Every Friday, the Friday Five will rank something in the world of college football -- anything and everything from the logical to the illogical. This week, we rank the five teams currently in the AP Top 25 poll with the best chance of being upset on Saturday.
There were a lot of complaints heading into last weekend about the schedule of games available.
Following an opening weekend featuring multiple marquee matchups, last week didn't feature a single game between ranked teams. It was the first time it had happened since 2012.
Well, we're making up for lost time this weekend.
This will be the first time in college football history that the top three teams in the AP Top 25 poll are not only playing other ranked teams, but will play as true road teams in all three of those games.
Aside from those three games, we also have another matchup of top-20 teams between Notre Dame and Michigan State.
So I get the sense that we could see multiple upsets on Saturday that will shake up the rankings, but where will those upsets happen?
This week in Friday Five, we're going to rank the five teams currently in the AP Top 25 poll with the best odds of being upset on Saturday.
5. No. 25 Miami (at Appalachian State)
Hey, it was only a few weeks ago that Appalachian State nearly took out Tennessee in Neyland Stadium before finally succumbing in overtime. Miami is off to a nice enough start to the season, but are any of you convinced its better than Tennessee? Also, unlike that Tennessee game, this one is taking place in Boone, North Carolina, and it's an early game. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Miami lost to the Mountaineers on Saturday, but there are a few other games I believe are more likely to feature an upset.
4. No. 18 Notre Dame (vs. No. 12 Michigan State)
Remember, when it comes to upsets I'm not talking about "bad teams" beating "good teams," or unranked teams beating ranked ones. I'm coming straight from a point-spread perspective, and even if Michigan State is ranked ahead of the Irish in the AP Top 25 poll, the Spartans are an eight-point underdog. Personally, I believe that number is a bit too large, but I get it because the Spartans weren't exactly overwhelming during their sole game of the season against Furman. But Sparty also took last week off, and odds are it didn't show us the entire playbook against the Paladins because it didn't want to give the Irish too much information.
3. No. 11 Texas (at California)
We were all paying attention during the first week of the season when the Longhorns beat Notre Dame in overtime. How could we not have been? It was the only game being played that Sunday night, and it was an epic game, which the Longhorns pulled out in overtime. The memories of that game, combined with a 41-7 win over UTEP most of us ignored, might just have us inflating the Longhorns a little bit right now. I'm not saying Texas is going to lose this game, but Cal did come to Austin last year and beat the Longhorns. It's not exactly insane to believe they could do it again in Berkeley.
2. No. 3 Ohio State (at No. 14 Oklahoma)
Oklahoma lost to a very good Houston team at a neutral site that just so happened to be played in the city of Houston. I don't think this is enough to make us consider Oklahoma a home underdog against Ohio State, but this is the situation we find ourselves in as we head toward Saturday. I've spent the entire offseason telling anybody who would listen that Ohio State would be just fine in 2016, despite all the personnel losses, and it's my favorite in the Big Ten. I still feel that way. I'm just not ready to write off Oklahoma because it lost to a very good Houston team just yet. Also, the fact so many are already writing the Sooners off only makes it more likely they'll beat the Buckeyes, because that's just how things work under Bob Stoops.
1. No. 2 Florida State (at No. 10 Louisville)
There are so many things at play here that would have me worried if I were a Florida State fan. First of all, Louisville has Lamar Jackson, and Lamar Jackson has looked like the greatest football player to ever football through two weeks of the season. Sure, he's done it against Charlotte and Syracuse, but still, his performances have been ridiculous. Second, the game is being played early on Saturday, and I always worry about road teams in early games, even if they aren't traveling across multiple time zones. Third, Florida State has a quarterback in Deondre Francois making the first true road start of his career. Finally, there's the Derwin James injury. I believed James could be Florida State's answer to Lamar Jackson, and now that the Seminoles won't have him, I'm not sure what the plan will be. There's just too much going on here to not consider the Noles an upset risk.
Honorable Mention: Alabama (at Ole Miss), Georgia (at Missouri), Iowa (vs. North Dakota State), LSU (vs. Mississippi State), Stanford (vs. USC)
