College Football 2021: 3 teams that will be on upset alert in Week 9

1. Oklahoma (vs. Texas Tech)

I’ve been saying since the preseason that Texas Tech is good enough to beat someone they shouldn’t. Oklahoma is inconsistent enough to lose almost every week and last week’s performance against Kansas nearly takes “almost” out of the equation. This might be a perfect storm.

Of course, while Tech is good enough, they weren’t good enough to avoid making a change at head coach. Matt Wells was fired this week with Sonny Cumbie being promoted to head coach. Is that the fire the Red Raiders need?

The Tech offense has the potential to explode with Cumbie calling all the shots. They haven’t quite hit their potential, but this might be the time. Still, they’re over 360 yards per game while not playing at their best. Tech should have won last week but lost 25-24 after blowing an early 14-0 lead. It was an ugly game that ultimately cost Wels his job.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, hasn’t played a full 60 minutes yet. They needed to put the pedal to the metal late to defeat Tulane, Nebraska, West Virginia, Kansas State, Texas, and Kansas. That’s six of their eight wins, by the way. Those six teams have a combined record of 16-27, by the way. This is going to catch up with them at some point.

They’ve been beyond inconsistent on offense, even last week, and have struggled to stop explosive plays. With nothing to lose for Texas Tech, you know they won’t be afraid to take some shots.

Henry Colombi is the most important part of that equation. The Oklahoma pass defense is one of the worst in the country, and Colombi will have to exploit that weakness early and often. If Colombi can have a performance close to the one he had against Texas where he threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns (which isn’t asking a lot against the Sooner defense) despite not even entering the game until early in the second quarter, it’ll put Oklahoma in another awful position that they might not survive this time.

Since a lot of the Oklahoma problems happen early, a dominant first half is paramount to an upset. Even if Tech doesn’t win, 20 points (how much the Sooners are favored by on WynnBET) seems like way too much. I think the cover here is a solid bet, but I would not all be surprised if Tech pulls off a win, and neither should you.