Eight college football teams on upset alert in Week 7

With conference play rolling, there are some marquee upset possibilities in college football's Week 7. Our standard caution is that we're not listing games with a line smaller than +5. If Oklahoma bests -1.5 Texas, that's not much of an upset. So yes, that rule takes the Red River Shootout and Alabama/Missouri off the table. No worries, here's eight genuine favorites who should be on upset alert in Week 7.

Texas A&M (-7.5 vs. Florida)

Obviously, there's some recent history here. Billy Napier's Florida teams delight in confounding seemingly everyone and the Aggies could be the next victim. A&M's third-down offense is fairly wretched (34.9% conversions) and the Aggie defense has picked off just two passes on the season to date. DJ Lagway could put up enough points to pull a second straight Gator surprise.

LSU (-9.5 vs. South Carolina)

LSU has struggled offensively so far this season. With Garrett Nussmeier averaging just 6.8 yards per pass, South Carolina has a window to a possible upset. The Gamecocks have committed just four turnovers in five games, and if they can protect LaNorris Sellers well enough, there's legitimate road upset potential for USC.

Oregon (-7.5 vs. Indiana)

Oregon has an explosive offense and has played a "taking care of business" slate so far. A team that escaped Penn State by six points could be vulnerable to that big-play Indiana offense. Yes, there's reason to wonder if Indiana can get enough stops to make this game close, but if the Hoosier defense can take advantage of opportunities and stay in the game, this could be the next IU "shock the world" performance.

Nebraska (-6.5 at Maryland)

After last season's Nebraska fade down the back half of the season, it's worth not ruling out the same thing happening again. Nebraska gains 3.8 yards per carry and allows 4.5 to opponents. That's not a winning formula for going on the road in the Big Ten. Malik Washington could make enough big plays through the air to force Nebraska into a shootout and have a shot at a home upset.

Utah (-8.5 vs. Arizona State)

Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt could lead an upset against Utah in Week 7. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After a pair of three-point wins, Arizona State seems to be becoming adept at grinding out close wins. Utah, meanwhile, has dominated bad teams and then gotten rocked by Texas Tech. It's far from outside the realm of possibility that Sam Leavitt puts together a solid game to lead the Sun Devils to the upset.

Florida State (-10.5 vs. Pittsburgh)

Pittsburgh is a hard team to figure out. Off a pair of losses, they boat raced Boston College. Meanwhile, Florida State has now taken two straight losses. They're the better team, but give Eli Holstein enough time and he can certainly keep the Panthers close, if not engineer an outright upset win.

Michigan State (-7.5 vs. UCLA)

Break up UCLA! But seriously, Jerry Neuheisel calling plays seemed to be exactly what the doctor ordered. If Nico Iamaleava had enough guts to take down Penn State, a very average Michigan State team might not be much of a problem. State has given up 45 and 38 points in the last two weeks, so a shootout could be in order.

Minnesota (-7.5 vs. Purdue)

Minnesota has lost two of its last three and Purdue has lost its last three. But the difference here is scoring punch. Minnesota has averaged 16 points per game over that three game run, Purdue has averaged 25. Add in that Purdue's losses were all to ranked teams and Minnesota lost to Cal and Ryan Browne might have enough mojo to pull off a surprise in this one.

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