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Dan Mullen picks seven of Week 2's biggest games, including three Top 20 upsets

Matt Connollyby:Matt Connolly•09/08/23•

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Dan Mullen
(Photo: James Gilbert | Getty Images)

College football analyst and former Florida head coach Dan Mullen is expecting some big-time upsets this weekend.

Mullen has picked seven games from this weekend’s college football slate, and he has three top 20 teams going down.

Here is a look at his picks, with plenty of surprises included:

As you can see, Mullen has:

NC State > No. 10 Notre Dame
No. 12 Utah > Baylor
No. 20 Ole Miss > No. 24 Tulane
No. 23 Texas A&M > Miami
Iowa > Iowa State
No. 11 Texas > No. 3 Alabama
Washington State > No. 19 Wisconsin

The spread is right around a touchdown in all three of the upsets Dan Mullen picked. Notre Dame is currently favored by 7.5 over NC State, while Texas is a seven-point underdog against Alabama. Wisconsin and first-year head coach Luke Fickell are favored by six points against Washington State.

Wisconsin and Notre Dame are on the road this week, while Alabama is hosting Texas in Austin.

If Notre Dame does get upset it would be a surprise as the Fighting Irish have looked excellent so far this season. Notre Dame opened the college football season with a 42-3 victory over Navy in Dublin, Ireland. The Irish followed that up by beating Tennessee State 56-3 last weekend. NC State beat UConn 24-14 in its opener last weekend but it wasn’t pretty. The Wolfpack should be confident going against Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman. Before transferring to play for the Irish, Hartman was 1-2 with six interceptions in three games against the Wolfpack during his time at Wake Forest.

The Texas at Alabama showdown is one of the most anticipated games of the college football season. With the Longhorns seemingly having edge at quarterback, they have been a popular upset pick this week. Texas nearly stunned Alabama in 2022, before falling 20-19. Star quarterback Quinn Ewers missed much of that game with an injury, yet the Longhorns still almost came out on top.

As for Wisconsin and Washington State, this will be only the third meeting all-time between the two programs. Wisconsin won the first matchup in 2007, before Washington State earned a 17-14 victory last year in Madison.

Mullen has favorites winning the other Week 2 college football games he picked.

Utah is a seven-point favorite over a Baylor team that was stunned by Texas State last week. Ole Miss is favored by seven over Tulane in a meeting of ranked teams. Texas A&M is favored by 3.5 over Miami in an SEC vs. ACC battle. The ACC got the better of the SEC last weekend. Finally, Iowa is favored by four points at Iowa State.