Week 1 of the 2025 college football season did not disappoint. In addition to three top 10 clashes, we saw one of the biggest upsets of the year as then-No. 8 Alabama lost in Tallahassee to Florida State. Not only did the Tide lose, but they were dominated on each side of the ball as the Seminoles beat them despite entering Saturday as double-digit underdogs. Is there another upset like that in the cards for Week 2?
If you’re interested in college football betting on underdogs, we’ve got you covered. Here, we highlight five underdogs who could pull off big upsets in Week 2, including against a ranked SEC team.
All spreads and money line odds are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
South Florida at Florida (-18.5, -900)
The Bulls pulled off a ranked upset last week, thumping Boise State 34-7. As for the Gators, they dominated LIU 55-0 in Week 1. USF beat down a Broncos team that, despite losing Ashton Jeanty to the NFL, returned a lot of its key players from last year’s Playoff appearance. The Bulls now head to The Swamp to play the Gators, and since we saw one ranked SEC team fall to an unranked team from Florida last week, could we see that again this week?
The Gators enter 2025 with high expectations after a strong finish to 2024, and it’s certainly the highest the program has flown under Billy Napier, who has been a constant hot seat target. Florida will have its hands full defensively, though, as USF quarterback Byrum Brown is back and fully health after missing considerable time in 2024. He’s one of the more dynamic players in the country having rushed for 809 yards in 2023. He kicked off 2025 with 210 passing yards, 43 rushing yards and two scores in the Bulls’ win over Boist State. If USF pulls off the upset in Gainesville, it will likely be because Brown does his thing, which is stress defenses both with his arm and his legs. Additionally, the Bulls will need to handle Florida’s own dual-threat QB in DJ Lagway.
UConn at Syracuse (-7, -285)
I thought the Orange had a better chance of knocking off Tennessee last week than they showed in a 45-26 loss. They now host a UConn squad coming off a 59-13 thumping of CCSU. The Orange passed for 274 yards and a score, but Steve Angeli threw a pick and put the ball on the ground twice. Syracuse leaned heavily on the passing game last year, but the team did run Yassin Willis 23 times for 91 yards and he found the end zone twice. UConn’s Joe Fagnano was stellar in Week 1, completing 72% of his passes for 260 yards and three scores.
For all the talk of Syracuse’s surprising 2024 campaign, I think people are sleeping on the Huskies, who quietly went 9-4 last year. The Orange won this matchup in a close one last year when they had far more firepower, and the Huskies are certainly capable of hanging around and taking down Syracuse on the road.
North Carolina (-13.5, -535) at Charlotte
It looked like the Bill Belichick era was starting off well when UNC drove down for a touchdown against TCU, but then the wheels, doors, mirrors and engines fell off. The Horned Frogs wound up winning 48-14 in Belichick’s first game as a college head coach, and he looks to rebounds against Charlotte, which is 0-1 after losing 34-11 to Appalachian State.
Does it stand to reason that Belichick, the greatest NFL coach of all time, will right the ship and get things fixed in Week 2? Of course. But boy, his first foray into the college head coaching game was a rough one.
Saturday will be Belichick’s first road game with the Tar Heels and there should be nowhere to go but up, but after entering 2025 with plenty of hype due to Belichick coming to campus, it also wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if UNC came into a matchup it should win rather flat.
Kansas at Missouri (-6.5, -245)
For the first time in over a decade, Kansas and Missouri face off in football. The historic “Border War” has not been played since 2011 as Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC. Now, the two programs face off in the renewal of a historic rivalry, and each team is undefeated to open 2025.
Missouri opened the season with a 61-6 thumping of Central Arkansas. As for Kansas, the Jayhawks are 2-0 after beating Fresno State 31-7 in “Week 0” and then beating Wagner 46-7 last weekend. The Tigers enter 2025 after going 21-5 the last two years, while Kansas is looking for a bounceback 2025 season after going 5-7 last year after going 9-4 in 2023.
Missouri lost a lot of talent from those two 10+ win teams, namely quarterback Brady Cook and star receiver Luther Burden III. As for Kansas, star running back Devin Neal is now in the NFL, but dynamic quarterback Jalon Daniels is back and he already has seven touchdown passes and 65 rushing yards on the year.
Daniels will be the key for Kansas to pull off a road upset at Missouri. If the Tigers let him extend plays and pull off some heroics, the home crowd may leave in stunned silence.
Sam Houston vs Hawaii (-7, -278)
I thought Hawaii would push Arizona last week. Instead, the Rainbow Warriors got trounced in Tucson by a final score of 40-7. Quarterback Micah Alejado passed for just 157 yards and threw an interception, Hawaii rushed for 2.5 yards per carry and the defense had no answer for Arizona’s attack.
The Rainbow Warriors now return home to Hawaii where they host a Sam Houston State squad that is 0-2 and coming off a 38-21 loss to UNLV after losing 41-24 to Western Kentucky in Week 0.
The Bearkats may be 0-2, but they have moved the ball and scored 21+ points in each of the last two weeks. The issue for Sam Houston State has been defense, allowing nearly 40 points per game. Hawaii has struggled to move the ball this year. Even in its win against Stanford, the team scored 23 points. And last year, the Rainbow Warriors had one of the worst defenses in the nation. Sam Houston desperately needs this one as the Bearkats face a top 10 team in Texas in their next game. A loss to Hawaii would put Sam Houston on the brink of an 0-4 start, so look for a motivated Bearkats team in Hawaii.
Read the full article here