I picked three upset games this upcoming week: Indiana over No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 23 BYU over No. 19 Arizona State, and Michigan State over No. 24 Miami.  

Cincinnati is a great team and probably has the best shot at a playoff spot out of Power 5 conferences currently.  

It is true that Indiana got dominated by Iowa a couple weeks ago, but we found out that Iowa is much better than people expected. What I like about Indiana is their energy at home games. Just last year, Indiana beat No. 8 Penn State at home. Coincidentally, Cincinnati is currently ranked eighth.  

Another upset game is Michigan State over Miami. In the past few years, Michigan State has been ranked top 25 in the beginning of the season. However, they are not ranked at all currently.  

Maybe Michigan State was a little overhyped in the previous years, but they may be undervalued this year. After getting beatdown by Alabama in week one, Miami barely survived against Appalachian State in week two (won by two points in the last minute). A win is a win, but it is hard to rely on Miami right now against Michigan State, which wants to prove that it belongs in the top 25. 

Other two interesting games that will make a big impact in the college playoff picture are No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 11 Florida and No. 10 Penn State vs. No. 22 Auburn. The former game is in Florida.If Florida wins, there will be another chaos coming. If Alabama wins, they have another signature win to make themselves favorable in the playoff.  

The latter game is more related to Big Ten’s hope for the playoffs. Currently, Penn State and Iowa are undefeated top 10 Big Ten teams, and the knockdown by Auburn will make Iowa the only undefeated top 10 Big Ten team remaining.  

This game is more important for the Big Ten Conference than the SEC. Fortunately, the game is happening at Penn State, so Penn State should be able to handle Auburn well. If not, the Big Ten will lose another playoff potential team. 

Here are all my Top 25 picks: 

No. 1 Alabama (2-0) vs. No. 11 Florida (2-0) – Alabama 

No. 2 Georgia (2-0) vs. South Carolina (2-0) – Georgia 

No. 3 Oklahoma (2-0) vs. Nebraska (2-1) – Oklahoma 

No. 4 Oregon (2-0) vs. Stony Brook (1-1) – Oregon 

No. 5 Iowa (2-0) vs. Kent State (1-1) – Iowa 

No. 6 Clemson (1-1) vs. Georgia Tech (1-1) – Clemson  

No. 7 Texas A&M (2-0) vs. New Mexico (2-0) – Texas A&M 

No. 8 Cincinnati (2-0) vs. Indiana (1-1) – Indiana (upset alert) 

No. 9 Ohio State (1-1) vs. Tulsa (0-2) – Ohio State 

No. 10 Penn State vs. No. 22 Auburn (2-0) – Penn State  

No. 12 Notre Dame (2-0) vs. Purdue (2-0) – Notre Dame 

No. 13 UCLA (2-0) vs. Fresno State (2-1) – UCLA 

No. 14 Iowa State (1-1) vs. UNLV (0-2) – Iowa State 

No. 15 Virginia Tech (2-0) vs. West Virginia (1-1) – Virginia Tech 

No. 16 Coastal Carolina (2-0) vs. Buffalo (1-1) – Coastal Carolina 

No. 17 Ole Miss (2-0) vs. Tulane (1-1) – Ole Miss 

No. 19 Arizona State (2-0) vs. No. 23 BYU (2-0) – BYU (upset alert) 

No. 20 Arkansas (2-0) vs. Georgia Southern (1-1) – Arkansas 

No. 21 North Carolina (1-1) vs. Virginia (2-0) – North Carolina 

No. 24 Miami (1-1) vs. Michigan State (2-0) – Michigan State (upset alert) 

No. 25 Michigan (2-0) vs. Northern Illinois (1-1) – Michigan