Part of what makes College Football so exciting is when we get an upset that shakes up the entire race for the College Football Playoff. In the first week of the season, we only got one massive upset when Florida State upset Alabama. As teams start to move away from facing cupcake opponents and start to face Power 4 opponents the potential of an upset starts to loom.
The Nation's top 10 teams play what many would consider a weaker set of opponents which doesn't provide a massive chance for upset. When you start to look at the team's right outside the Top 10 but, inside the Top 25 the chance for an upset only gets greater.
These 5 College Football games could provide shocking upsets
#11 Illinois Fighting Illini Vs Duke Blue Devils
Bret Bielema's Fighting Illini are looking to breakthrough to the College Football Playoff as they return a loaded team headlined by quarterback Luke Altmyer. This past weekend, Illinois faced off against Western Illinois dominating on both sides of the ball winning 52-3. This weekend against Duke may be a different story for the Illini.
Manny Diaz has the Blue Devils on an upward trajectory after leading the team to a 9-4 season last year. Despite the impressive season, Duke made a massive upgrade at quarterback bringing in Darian Mensah from Tulane making him one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the Country. In Duke's season opener, Mensah lived up to the hype and in a game like this could be the determining factor.
#12 Arizona State Sun Devils Vs Mississippi State Bulldogs
Coming off their Big 12 Championship and their trip to the College Football Playoff, the Arizona State Sun Devils are looking to make a run once again. The vast majority of Arizona State's key pieces are back in the fold but, losing Cam Skattebo to the NFL will make it much tougher in the Sun Devils' biggest games.
Mississippi State hasn't been great as of late but, the Sun Devils do travel across the Country and into a hostile environment which already has Dillingham's staff ringing cowbells at practice. The Bulldogs kicked off their season with a 34-17 win over Southern Mississippi as Blake Shapen made his return from injury and impressed.
Jeff Lebby is still looking for his signature win at Mississippi State and knocking off the 12th ranked team in the Country would be a great start to the season.
#13 Florida Gators Vs USF Bulls
The Florida Gators enter the 2025 College Football season with College Football Playoff hopes with DJ Lagway being one of the best quarterbacks in the Country. In Week 1, the Gators didn't face much resistance as they cruised to victory against Long Island. The issue is that could come back to haunt them this weekend when the unranked USF Bulls come to town.
Last week, we saw the USF Bulls send a loud message to the country that they may be the best Non-Power 4 program and this week they'll have their best chance to impress everyone. Quarterback Byrum Brown is the type of player that can carry his team through any matchup like this one as we've seen him help USF keep it close twice against Alabama. The defense looked far better than the group we saw last season and if they can pressure Lagway, this could quietly be one of the best games of the Week.
#16 Iowa State Cyclones Vs Iowa Hawkeyes
In any rivalry game you throw out all the rankings and the record books as the teams practically become perfect equals. The Iowa State Cyclones have been impressive to start the season beating at the time #17 Kansas State and demolishing South Dakota. The Hawkeyes kicked off their season by beating Albany 34-7.
Iowa's offense wasn't all that impressive against Albany as Mark Gronowski only passed for 44 yards but, it's more likely that they didn't want to put a ton on film. Gronowski has the ability to be an explosive weapon and the Hawkeyes could finally unleash him this weekend. Iowa knocking off their biggest rival wouldn't be a massive upset but, it would likely knock the Cyclones out of the Top 25.
#17 SMU Mustangs Vs Baylor Bears
This weekend's matchup between the SMU Mustangs and the Baylor Bears may be one of the matchups where the unranked team is the better team especially this early in the season. The Bears are off to an 0-1 start as they lost a tough game to Auburn but, it wasn't discouraging for Dave Aranda's team.
Sawyer Robertson and the Bears will be looking to bounce back in this game and SMU kicking off their season against East Texas A&M may hurt them as this game will be their first true battle. The Mustangs have a massive question at running back and if any coach can make their offense one dimensional it's Aranda.
The saving grace for SMU may be the fact that they just watched how Auburn was able to knock off Baylor. Jackson Arnold looked like one of the best running quarterbacks in the Country vs Baylor and with an elite playmaker like Kevin Jennings Jr, SMU could gash Baylor with quarterback runs.
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