes into the game with the unexpected loss of Journey Brown, who came down with a “medical condition” and could miss the whole season.

Indiana is coming off one of its best seasons in recent history, its most wins since 1993. They’re returning 17 starters from that team and that includes potential breakout superstar quarterback Michael Penix Jr. they also have nine starters back from an improving defense that allowed 24.4 points per game and should improve even further.

Penn State does only return five defensive starters but they allowed just over 17 points per game last year and shouldn’t regress much, especially with All-American linebacker Micah Parsons roaming through field.

If Penix is able to exploit some of the Penn State losses on defense and the Indiana defense can force Sean Clifford into some uncomfortable throws, don’t be surprised if the much hyped Nittany Lions start 0-1 for the first time since 2015.