College Football 2020: 6 teams that will be on upset alert in Week 14

6. Appalachian State (vs. Louisiana)

25th ranked Louisiana heads to Boone to take on a 7-2 Appalachian State team that hasn’t lost more than three games in a season since 2017.

It’s fair to say it’s a surprise that the ranked team is an underdog, but once you dig deeper, it’s really not.

Saying Appalachian State hasn’t lived up to expectations is accurate, but also unfair. They were a popular pick to win the Sun Belt and even a possibility at the New Year’s Six berth. But the Mountaineers have lost two games this season. On the flip side, those two losses are to teams with a combined 16-0 record.

Meanwhile Louisiana is enjoying their best season ever, including their first season ever as a top 25 team. Louisiana is an extremely balanced team on offense, but the key to pulling this upset will be on defense.

If Louisiana wants to defeat Appalachian State, their defense is going to have to step up and control the Mountaineers’ rushing attack. That’s not a slant on Zac Thomas, who’s a solid quarterback, but App State does a lot of damage on the ground.

Louisiana will have to limit Camerun Peoples and Daetrich Harrington as well as the rest of the solid ground game to well under their season average of over 256 yards per game. If Louisiana can do that and force App State into some obvious passing situations, where Thomas is prone to interceptions, the Cajuns can come away with a win.