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Brant's best college football predictions and upset picks for Week 3 of the 2025 season. His top CFB underdogs and favorites on upset watch, including a plethora of SEC games.
Week 2 reminded us all why college football is so great, as if we needed any reminding. Three ranked teams fell to unranked opponents, proving that upsets can still happen even in the NIL era.
SMU fell to in-state opponent Baylor after losing a grip on a big lead late. Florida was stunned by USF, which now holds back-to-back wins over ranked opponents and faces a third this week. At night, Arizona State couldn’t hang in Starkville as the Bulldogs came out victorious, notching a much-needed signature win after last season’s showing.
Week 3 presents us with even more upset opportunities and a plethora of big-time games as SEC play opens up. Keep an eye on these five underdogs to potentially pull off upsets this coming weekend.
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No. 15 Tennessee Volunteers (vs. No. 6 Georgia)
The Volunteers will be without their top two cornerbacks on Saturday, as Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III have already been ruled out for the big-time SEC opener.
Fortunately for them, the strength of Georgia’s football team is not its offense. The Bulldogs only put up 28 points against FCS opponent Austin Peay, struggling to get much of anything going. While Gunner Stockton’s numbers haven’t been awful against inferior opponents, it remains to be seen how he will hold up against a good defense on the road.
Tennessee, on the other hand, may have actually won the Nico Iamaleava-Joey Aguilar swap with UCLA. It has been against inferior opponents as well, but the former Appalachian State signal-caller has looked like a natural fit in Josh Heupel’s offense through two games. Meanwhile, Iamaleava has the Bruins sitting at 0-2.
"Hats off to (Joey Aguilar). He's not only done a great job investing, but studying and learning those guys to be able to get the most out of them. They want to go play hard for him."#Vols Kelsey Pope on the bond between the quarterback and his wide receivers!! pic.twitter.com/wgF5Rdunqi
— Paige Dauer (@PaigeDauerFDP) September 9, 2025
Tennessee hasn’t beaten Georgia since 2016 on a Hail Mary from Joshua Dobbs to Jauan Jennings, but this year could be the year that changes. Neither team has been tested yet, but with the team that has looked better thus far playing at home with a more experienced quarterback, I like the Vols’ chances to get it done this weekend.
West Virginia Mountaineers (vs. Pitt)
The home team has won each of the three matchups between these two teams since the rivalry was renewed in 2022. West Virginia is coming off a tough loss on the road against Ohio. Mountaineer fans are not happy, but it is not time to panic yet, given that this is the first season of Rich Rodriguez’s return to campus.
West Virginia’s offense struggled to get going against Ohio, but the defense did create three turnovers and racked up three sacks. As I wrote in last week’s column, the Bobcats are not a bad football team. This upset loss wasn’t as bad as it may seem.
Pitt, on the other hand, ran through its first two cupcake opponents in Duquesne and Central Michigan. Incumbent starting quarterback Eli Holstein has looked solid, but has not faced a defense anywhere near the caliber of West Virginia’s.
Rodriguez can win this game in front of a hungry home crowd by creating pressure and turnovers, much like he did last week. The offense will need to play better, but I anticipate a solid crowd in Morgantown for the early-season rivalry game.
Arkansas Razorbacks (at No. 17 Ole Miss)
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green has put up Heisman-worthy numbers through two games as the Razorbacks hummed to 52 and 56 points against Alabama A&M and Arkansas State, respectively. While the opponents have been weak for Sam Pittman’s squad, the offense has looked explosive.
Arkansas QB Taylen Green is fourth nationally in total offense (averaging 376.5 yards per game) and has thrown touchdowns on 17.5% of his pass attempts 🤯 pic.twitter.com/WJ9kfPTr5a
— Bart Pohlman (@Bart_Pohlman) September 9, 2025
The Razorbacks lost 63-31 at home last year when Ole Miss came to town, and going on the road for the SEC opener is certainly no easy task. This could easily blow up in my face, but Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons has shown signs of vulnerability so far this year. Simmons tossed two interceptions and only completed 13 passes in last week’s narrow win over Kentucky. The Rebels are not nearly as explosive offensively as they were a season ago.
There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a lot of points on the board in Oxford on Saturday night in a game where the point total sits at 60.5. At this point, I trust Green to make more game-winning plays than Simmons, and I trust the Arkansas defense more than I do the Rebels defense. This would be one of the bigger upsets of the weekend if it did happen, and I am all for it.
Vanderbilt Commodores (at No. 11 South Carolina)
Clark Lea’s Commodores have shown up in big games in the past, and this one is one they need badly to set the tone for the rest of the season. Vanderbilt showed incredible resilience last Saturday night, rallying from a 20-10 halftime deficit to win the second half against Virginia Tech, 34-0.
South Carolina also played Virginia Tech in Week 1, and struggled to ever pull away. As good as LaNorris Sellers is, Shane Beamer’s team just has not looked as advertised through the first two weeks of the season. The Gamecocks needed three punt return touchdowns over the past two games from Vicari Swain to make the final scores look respectable against the Hokies and SC State.
“He can have us circled. I mean, we respect that. But as far as I know, we’re gonna go in there and play fast. We take every game seriously, and we’re gonna go in there and ball out.”
South Carolina reacts to Diego Pavia's "game three" comment. https://t.co/iuVYUpDmMF
— Jack Veltri (@Jacktveltri) September 10, 2025
The crowd in Colombia will be hostile on Saturday night. South Carolina has more talent on its roster and a great coach. However, Vanderbilt is just playing great team football right now. Give me the Commodores in the SEC opener.
Texas State Bobcats (at Arizona State)
I’m here for an Arizona State hangover after last week’s crushing loss at Mississippi State. As good as the Sun Devils were last season, this isn’t the same team without the heart and soul of the offense in former running back Cam Skattebo.
While Texas State’s defense (31.5 PPG surrendered) is a step down from an SEC-level defense, its offense is one of the most exciting G5 offenses in the nation. Redshirt freshman quarterback Brad Jackson has thrown for 500 yards and five touchdowns through two games, and G.J. Kinne is an exciting young coach.
ANOTHER ONE ☝️ pic.twitter.com/NzSmzjJSLT
— Texas State Football (@TXSTATEFOOTBALL) September 6, 2025
While they were at home, the Bobcats nearly took down last year’s Sun Devil squad in a narrow 31-28 loss. Sam Leavitt looked shaky last week, and while this is a prime bounce-back opportunity against a weaker defense, don’t be surprised if this game becomes a shootout and Texas State hangs right with Kenny Dillingham’s squad.
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