College Football Picks Week 4: 5 Favorites Who Will Lose This Week

Last weekend, we saw several favorites fall in college football. West Virginia defeated a favored Maryland team in Maryland. Utah beat BYU. Notre Dame actually won a game and it came against a ranked opponent (no, I don't care that Notre Dame was favored, it was still shocking).

This weekend we can expect more of the same. While professional football thrives on parity, college football thrives on the upset. There will be no team that comes from the depths of the Sun Belt Conference to play in the BCS National Championship, but it is nice to know that on any given Saturday the Sun Belt could whup the SEC.

These are five teams that enter the weekend as favorites but could leave on the other side of the weekend with a loss. These five teams need to take notice...now.

Arizona State

Arizona State is favored over Pac-12 rival USC. The Sun Devils are at home, which gives them the advantage against the spread, but USC comes into the game ranked at No. 23, which gives this the potential for an upset.

ASU is coming off a 17-14 loss to Illinois marred by penalties and poor play from the offensive line. It was the Sun Devils' second straight nail-biter after a 37-30 victory over Missouri the week before, and they needs to get some distance between themselves and the opponent if they expect to win.

The Sun Devils will need to rely on Brock Osweiler and Aaron Pflugrad to get a connection going early because USC's Matt Barkley finally was able to spread the ball around and the offense looked terrific in the Trojans' victory over Syracuse.

The Trojans should build on that momentum and stay undefeated despite going on the road.

Oregon State

Oregon State wasn't expected to win the Pac-12 this season, but it also wasn't expected to start the season 0-2. A loss to the Wisconsin Badgers is somewhat understandable, but a loss to Sacramento State is a little harder to swallow.

The Beavers are starting redshirt freshman Sean Mannion against UCLA this week after watching the offense sputter under Ryan Katz. While Mannion has looked to be the better of the two, he is still a redshirt freshman, and freshmen are prone to mistakes.

UCLA is not exactly hitting its stride, either. Losses to Texas and Houston are not unexpected and the Bruins hung in against Houston, but the hot seat is about as hot as it can get before it burns coach Rick Neuheisel.

Neuheisel came to UCLA with visions of grandeur, now it is desperation time and he needs to figure out how to get a win. If ever there was a game in which Neuheisel was going to pull out the stops to calm the flames under his seat, this would be it.

With a solid defensive game plan and some smart play calling, the Bruins could easily win this. It is to be seen if Coach Neuheisel can pull that off.

Notre Dame

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been losing in style up until last week. Losing a shocker to South Florida and a collapse at the hands of Michigan and Denard Robinson put the Irish in serious contention for an 0-5 start.

A win against Michigan State, led by miscues by the Spartans' red-zone offense, spared Brian Kelly from being on a full-blown job watch, but it doesn't get any easier this week against a very good Pitt team.

Pittsburgh led Iowa last week until an epic collapse in the fourth quarter. The Panthers gave up 21 unanswered points against Iowa to prevent them from going 3-0 to start the season.

The Panthers have an excellent running game and the Irish have struggled against the run. Last week, the Irish's pass defense stepped up, but that isn't the strength of the Panthers. If the Irish can stop the run, they should be all set; if they can't, 1-3 might be next for Kelly and Notre Dame.

Texas A&M

Texas A&M is home against an explosive Oklahoma State offense, which is the only reason it is the favorite heading into this matchup. The Aggies are facing their first real test of the season after handling their business easily against SMU and Tulsa.

Ryan Tannehill has been the model of efficiency, completing nearly 75 percent of his passes and passing for four touchdowns and only one interception. The offense, though, is built on balance. The Aggies also have a prolific rushing attack with Cyrus Gray.

Even with that, the Aggies still might struggle against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Since the two have a common opponent in Tulsa, we can presume that all things even, the Cowboys would come out on top. While Tulsa scored more against the Cowboys, the game was well out of hand for it when it made its late surge. At one point, Oklahoma State led 45-6 in the second half.

The Cowboys are just as balanced as the Aggies, except more explosive. Brandon Weeden has thrown for nearly 400 yards per game and, while a bit more loose with the ball, has been rewarded with eight touchdowns. Joseph Randle has had similar success on the ground with 126 yards per game and seven touchdowns.

This one will be a shootout, but the Cowboys win this one on the road as their talent is just a little better.

Florida State

There's no shame in losing to the No. 1 team in the country by 10 points. Following that up with a loss against a conference opponent could be cause for some shame, though.

The Clemson Tigers, on the other hand, just beat the defending national champions at home in Death Valley. They might be looking to add to the total of ranked teams they beat at home this week.

Making matters worse for the Seminoles is the fact that Scooter Haggins will miss some time and they may be without quarterback E.J. Manuel, who hurt his non-throwing shoulder against Oklahoma. The Seminoles roll out a multitude of weapons, so this may not affect them as much as it might some other teams, but it is still something to watch for.

Clemson is looking downright scary, offensively. Tajh Boyd has thrown for more than 900 yards and 10 touchdowns in three games and the Tigers' rushing attack, led by Andre Ellington, is gaining 220 yards per game.

While the Seminoles are ranked higher, the Tigers served notice last week. They are a force to be reckoned with, and it didn't get the nickname Death Valley for nothing.