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21 for 2021: 21 most dangerous upset alert games for Power Five teams vs. Group of Five programs.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

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You want to make a statement as a Group of Five program? You want to sit at the lunch table with the cool kids? Beat the Power Five teams.

The Group of Five – American Athletic, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt – doesn’t have the success you might think it does against the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.

The Gof5ers went 4-8 last season against the P5, and that’s after going 22-81 in 2019.

But they’re there. There are big wins to be had to cripple the seasons of the schools with the big money, bigger names, and snobby expectations.

Here are 21 Group of Five vs. Power Five games to watch out for.

21 for 2021 Preview Topics (so far)
21. Thoughts, Wishes, Hopes for 2021
20. Best Teams To Not Make CFP
19: Teams That Will Rebound Big
18. Teams That Will Fall Back
17: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
16. Expectations For New Head Coaches
15. Expectations For 2nd Year Head Coaches
14. Power 5 Hot Seat Coach Rankings
13. 21 Key Transfers You Need To Know

– CFN 2021 Preview: All 130 Team Previews

21 College Football Group of Five vs. Power Five Upset Alerts

21. Syracuse at Ohio, Sept. 4

It’s a new era of Ohio football in the first game after the Frank Solich retirement, but there won’t be any sort of a slowdown. Syracuse is the better team, but it’s a road trip to start the season for a program that hasn’t blocked a pass rush in a few years.
Syracuse Preview | Ohio Preview

20. Georgia Southern at Arkansas, Sept. 18

Curveball game alert. It’s about as big a sandwich as this gets for Arkansas, playing Texas the week before and Texas A&M right after. Georgia Southern is 0-10 against Power Five programs since moving into the full-time FCS world in 2014 – more often than not getting stomped – but if the option attack starts to work like it did against Minnesota in 2019 and Alabama in 2011, this could be interesting.
Arkansas Preview | Georgia Southern Preview

19. Army at Wisconsin, Oct. 16

In theory, Wisconsin is the perfect team to destroy Army. Through the years, the Badgers generally have had problems with the better passing games and hurry-up attacks. Army’s slow, deliberate running game along with a smallish defensive front should be right in Bucky’s wheelhouse. However, if the knuckleball is working, and if Wisconsin is a bit off after playing Notre Dame, Michigan, and Illinois in the Bret Bielema game, there might be problems.
Army Preview | Wisconsin Preview

18. South Carolina at East Carolina, Sept. 11

Call this the puncher’s chance game. South Carolina will get a warm-up against Eastern Illinois to start the Shane Beamer era, but East Carolina should have a dangerous offense that might catch the Gamecocks looking ahead to the SEC road opener to Georgia up next. The last time ECU had a home game against a Power Five program, it rim-rocked North Carolina 41-19 in 2018.
East Carolina Preview | South Carolina Preview

17. Fresno State at Oregon, Sept. 4

Be very, very careful here. Fresno State has a Pac-12-caliber quarterback in Jake Haener leading a high-powered offense that’s going to keep on pushing. It might be the season opener for the Ducks, but their attention might already be on the monster date at Ohio State the following week. Speaking of Pac-12 vs. Big Ten focus …
Fresno State Preview | Oregon Preview

16. Arkansas State at Washington, Sept. 18

Can Washington hit the four-foot putt? The Huskies should be able to roll if they’re fully focused, but this comes right after the trip to Michigan and just before the Pac-12 opener against Cal. Ask 2020 Kansas State what Arkansas State can do – the Red Wolves pulled off a 35-31 shocker – and new head coach Butch Jones has a dangerous team. Speaking of Sun Belt road stunners …
Arkansas State Preview | Washington Preview

NEXT: Top 15 College Football Group of Five vs. Power Five Upset Alerts

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20 for 2020: 20 key offseason topics: No. 12. 35 most dangerous upset alert games for Power Five teams vs. Group of Five programs.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

If you’re a Power Five – ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC – college football program, it’s just never okay to lose to a Group of Five team.

The American Athletic, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt teams all might have the potential to come up with a win over the Power Fiver on the slate, but it’s not always that easy.

But the Group of Five is equal to the Power Five, right?

Including bowl games – and including Army, BYU, Liberty, UMass and New Mexico State – the Group of Five was a lousy 24-85 last year against the Power Five programs, but there are wins out there to be had.

In last year’s version, we missed big on one of the top five upset alerts, two of them were close battles, and two were on the Group of Five side.

Here are 35 dangerous ones to watch out for.

35. Utah at Wyoming, Sept. 19

It wasn’t all that terribly long ago that this would’ve been a Mountain West league battle. Utah has come a long way since 2010, but Wyoming is dangerous at home – just at Missouri, who lost last year’s opener in Laramie 37-31.

34. Buffalo at Kansas State, Sept. 5

It’s the first ever meeting between the two, and it’s going to be a dangerous one for Kansas State. It shouldn’t be too bad – it’s better than Buffalo – but it’s going to be a dangerous opener against a potentially the potentially high-powered Bulls.

33. Appalachian State at Wisconsin, Sept. 19

Wisconsin is a killer at home against Group of Five programs – it destroyed Central Michigan an Kent State last year by a combined 109-0. Appalachian State, though, beat North Carolina and South Carolina last year, and it’ll be fantastic again.

32. NC State at Troy, Sept. 19

Is NC State past all of the problems of last year’s 4-8 clunker? It’ll be coming off the ACC opener against Louisville and a battle with Mississippi State before going on the road to deal with Troy. It was a few years ago, but the Trojans shocked Nebraska 24-19.

31. Arizona State at UNLV, Sept. 12

As bad as UNLV was last season, it was able to tag Vanderbilt on the road in a 34-10 shocker. This is just the second time is has ever faced Arizona State, but it won the other meeting back in 2008.

30. Eastern Michigan at Missouri, Sept. 26

How long will it take to get everything up and going at Mizzou under Eli Drinkwitz? Last year’s team started out losing at Wyoming, but this year’s sandwich game comes between SEC East road games at South Carolina and Tennessee. EMU managed to stun Illinois on the road last season.

29. Temple at Miami, Sept. 5

Manny Diaz had the Temple head coaching job for about 30 seconds before the Miami gig opened up. Coming off a rough year, his Canes have to rock in the opener against a program that beat Maryland and Georgia Tech last season. The Owls are 1-13 all-time in the series, only winning the first game 34-0 back in 1930.

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28. Washington State at Utah State, Sept. 3

Just how good will Wazzu be out of the gate under new head coach Nick Rolovich? There’s no Jordan Love around anymore for Utah State, but it gets the Pac-12er home. The last time the two met, the Aggies won 34-14. Okay, it was in 1961, but …

27. Louisiana Tech at Baylor, Sept. 26

New Baylor head coach Dave Aranda can’t let his team look ahead to the road game at Oklahoma the following week. Louisiana Tech is good enough to be the biggest star in Conference USA, welcoming back a slew of parts that helped beat Miami to end last year.

26. Houston at Washington State, Sept. 12

There’s no D’Eriq King at quarterback this time around for Houston, but it should be a better all-around team in Year Two under Dana Holgorsen. It was a 31-24 Wazzu win last year, and this time – even though it’s at home – it’ll be coming off a road trip to Utah State.

NEXT: Top 25 College Football Group of Five vs. Power Five Upset Alerts