2017 Week 8 college football players to watch

The Irish have a huge game in South Bend, hosting rival USC. USC's run defense is a little suspect though they are a pretty good pass defensive squad. That means the Fighting Irish need to give a steady dose of Josh Adams and Brandon Wimbush if they want to come out with a win. Adams leads Notre Dame with 776 rushing yards and is averaging 9 yards per carry. His ability to break off big plays and move the ball will effectively keep Sam Darnold off the field. 

Don't look now, but TCU is sitting as the No. 4 ranked team in the land. They've already beaten Oklahoma State and West Virginia and are a few weeks away from a showdown with Oklahoma. This week, Kansas comes to town in what amounts to be an extra bye week. Cue running back Darius Anderson. Anderson leads a three-headed backfield (as well as QB Kenny Hill) that has rushed for 884 yards and 13 TDs. In a game where the Frogs are favored by 38 points, they should do as much as they can to just win and move on to the next game. But Anderson, who rushed just twice last week and fumbled away the ball, needs to get back on track by the time TCU heads to Norman.

We all know Barkley is one of the top players in the nation and his No. 2 Nittany Lions face off against No. 19 Michigan this Saturday. The game is in prime time and Barkley will need to be a prime time player against one of the best defenses in the nation — a defense that last season held Barkley to 59 yards. You know he, as well as the Nittany Lions, wants to shine after losing to Michigan 49-10 a year ago. Revenge would taste sweet. Last season's loss may have cost them a shot at a championship and Barkley no doubt wants to repeat that fate.

As you may have heard, Bradshaw and Army beat Eastern Michigan last week and completed zero passes. It is the third time this season Army has failed to complete a pass in a game ... and now they've won two of them. Bradshaw, the starter, completed none of his three passes and is now 7-of-30 for 116 yards this season. The Black Knights are dead last in passing but still are 5-2. Why? Bradshaw and that triple option are just so hard to prepare for and beat. Bradshaw has rushed for 818 yards this season and 7 TDs. They lead the nation in rushing yards with 2,649. As Eastern Michigan's head coach put it, they are a well-oiled machine. Against Temple this week, it will be more of the same. If you love smash mouth football, you'll love Army.

Brown was awesome last week against Vanderbilt. He caught 8 passes for 174 yards and two TDs against the Commodores and give the Rebels their first SEC win of the season. In four of Ole Miss' five games, Brown has caught at least 8 passes. In three of those games, he's caught two TD passes. He set the Rebels' single game yardage mark with his 233 receiving yards in the opener against South Alabama. Ole Miss hosts a hot LSU team this week and will need some more heroics from Brown.

Ehlinger seems to have claimed the Longhorns' starting QB gig. A week after his amazing performance in Texas' double-OT win over Kansas State, he led his team back from down 20-0 to actually take a late lead over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. Oklahoma ultimately won, but Ehlinger's effort has all but convinced Horns' fans that he is the man going forward. Texas gets another highly ranked team as Oklahoma State comes to Austin on Saturday. It will be hard for Ehlinger to go toe-to-toe with Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph, but after going up against Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield already, he won't be scared at all.

It has been a bad week in Pullman. Last Saturday, the Cougars' national championship hopes took a humongous hit by losing 37-3 to Cal. Quarterback Luke Falk's Heisman chances probably took a fatal hit with his 5 interception and zero TD day in Berkeley. Now the AD has left for Nebraska and rumors are swirling that head coach Mike Leach could follow (he's denying them). For right now, Falk is the key. He cannot have a game like he did against Cal again or Washington State is done with a playoff shot ... if they aren't already out. Colorado is a great team to get well against but the damage may already have been done. 

Who would have guessed that Miami was the lone undefeated team left in the ACC? With Mark Walton out for the season, the Hurricanes felt they could be in trouble but Homer has stepped up nicely. He already was having a solid season as Walton's backup but really shined in last week's comeback victory over Georgia Tech. Homer rushed for 170 yards and a TD. The Canes host Syracuse — who just toppled defending champion Clemson — on Saturday.

Hurst and the rest of the Wolverines defensive front seven have quite a challenge this week in Happy Valley. To beat No. 2 Penn State, Michigan will need to stop slow down Heisman hopeful Saquon Barkley. The Nittany Lions don't possess the greatest offensive line and Hurst will need to disrupt things for Barkley, Trace McSorley and that potent Penn State offense. Sure, Michigan is down a bit, but they can make their play with this game against Penn State and in the season finale against Ohio State.

Lanning has been a national darling for a few weeks. The former quarterback-turned-linebacker has been something to behold for a team that has been a national surprise. In the Cyclones win at Oklahoma, Lanning started at linebacker but played some quarterback by rushing for 35 yards, passing for 25 yards and had 8 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. Last week against Kansas, he recorded 10 tackles and ran for 34 yards. This week, Iowa State goes to Lubbock and plays a tough Texas Tech team who can put up points. Whatever Lanning needs to do to help the Cyclones win, he's up to the task.

Mayfield has had some adversity over the last couple of weeks. After losing in shocking fashion to Iowa State on October 7 and having his flag planting antics come back to haunt him, Mayfield nearly saw a 20-point lead slip away against rival Texas. But Mayfield led his Sooners back to win the Red River Rivalry and put Oklahoma back into their groove and himself in the Heisman race. Oklahoma hasn't lost in Manhattan since 1996 and the Sooners don't need any more slip ups if they want to get back into the Playoff. 

Who is Fresno State? We should find out a little more about the Bulldogs and QB McMaryion this week when they travel to San Diego State. Their four wins have been against subpar teams. Their two losses came at Alabama and Washington. SDSU is a tough opponent but not a national title contender so we should get a good idea about who Fresno State is. McMaryion has played well of late, throwing three TDs against New Mexico last week. His ability to control the ball and make sound decisions (he's thrown just one pick all year) will be of the utmost importance against the Aztecs and Heisman candidate Rashaad Penny, who are steaming after a loss to Boise State. 

Milton went off against East Carolina last week, throwing for 324 yards and 2 TDs and running in another touchdown. This Saturday, the UCF Knights take on an angry Navy in Annapolis in what could be an AAC Championship game preview. We all know about Navy's QB Zach Abey, so Milton must continue his stellar play navigating the UCF offense to a staggering 50.6 points per game.

One bright spot in UCLA's stunning 47-30 loss to Arizona was the running of Olorunfunmi. Sure, 47 of his 102 rushing yards came on one play but when the Bruins were trailing late, his two TDs got them back in the game. UCLA QB Josh Rosen has been turnover prone of late and it has cost the Bruins dearly. While Rosen still is one of the top yardage leaders in the country, maybe balancing out the offense a little would go a long way to having the offense more effective. 

Smith is a beast. Last week against Utah, he had 16 tackles and even picked off a pass. He'll be very important as the Trojans head into Notre Dame to take on the Irish. In last year's game, Smith was everywhere and they'll need him to be active in stopping the rushing attack as well as in coverage. By the way, Notre Dame also has a player named Cameron Smith. The receiver has caught 7 passes this season for 61 yards and a TD.

While teams were falling in the top ten, Wisconsin just keeps rolling along. Taylor ran for 219 yards and a TD (plus he caught his first pass this season) in a tight 17-9 win over Purdue. He is nearing 1,000 yards rushing for the season and already has 10 rushing TDs. As the Badgers were battling in a physical game, they leaned on Taylor more and emphasized his importance to their offense. Wisconsin hosts Maryland on Sunday and expect Taylor to again be the workhorse back he's been all year. 

I've sung White's praises before and I'm doing it again. He's been on fire of late. Last week against Auburn, White recorded 15 tackles and a sack just one week after tallying 13 tackles and another sack. LSU's defense has played with a chip on its shoulder ever since its shocking loss to Troy and White is a huge reason why. LSU heads to Ole Miss this week to face Shea Patterson and that potent Rebels offense.