SEC Football: 5 potential upsets to watch for during September

College and SEC football is as topsy turvy as any sport. We saw this play out in week one with upsets like Colorado over TCU, Texas State over Baylor and of course, Duke over Clemson.

With that being said and the track record in previous seasons, upsets are bound to happen each week in college football.

Here are my SEC football upset predictions for the month of September based on what we’ve seen so far:

5 potential SEC football upsets to watch for during September

Ole Miss @ Tulane (9/9/23): Coming off of a week one victory over conference rival University of South Alabama 37-17, look for the Green Wave to continue their streak of dominance topping the Ole Miss Rebels in a high-scoring affair that could see the winner being whoever has the ball last. I predict a 45-38 win for the Green Wave. Jaxson Dart returns at quarterback for the Rebels, but Michael Pratt does as well for the Green Wave who went 14 out of 15 last week for 294 yards and four touchdowns. It took him awhile, but Tulane head coach Willie Fritz finally has the Green Wave rolling coming off of a 10-2 campaign last year which was his seventh at the school. This was capped off by a bowl victory over USC, so they’re no stranger to competing and performing well against power five competition.

Tennessee @ Florida (9/16/23): This one still holds true from my pre-season predictions which have the Vols losing to the Gators in Gainesville by a score of 27-21. Although the performance by the Gators overall in Salt Lake City against the Utah Utes in week one was less than desirable, they did show brief flashes in the first half of what the offense can look like if it’s consistent. This one is at home in “The Swamp” for the Gators as well which is always a tough place for any opponent to play. Week one saw Tennessee with an impressive 49-13 victory over Virginia with an impressive ground game and defensive play. However, deep into the first half, the Hoos were well-within striking distance. In-part, this was due to missed passes and dropped balls by the Volunteer receivers. Quarterback Joe Milton also seemed to be inaccurate on a couple of passes as well. So as much as the system has receivers open for Tennessee, expect Milton to continue to struggle hitting the target.

UTSA @ Tennessee (9/23/23) – With the Vols likely to be coming off of a loss in Gainesville, this won’t be an easy test at home against the UTSA Roadrunners. The Roadrunners return a fifth year quarterback, Frank Harris. This is Harris’ fourth season as the starting quarterback for the Roadrunners. He threw for over 7,000 yards in last two seasons combined. This will be an intriguing test for the secondary of the Vols. What’s also worth noting is the Roadrunners return their head coach, Jeff Traylor, who led them to an 11-3 record last season. In the last two years under Traylor, the Roadrunners have only lost five games in total. They’ll be up for this one especially since unlike the Vols, they don’t get the opportunity to play SEC opponents week-in and week-out. If the Vols do indeed lose to the Gators the previous week, that’ll make it tough to get up for this one. If they do beat the Gators, hopefully they won’t be lulled to sleep by the fact that it’s a non-power five opponent and come ready to play. Because they’ll need to. The final in this one will see the Roadrunners defeating the Vols 34-31.

Texas A&M @ Arkansas (9/30/23) – Although not a huge upset, by the odds it may still be one as the Hogs will defeat the Aggies 35-28 in a high scoring affair. Also historically, the Hogs have only beaten the Aggies four times since the two started playing annually in 2009 as SEC foes. Those odds favor the Aggies as well. KJ Jefferson and Raheim “Rocket” Sanders will lead the charge for the Hogs against Conner Weigman and the Aggies. It should be an entertaining quarterback battle that’s always a topsy-turvy affair. In years where the Hogs have beaten the Aggies, it’s worth noting that their win totals have been 8, 10, 11 and 9. Look for the Aggies and the Hogs to both finish 10-2 overall in the west however.

Missouri @ Vanderbilt (9/30/23)– Vegas odds have the Commodores winning no more than three games this season. Look for them to mark up at least one more victory here defeating the Missouri Tigers 24-21. While Commodores head coach Clark Lea improved his team from two wins in his first season in 2021 to 5 in 2022, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz is in his fourth season at Missouri going 6-7 the last two seasons. The Commodores were one of the six wins last year for Missouri who defeated them in a close contest in Columbia, 17-14. This year though, it’s on Vanderbilt’s turf in Nashville. And I’ll have the Commodores at 6-1 at this point of the season.

There are many other notable games each week on SEC schedules that could go either way. And on the national landscape as well. Check back next month for my October SEC football upset predictions.