College Football Upset Alert: Targeting 3 Teams In Nightmare Spots

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Written By Brett Gibbons | Last Updated
college football upset

Week 7 of the college football season featured the biggest slate of games yet. Of note, No. 3 Oregon notched an enormous win over No. 2 Ohio State at home, prompting a field storming, and Vanderbilt pulled off a second straight upset. Browsing all of these situations leads to tough spots for three teams currently on a roll in Week 8. Let’s find out if we’ll return to the madness of Week 6 with more college football upset alerts.

On the season, the underdogs outlined in this article have four outright upsets and an 11-8 ATS record. Last season, they went 23-15-1 ATS (60.5%) with four outright victories. We’ll make the case, and you decide if you want to make the picks on the moneyline or in your pick ’em pools. Compare college football odds from the best sports betting sites below with these upset candidates.

POTENTIAL COLLEGE FOOTBALL UPSETS: Week 8

Browse the best odds throughout this article. Click to place a wager on any of these college football upset alerts.

No. 2 Oregon at Purdue, Friday (8:00 p.m., FOX)

Nothing bad has ever happened to a top-three Big Ten foe in West Lafayette, rightRightRIGHT?! This game marks Purdue’s signature Hammer Down Cancer game and features a blackout at night. That same atmosphere toppled both No. 2 Ohio State (2019) and No. 3 Michigan State (2021). Oregon comes off a massive, emotional win against Ohio State and hits the road for a Purdue team that scored 49 points with a quarterback change. QB Ryan Browne threw for almost 300 yards and three touchdowns on the road and nearly notched the upset of Illinois.

Purdue opened a +29.5 home underdog against Oregon, but that number quickly moved to +27.

With a change at QB and Purdue lovingly donning the “Spoilermakers” nickname, I’m taking the points with the home ‘dog.

No. 14 Texas A&M at Mississippi State, Saturday (4:00 p.m., SEC Network)

Despite coming off a bye week, Texas A&M finds itself in a precarious spot. On deck, the Aggies host arch-rival LSU for what could be a fringe top-10 showdown and pivotal game for an at-large CFP bid. Before that, A&M traveled to Starkville, where it is 1-4 straight up in the last five trips (since 2014). Last time there (’22), A&M lost ranked No. 17 to an eventual 9-4 Mississippi State.

Though downtrodden and without its starting QB, Mississippi State is 2-0 ATS against Texas and Georgia in its last two games. QB Michael Van Buren has found moderate success, scoring 31 against Georgia (300 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) in just his second start. I’m getting ahead of this being a sign that Van Buren can lead the offense much more fluidly.

At 1-5, the Bulldogs have nothing to lose.

Ball State at Vanderbilt, Saturday (7:00 p.m., ESPN+)

Vanderbilt garnered AP Top 25 votes after back-to-back upsets of Alabama and Kentucky. Now, with three outright upsets and a fourth oh-so-close (lost in overtime at top-10 Missouri), the Commodores are taken a little more seriously. On deck, they host Texas, coming off the Longhorns’ biggest game of the year against Georgia. But, in order to get there, Vandy has to beat Ball State. The Cardinals are terrible, and there are no two ways to deal with it. But so is Georgia State, and Vanderbilt lost that game outright (albeit on the road).

Per our aggregate power ratings, Georgia State ranks 109th in the FBS, while Ball State checks in at 128. This is the first-ever meeting between these teams and a much bigger deal for Ball State, who gets nearly four full touchdowns. As a team that slows the pace down, watch for the Cardinals to try to muck this game up with the potential Vanderbilt overlooks this MAC foe.

Best of luck with your college football upset picks this week!

2024 College Football Upset Pick Results

Total ATS record: 11-8 (57.8%)

  • UTEP +10.5 (Sam Houston 41, UTEP 21)
  • Southern Miss +17 (Louisiana 23, Southern Miss 13)
  • Western Kentucky +13 (Boston College 21, Western Kentucky 20)
  • Arizona +12 (Arizona 23, Utah 10)
  • Youngstown State +26.5 (Pitt 73, Youngstown State 17)
  • Ohio +20.5 (Kentucky 41, Ohio 6)
  • North Texas +9.5 (Texas Tech 66, North Texas 21)
  • Tulsa +19.5 (Oklahoma State 45, Tulsa 10)
  • Bethune-Cookman +32.5 (Western Michigan 59, Bethune-Cookman 31)
  • New Mexico +29.5 (Auburn 45, New Mexico 19)
  • Troy +19 (Memphis 38, Troy 17)
  • Michigan State +8.5 (Michigan State 27, Maryland 24)
  • Northern Illinois +30.5 (NIU 16, Notre Dame 14)
  • Samford +29.5 1H (1H Florida 14, Samford 0)
  • Stanford +9.5 (TCU 34, Stanford 27)
  • Sam Houston State +9.5 (SHSU 34, Rice 14)
  • Georgia State +21.5, first half +12.5 (Georgia Tech 35, Georgia State 12. 1H GA Tech 14, GA State 3)
  • Southern Illinois +14.5 (BYU 41, SIU 13)

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Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast, Associated Press

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