Upsets can happen on any day of the week. Stanford proved that by knocking off the Oregon Ducks for the second straight season on Thursday night. A top team has been beaten and many have already placed Alabama and Florida State in the national championship. Let's not get ahead of ourselves because there is a lot of college football left and more top ranked teams will try to avoid an upset this week.

#13 LSU at #1 Alabama

Alabama will come off of its bye week looking to take care of business in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Many believe LSU will be the toughest opponent the Crimson Tide will face all year, and if history repeats itself, this game could be one for the history books. AJ McCarron's performance will be key, but Alabama will need to shut down LSU wide receivers Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry and make the Tigers rely on their ground game. Just to give an example how important it will be to slow down LSU's passing game, here is an interesting number: Odell Beckham leads LSU in receiving with 48 receptions and 1009 receiving yards while Kevin Norwood leads Alabama in receiving with 23 receptions and 348 receiving yards.

LSU will also come off a bye week and hope to salvage their season by ruining Alabama's. The Tigers lost early in the year to a healthy Georgia team in Athens, but the most disappointing loss came at Ole Miss. Struggling game after game on the defense has caused the offense to be the difference maker for this team. Zach Mettenberger's performance in the second half of the season has not been impressive as it was in the first half. For example, Mettenberger had thrown 10 touchdowns to just 1 interception through the first four games of the season and in his last five games he has thrown 9 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. His numbers were not impressive last year either but he came out and played his best game of the season in last year's loss at Alabama. LSU will need to rely heavily on Mettenberger and running back Jeremy Hill in order to win, and this could be a dangerous game for the Crimson Tide.

The other factor to consider is the rivalry. Since Nick Saban's hire in 2007, LSU has put an extra large target on Alabama's back and it became even more heated when the two teams played each other twice in 2011 with one of those games being the national championship. This is not the best LSU team Alabama has ever faced, but the hatred and importance behind this game always provides a dramatic ending. Alabama will need to prepare for what is most certainly going to be one of the more exciting games the Crimson Tide will have this season.

Virginia Tech at #11 Miami, FL

Miami is looking to rebound after a disappointing loss to Florida State. While the scoreboard showed a dominant game from start to finish, FSU only had a one-score lead at halftime. The Hurricanes' biggest loss occurred when running back Duke Johnson broke his ankle, ending his season. Johnson's injury and last week's loss to Florida State may cause Miami to have a letdown against Virginia Tech. Quarterback Stephen Morris will need to have a strong showing on this stingy Hokies defense because a loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday could costs the Hurricanes a chance for a rematch against FSU in the ACC Championship.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech will try to get back on track after consecutive losses to ACC opponents. The bulk of their troubles can be blamed on quarterback Logan Thomas and the rest of the offense because the defense leads every major defensive category in the ACC. The phrase "defense wins championships" may be true, but you also need an offense to help you out. Surprisingly, despite two conference losses, Virginia Tech still has a shot at an ACC title game appearance if they beat Miami. The Hokies have a great chance to upset the Hurricanes, but will poor offensive performance plague Virginia Tech for a third straight week?

This game will be of great importance in deciding the outcome of the ACC Coastal division because a Virginia Tech victory would cause at least a three-way tie for first place. Turnovers should play an important factor in this game because if you combine the stats of Miami quarterback Stephen Morris and Logan Thomas you have the following numbers: 23 touchdown passes, 22 interceptions thrown and a combined completion percentage of 57.6 percent. It will be fun to watch these two teams battle it out following losses last week.

#19 UCLA at Arizona

Early in the season, UCLA was a team that everyone wanted to avoid. Quarterback Brett Hundley was considered to be a possible number one NFL Draft pick and the Bruins had a solid win at Nebraska. Following losses to Oregon and Stanford, the hype cooled down a little bit. Now, the Bruins will travel to Tuscon to take on Arizona. This may seem like an easy win, but the Wildcats are holding their own this year and are currently tied with UCLA for second place in the PAC 12 South standings. In order for UCLA to win this game they will need to slow down Arizona's rushing attack and let Hundley establish himself as more of a passer because he has 18 more rushing attempts than running back Jordan James. Avoiding an upset is a must for UCLA if they want to make it to the PAC 12 Championship for the third-straight season.

Arizona has flown under the radar this season despite having an impressive 6-2 record. Head coach Rich Rodriguez has put together a team that is competing for a spot in the PAC 12 Championship game as well. The players that deserve a lot of credit for making this possible are running backs Ka'Deem Carey, who has over 1,000 rushing yards on the season, and running back B.J. Denker. UCLA is ranked 8th in rush defense in the PAC 12 so the Wildcats should successfully run the ball which may be one of the key components to a victory.

This game is not only an important game to watch out for in terms of "upset alert", but also could turn the division upside down. UCLA will need a solid performance from Hundley, but defense is important as well. Young defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes and veteran linebacker Anthony Barr will need to shutdown Ka'Deem Carey. If Arizona is forced to pass they will not be able to keep up, but if the Wildcats makes this a low scoring battle, their rushing attack has a great chance to preserve a victory and add to this wild college football season.

BYU at #24 Wisconsin

Judging Wisconsin by their 6-2 record is almost unfair. The Badgers lost by two points in a controversial game with Arizona State and lost by a touchdown against the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. The Badgers are thriving under new head coach Gary Anderson and continue to produce a solid group of running backs. James White and Melvin Gordon have combined to have 1,878 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns on 251 carries. Their rushing offense numbers might be impressive but it would be insulting to the team if you did not mention that they are in the top three in every major defensive category in the Big Ten. Stats say that the Badgers' game against BYU should be an easy victory, but the Cougars have also put up some impressive numbers.

BYU had a bye week to prepare for this game. This year's team will go down as the team that exposed just how overrated Texas is and ultimately opened the talks for finding a replacement for Mack Brown. The Cougars have continued their very own rushing success by averaging 258 rushing yards a game with the help of Taysom Hill and Jamaal Williams. The team is also 6-2 with losses to Virginia and Utah which is why they are not ranked, but that could change with a win over Wisconsin. An extra week to prepare and an explosive run game will make this game really interesting.

This game will be interesting because of similar styles of offense, and also because it'll impact which bowl game these teams get invited to. BYU-Wisconsin will not be a game that college football fans will be necessarily be excited to watch but they should be.

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