5 Possible Week 4 College Football Upsets
The old saying is a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Maybe, but not when the subject is college football and picking winners and losers. By Week Four, though, there is more than a little bit of knowledge out there, and how that knowledge is put to use could result in a profitable weekend for the more than casual fan.
Last week, we called two outright winners, with Central Florida over host Penn State and Louisiana-Monroe over host Wake Forest, two teams who not only covered the spread but won their games. Another team, Memphis, did not win outright, but more than covered the five-point spread in a 17-15 loss at Middle Tennessee State.
There was logic behind both outright winners as UCF coach George O'Leary took a full 85-scholarship team into Penn State, which was 15 players short due to the NCAA sanctions. Louisiana-Monroe was a bowl team last year, while Wake Forest struggled in a loss at Boston College, which was a 2-10 team a season ago.
To be fair, we lost on Duke vs. Georgia Tech and Bowling Green at Indiana, but another old saying is that you can’t win them all. Duke could not prepare for Georgia Tech’s mystifying triple-option attack in one week and Bowling Green, despite an impressive win over Tulsa in its opener, could not build on that momentum against an Indiana team which lost to visiting Navy in its opener. Navy, Georgia Tech and Indiana all have proven to be interesting teams to keep an eye on and back with more than a foam finger down the road.
Here are five more teams that could lead to a profitable weekend for college football fans.
Mike Gibson is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
4. Utah State over USC
The “Fire Lane Kiffin” tailgate signs should be out in force both pre- and post-tailgate this week as Utah State not only covers the seven-point spread but wins the game on a late field goal. Both teams are 2-1, but the Aggies have scored 70 and 52 points in their two wins, while the Trojans have scored 30 and 35 in their two wins.
3. West Virginia over Maryland
The game will be played in Baltimore, where there should be just as many Mountaineer fans as Terp fans. Maryland is a 4.5 favorite, but this is a 10-point win for West Virginia which gave a creditable account of itself in a 16-7 loss at Oklahoma. Maryland is coming off a 12-point win over a UConn team that was blown out by Towson.
2. Duke over Pittsburgh
The long-time ACC officials aren’t likely to give league newcomer Pittsburgh the benefit of any close calls against the tenured Blue Devils, who have been installed as a six-point underdog despite being at home. Duke owns a 28-14 win over Memphis on the road.
1. Memphis Over Arkansas State
Host Memphis is a three-point underdog and looking to rebound from a two-point road loss to Middle Tennessee State last week. They should do this by a slim margin as the Tigers won their last three games a year ago and return 16 starters from that team. Home field pushes the Tigers over the top in this game.
