Week 4 Upset Alert

The weekly upset alert is doing well for me so far this season, but I might run into some scheduling issues in week 4.  This is the weekend that most college football teams are gearing up for conference play, and will elect to play a cellar dweller in order to get a full contact practice to prepare.  I actually do not see any upsets happening this week, but I still want to note a few games to keep an eye on.

Louisiana Monroe @ Baylor
RGIII is no longer in Waco, but Coach Briles continues to turn out prolific offenses. Baylor should have the best offense in the Big 12, if not in all of FBS. They are led by Bryce Petty who is completing 80% of his passes so far, and Lache Seastrunk who is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry. ULM will not be able to stop the Bears, and their only hope will be to slow the machine down enough and trade scores. The Baylor defense is still a work in progress, although they have shown more promise this year in their first two games. ULM is a legitimate team, and if Baylor overlooks them this game could be pretty close.  Either way it will be a high scoring game.

Arizona State @ Stanford
The Cardinal is many expert's preseason pick to face Alabama in the national championship game. Arizona State is coming off of a huge win over Wisconsin, and look like one of the favorites in the Pac 12 South.  This could be a rematch of the conference championship game.  Stanford has started slowly in both of their opening games against less than intimidating opponents (San Jose State and Army).  This should be an entertaining matchup between Arizona State's high powered passing attack of Taylor Kelly, and Stanford's defense which should be in the top 10 nationally again. But the outcome of the game might be decided in the opposite matchup.  The Sun Devils struggled to contain Wisconsin's running attack, and Stanford will look to replicate the Badger's success.  This approach will also be effective in keeping the defense fresh while ASU's offense is off the field. I liked what I saw from Arizona State last weekend, so I think they can push Stanford.  In the end the Cardinal should be able to run the ball at will, which should allow them to control the outcome.

Auburn @ LSU
I was really impressed with the new look LSU offense in their season opener against TCU. Zack Mettenberger looks to be one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC, and will be the major reason if LSU is going to be headed to Atlanta for the SEC championship game. On the other side it is looking like Auburn is starting to gain confidence in their new head coach, Malzahn.  LSU is still trying to replace a lot of their defense from last year, and the spread guru could throw enough unique looks out there to give LSU some problems. I do think the Bayou Bengals are much more talented than Bama's little brother, and playing at home with a senior quarterback should be enough for LSU to win this game.