College Football's Week One Upsets and Locks

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

With the first weekend of the 2009 college football season staring us down, I'm going to try and provide everyone with some upsets to look for, and some games that look like they may be close but I view as locks. 

This is something I'm going to try to do every week, and would love for everyone to let me know what they think about my picks, and if you have any of your own. So here we go.

Teams that should be on upset alert

Notre Dame hosting Nevada

Notre Dame has cracked the top 25 based mostly on hype and a beat down of Hawaii in their bowl game in Hawaii. I'm sorry if I'm not buying the hype of a team that finished the regular season at 6-6, including a home loss to Syracuse in the latter part of the season.

I know Notre Dame has a lot of bigtime recruits, but potential doesn't mean anything especially when your counterpart on the field has one of the nation's top quarterbacks, Colin Kaepernick, and a Hall of Fame coach, Chris Ault. 

Look for Nevada to not only push the Irish to the brink but come away with the victory in South Bend and demolish the Irish's hopes of a BCS bowl.

Maryland at Cal

Maryland pulled out an eight-point victory last year at home against Cal. This year the game is at Cal which should be an advantage to the Golden Bears. 

However, while Cal may have one of the best running backs in the country, they don't have any leadership at the quarterback position. 

If Cal can't get steady play out of the quarterback position then look for Maryland to walk away with a W or at least make it a lot closer than the 21-point spread.

LSU at Washington

I'm not calling for an upset in this one, but it should be a lot closer than the 18-point spread. I know Washington was winless last year, but they are always competitive with Jake Locker under center.

Many of the Huskies struggles last year could be blamed on terrible quarterback play, but Locker not only solidifies that position, but makes it the strength of the team, and that's a great place to be your strongest.

LSU on the other hand isn't strongest at the quarterback position. While a quarterback controversy never materialized between Jordan Jefferson and Russell Shepard, the quality of play that we will see from Jefferson remains a big question mark. Yes, he played well in the Peach Bowl, but he was very inconsistent before that game.

I wouldn't be too shocked to see the Huskies shock the world, but, if I were betting the game, I would take Washington to cover the 18 points.

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