NCAA Football Week 2 upset watch: UAB has Miami's number

The second week of college football has quite a few more games to enjoy than the first, and with that comes more opportunities to find value at the sportsbook.

Thankfully, there are multiple games that could be ripe for an upset. We are here to help you with some games to look for potential upset payouts as you bet this weekend.

UAB at Miami, Thursday, 8:00 p.m. ET

The Miami Hurricanes host a 1-0 UAB team on Thursday night that won the West division of Conference USA last season and returns serious weapons on offense.

Receiver Austin Watkins is a likely NFL talent, and quarterback Tyler Johnston III threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns against Appalachian State in the New Orleans Bowl last year.

Last week, UAB dominated Central Arkansas for much of the game, before allowing quite a few points in garbage time.

The Hurricanes, on the other hand, have a brand new signal caller, as D’Eriq King takes the helm after transferring from Houston. The numbers he put up were impressive, but despite moving to another spread offense, he has had limited practice time to become familiar with his new team. He will not have a whole lot of help from his backfield, as Miami ranked dead-last in the ACC in rushing yards last season.

UAB returns many starters from a defense that was ranked 14th in the nation in passing yards allowed. Provided they clean up the turnovers from Week 1, the Blazers should have a very good chance to pull off the upset against a team that will want to pass quite a bit.

Louisiana-Lafayette at #23 Iowa State, Saturday, noon ET

The scoreboard operator should be busy in Ames, Iowa on Saturday when these two face off.

Returning QB Brock Purdy led Iowa State to a 7-5 regular season record last year, after he threw for almost 4,000 yards and recorded 35 total touchdowns. Against Louisiana-Lafeyette’s conference rival Louisiana-Monroe,  Purdy threw for over 400 yards and scored six touchdowns in a 72-20 victory.

Unfortunately for Iowa State, the Ragin’ Cajuns are a much tougher Sun Belt team. Coming off an 11-2 record, they are led by Levi Lewis, an exciting, athletic QB who threw for over 3,000 yards and turned the ball over just four times all season.

Louisiana-Lafayette's defensive unit is solid, and its pass rush can give Purdy some trouble. The Ragin’ Cajuns also like to control the clock, as they gained the sixth-most rushing yards in the nation last season and return their top two rushers, who combined for nearly 2,000 yards.

If Louisiana-Lafayette can gain an early lead and get into the Iowa State backfield, look for them to control the game, wear down the Cyclones’ solid front four, and escape Ames with an upset win.

Western Kentucky at Louisville, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. ET

The Hilltoppers are my favorite pick to pull off an upset this weekend. Western Kentucky returns nearly all of their starting offensive line from a team that put up more than 5,000 yards of total offense a year ago.

They also return multiple starters on a defense that was among the best in the nation in 2019 and helped lead Western Kentucky to a 9-4 record and a bowl victory.

The Hilltoppers lost their starting quarterback, but in steps Tyrrell Pigrome, an exciting transfer from Maryland who is eligible to play immediately. Leading rusher Gaej Walker also returns to help share the workload.

Louisville looks to build on a solid 8-5 record that was largely built on a favorable schedule.

Receiver Tutu Atwell is a real weapon, but he will need QB Micale Cunningham to stay healthy to get him the ball. Cunningham played well last season but split time due to rotation and missed games because of injury. He will also have a stud running back in Javian Hawkins to help carry the load.

The Louisville run defense was among the worst in the nation last year and got carved apart multiple times by teams it should have defeated easily.

The unit was especially susceptible to offenses with mobile quarterbacks, like Pigrome. Louisville has added some depth on that side of the ball, but it is still not where it likely needs to be.

The Hilltoppers have covered the spread as the underdog in their last four road games, and I bank on them to beat their in-state opposition outright on Saturday night.

Coastal Carolina vs Kansas, Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET

Another bad rush defense lends itself to an upset Saturday night, as Kansas tries to improve a unit that allowed more than 225 yards per game on the ground last season. That includes a game just over a year to the day in which they gave up 172 rushing yards in a 12-7 defeat at home to the very Coastal Carolina team visiting town again.

Only five starters return from that defensive unit, which has to have the Chanticleers licking their chops for the rematch.

The Coastal Carolina offense returns many of their weapons from last year, led by CJ Marable, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season.

While their defense isn’t much better than the one Kansas will field, it does return eight starters.

Unfortunately, the Jayhawks simply lack the manpower at the moment to take advantage after losing QB Carter Stanley, and will need to rely on RB Pooka Williams to have a big game. Unless Williams can also play defense, it likely won’t be enough to escape a second upset in two years to the Chanticleers.

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Find the latest NCAAF Week 2 odds at BetAmerica