5 ranked teams on 'high upset alert' heading into college football Week 9

College football Week 9 is officially here and there are numerous bigtime matchups set to take place on Saturday.

As we head into late October and through November, the pressure begins to mount, particularly for teams that are in the running for a postseason spot. With an expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, those pressures are only going to be amplified as numerous teams attempt to handle their business late in the year.

Looking ahead to this Saturday's slate of games, here are our five teams on "high upset alert" for Week 9 of the college football season.

The SMU Mustangs will travel to Wallace Wade Stadium with a perfect 3-0 record in ACC play. The Mustangs will now have their toughest conference test of the season to this point.

Rhett Lashlee's team has been very good, particularly on offense, this year, but something tells us Duke (6-1) will be able to compete on Saturday night. SMU will be without its top receiver in TE RJ Maryland. Keep in mind that SMU has beaten a quality team in the ACC in Louisville, but going on the road for a night environment — even if it just Duke — won't be easy for a program that is still adjusting to playing Power-4 football.

Making matters even tougher? SMU is going to have to fight the temptation to look ahead as the Mustangs will be welcoming a ranked Pittsburgh team to town next week. The Panthers just handily defeated Syracuse and this very well could be a battle of top-20 teams in the ACC next week.

The Texas Longhorns are coming off a disappointing loss to Georgia from a week ago, and I know what you're thinking: There's no way Vanderbilt is going to do this again.

Vanderbilt has already beaten Virginia Tech and Alabama at home this year, so until otherwise proven, it may be time to give some respect to the Commodores, led by QB Diego Pavia. The Longhorns may very well come out angry and blow Vanderbilt out of the building. However, until we see it happen, there's no way we can't at least tease at the fact that Texas could be in for a four-quarter battle against Vanderbilt.

A hunch says Diego Pavia and that RPO game keeps things interesting and, should we get into the fourth quarter, it could be anyone's game. Also, if Texas loses this one: Will there be a quarterback change in Austin?

Indiana will be hosting ESPN College GameDay for the first time in its history. That alone should be enough to fire up the team and pick up a win against a Washington team that has left much to be desired with a 4-3 record.

That being said, Indiana will be without it star quarterback, Kurtis Rourke, who had hand surgery earlier this week after being injured against Nebraska during the Hoosiers' blowout win over the Cornhuskers last weekend.

With pressure building and missing a starting quarterback, this is the game where Washington could keep things close and potentially escape with a win.

The BYU Cougars are currently undefeated and look to be on track to lock up a berth in the Big 12 championship game. That is, if they can avoid a few upset bids late in the season.

BYU certainly looks the part thus far. The Cougars are physical and have veteran leadership on both sides of the ball that makes them dangerous in the Big 12 and will allow them to be legitimate competition for the conference's College Football Playoff spot.

That being said, they've got a trap game ahead of them. UCF almost knocked off Iowa State in their building last weekend, and the Knights are hoping they've turned a corner. Now, they get their chance at home to knock off one of the top teams in the Big 12. BYU is more talented, but UCF seems to get up for games like this and this one may end up being uncomfortably close for Cougar fans down the stretch on Saturday.

I'm going ahead and calling my shot now: I think Wisconsin upsets Penn State on Saturday night. The environment will be raucous and this is the best team that Penn State will have faced this season to this point.

Drew Allar has looked solid this season, but Wisconsin has enough in its front-seven to pressure him and make things difficult. Penn State won a thriller against USC two weeks ago, and the Nittany Lions will be in a battle this Saturday night in Madison.

What makes things even more difficult for Penn State? They've got Ohio State coming to town next weekend. This just feels like a game, historically, that the Nittany Lions are set up to lose. It will be interesting to see, though, if that No. 3 ranking is legit, or if they're a pretender.

We'll know a little more Saturday night.

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