College Football 2021: 3 teams that will be on upset alert in Week 3

3. Cincinnati (at Indiana)

The future Big 12 Bearcats’ two week tour of Indiana kicks off this week with the 1-1 Hoosiers. Cincinnati’s potential this season has been well documented in the form of College Football Playoff talk. All of that talk will come to a halt if Cincinnati falls this weekend.

This will be the first “good” team Cincinnati has faced this season. They’ve previously crushed Miami (OH) and Murray State.

Indiana is in for a tough test at home, but they’ve proven they’re not the same pushovers they were years ago. Indiana didn’t do themselves any favors when they barely competed against Iowa, although that loss doesn’t look nearly as bad now that the Hawkeyes are a top five team.

Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is going to have to turn it on for the first time since his return from a season ending knee injury a year ago. The passing game as a whole needs to get itself together after not producing much in the first two weeks.

Penix has shown that he’s up to the task in big games. Don’t forget the heroics against Penn State to open 2020 that put him on the map to begin with. He’ll need more of that magic on Saturday.

It’s easier said than done, but the Indiana defense will have to slow down Desmond Ridder as well. Ridder hasn’t needed a big game yet so his numbers on the year aren’t quite what you’d expect. But don’t sleep on the Cincinnati quarterback.

All in all, it might be asking a lot for Indiana to accomplish both of those things, but if they can be decent at both, Indiana has a shot to end Cincinnati’s dream season.