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Non-conference teams stepping up this season

Non-conference teams stepping up this season

It’s only the third week of the college football season, but the season’s prominent theme is already clear: upsets.

The prominent theme of upsets in only the third week of the college football season had changed some of the landscape.

After a tough loss to Boise State, Virginia Tech scheduled a tune-up game against Football Championship Subdivision team James Madison. The Hokies were heavily favored and it seemed like there was no way they would lose at home. The final score of the game was 21-16 and James Madison shocked the college football world.

Not only did that game affect Virginia Tech, but it also hurt Boise State in the most recent poll because, unlike Boise’s matchup with Virginia Tech, James Madison won pretty decisively.

Seeing an FCS team upset a team from a Bowl Championship Series automatic qualifying-conference is becoming a growing trend.

Michigan lost to Appalachian State University in 2007at home in one of the biggest upsets of all time, and in week one of the 2010 season Kansas lost to North Dakota State at home. After all hope was lost in Lawrence, Kan., No. 15 Georgia Tech came strolling in and the Jayhawks won the game 28-25. Wacky season so far huh?

This upset trend even carries over to the Mountain West Condference. Air Force beat BYU just a week after BYU beat Pac-10 contender Washington, thanks to the Air Force ground attack, which is rushing for more than 420 yards per game this season. Could Air Force soon be the third ranked team to come out of the Mountain West? Air Force will travel to Norman this weekend to face a hostile University of Oklahoma crowd, and they will try and stop a prolific Sooner offense.

Upsets are everywhere this year, so hold on to your horses because it is only the third week of the season.

Mike Zeko is a freshman journalism major from Darien, Conn.

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