For those of you who follow the blog regularly, you know the upset watch is a dangerous place to be. In each of the past two weeks, the top games on this list have come to fruition: Clemson beat Georgia and Miami beat Florida. (Sorry, I can’t just throw Alabama and Oregon on here.) This should be a relatively quiet weekend in the ACC, with most teams following the script against lesser opponents. If there aren't three games worthy of this list, we're not going to force it, so we only have two this week. Who’s in danger in Week 3?
Lane Kiffin, since you asked …
1. Boston College at USC: Kiffin was booed in his own stadium on Saturday after a 10-7 loss to Washington State. The Cougars won without scoring an offensive touchdown. USC lost in its home opener for the first time since 1997. If ever there was a time for the Eagles to travel across the country and beat the storied program, this would be it. BC is feeling good after its 2-0 start, has been re-energized by first-year coach Steve Addazio and has gotten back to playing physical, hard-nosed, disciplined football. Andre Williams ran for more than 200 yards last week. Meanwhile, USC’s quarterbacks last week combined to average 2.6 yards per pass, and didn’t complete a pass longer than eight yards. So, yeah, BC has a chance.
2. Virginia Tech at East Carolina: When it comes to QBR rating, Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas is ranked No. 132 out of 138. Shane Carden at ECU? He’s No. 23. The Hokies’ offense continues to be anemic, as Thomas had two passes intercepted in the end zone against an FCS team. ECU is better than an FCS team, and it's had its way with the ACC before. In 2008, ECU stunned the No. 17-ranked Hokies 27-22. In 2010, the Pirates beat NC State in overtime. This is the Pirates' last year in Conference USA before "moving up" to the AAC. The good news? Virginia Tech finished with 462 total yards, and the receivers didn’t have as many drops as they did against Alabama, so there has been some improvement. Not enough improvement, though, to consider any game a gimme at this point.
