Last updated Saturday, September 5, 7:15 p.m. ET, after the afternoon window. This page is refreshed as results come in through Monday night.
The first upset of the 2026 season took 24 minutes. UMass, which came to Piscataway as a 28.5 point underdog, led Rutgers 24 to 7 at halftime on Thursday and never let go, winning 37 to 21 for the largest point spread upset of the young season. Two hours later Colorado, a 6.5 point dog, blocked Georgia Tech’s field goal attempt on the final play to win 14 to 13 in Atlanta. Saturday’s noon window added one more: Tarleton State, an FCS program in its first decade of Division I football, went to Bowling Green and won 20 to 13. Everything else early was chalk, and in some cases lopsided chalk: Ohio State 56 to 3, Syracuse 66 to 3, Army 59 to 3, South Carolina 57 to 0. The afternoon window produced two more. Tulsa beat Oklahoma State 24 to 10 in the first game of Drew Mestemaker’s Cowboys tenure, an American Conference team beating a Big 12 program with a $3.5 million quarterback, and The Citadel won at Charlotte 43 to 41 in triple overtime for the second FCS over FBS result of the day. The near miss was in Eugene: Boise State led No. 2 Oregon 17 to 14 at halftime as a 24.5 point underdog and lost 34 to 27, a comfortable cover and a scare, not an upset. Auburn survived Baylor 17 to 16 in Atlanta as a 7.5 point favorite. Texas 59 to 7, Georgia 63 to 3 and Penn State 45 to 0 were the chalk. Clemson at LSU and the West Coast games are next.
| Result | Spread | Day | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| UMass 37, Rutgers 21 | Rutgers -28.5 | Thu | A Big Ten team lost at home to a program that has been among the worst in FBS for a decade. Rutgers now faces a long season with Greg Schiano under real pressure. |
| Colorado 14, Georgia Tech 13 | Georgia Tech -6.5 | Thu | Deion Sanders opened with three straight road games and stole the first one on a blocked kick as time expired. Georgia Tech came in as a 9-win team with a returning quarterback. |
| Tarleton State 20, Bowling Green 13 | Bowling Green favored | Sat | An FCS team from the United Athletic Conference beat a MAC program on the road in the noon window. Tarleton only moved up to Division I in 2020. Bowling Green becomes the first MAC team to lose to an FCS opponent this season. |
| Tulsa 24, Oklahoma State 10 | Oklahoma State favored | Sat | The Big 12 program with a $3.5 million transfer quarterback scored 10 points against an American Conference defense in Tulsa. The most damaging Power Four loss of the day. |
| The Citadel 43, Charlotte 41 (3 OT) | Charlotte favored | Sat | A Southern Conference team won on the road in triple overtime for the second FCS over FBS result of the day, on a two point conversion in the third extra period. |
Saturday, Sunday and Monday results are added here as they go final.
Saturday Upset Alerts
The games where the underdog has the clearest path, in order of how likely we think the upset is.
| Game (ET) | Spread | The case for the dog |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming at Colorado State, 6:00 USA | CSU -3.5 | Wyoming shut out CSU 28-0 last year and has won the Bronze Boot 32 times to 26. Colorado State is in its first game under Jim Mora as a Pac-12 member. This is our one outright upset pick. |
| Boston College at Cincinnati, 3:30 FOX | Cincinnati -7.5 | Cincinnati is breaking in a transfer quarterback and a new defensive coordinator after a late season collapse. BC went 2-10 but a first game is the great equalizer. |
| Baylor vs. Auburn, 3:30 ABC | Auburn -7.5 | Alex Golesh’s first game as Auburn’s coach. Baylor is 5-1 against the spread in its last six neutral site games as an underdog and returns a veteran offense under Dave Aranda. |
| Clemson at LSU, 7:30 ABC | LSU -10.5 | New coach, new quarterback, new roster and a week of lawsuits in Baton Rouge. Clemson’s defense is still Clemson’s defense. The most likely ranked team to lose on Saturday. |
| Tulane at Duke, 3:30 ACCN | Duke favored | Tulane made the College Football Playoff last season. Duke is the defending ACC champion, but Tulane has beaten Power Four teams in September before. |
| Liberty at James Madison, noon ESPNU | JMU favored | The feed gives Liberty a 31 percent chance, the highest of any noon underdog. JMU is a playoff team from 2025 with roster turnover. |
The Ones That Almost Never Happen
North Texas is catching 40.5 at Indiana, Ball State is catching 50.5 at Ohio State and Boise State is catching 24.5 at Oregon. None of those are upset picks. But Boise State beating Oregon would be the biggest result of opening weekend nationally, and the Broncos are 3-1 in the series and 4-0 against the spread in the last four meetings.
Sunday and Monday
Louisville vs. Ole Miss in Nashville (Ole Miss -7) is the best upset candidate of the holiday weekend. Ole Miss is playing its first game since Lane Kiffin left for LSU and Louisville closed 2025 with a 41-0 win. SMU at Florida State on Monday night is the other one to watch: SMU is ranked 19th and favored on the road, which makes Florida State the underdog at home.
The Bottom Line
Two upsets are already on the board and Wyoming at Colorado State is the best bet to be the third. Scores for every game are on our live scoreboard, and picks for the full slate are on our Week 1 predictions. This page updates after each window through Monday night.