College football Week 13: 15 players to watch

Florida State has had a pretty decent year. Sure, that three-game losing streak in the middle of the season really gummed up the narrative, but the Noles have been crushing everyone ever since and did beat LSU at the beginning of the season. Running back Trey Benson has been on fire of late, rushing for 482 yards and three touchdowns during the Noles' four-game winning streak. Against Syracuse two weeks ago, he exploded for 163 yards in an impressive 38-3 demolishing of the Orange in upstate New York. Now Benson gets to face a reeling Florida Gators defense that let Vanderbilt run on them in a loss last week.

Going into the final week of the regular season, Illinois' Chase Brown leads the nation in rushing. Even though the Illini are mired in a three-game losing streak, Brown has still produced. He has rushed for over 100 yards in every game this season except for a 98-yard effort against Purdue two weeks ago. Now he gets to go against one of the worst teams in the Power 5, Northwestern. A win over the Wildcats would be a nice way to end their losing skid and one of the better turnarounds of the season. Brown rushed for 112 yards and a TD in last year's game. 

There were a lot of thuds heard from Chapel Hill last Saturday as the Tar Heels tripped up over their own hype. North Carolina was getting a lot of buzz for being a dark horse playoff team and quarterback Drake Maye as a surging Heisman candidate. Losing in frustrating fashion to Georgia Tech hurt both of those wishes, but the most surprising scene from Carolina was receiver Josh Downs having such a bad game. Downs has been fantastic all season long. Going into last week, he was coming off four straight 100-yard games and scoring six TDs in that span. He caught just three passes for 31 yards in the loss to the Yellow Jackets and dropped a possible game-winning pass in the endzone. Look for Downs to get back on track against rival NC State on Friday. 

Michigan won't be the only team with running back injuries to deal with in the game of the season in Columbus on Saturday. Ohio State lost Miyan Williams two weeks ago, and TreVeyon Henderson is working his way back from injury, so freshman Dallan Hayden has been taking on the workload and making a name for himself. In relief duty against Indiana two weeks ago, Hayden rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown. Last week against Maryland, he got 27 carries and churned out 146 yards and 3 TDs against the Terps. Next man up. Michigan's defense is one of the best in the country and will make for a great chess match between them and the Buckeyes' offense. How effective will Hayden be on the biggest of stages?

Xavier Hutchinson's outstanding Iowa State career will likely come to an end this Saturday at TCU. The Cyclones have had a bad season (just 1-7 in Big 12 play), but Hutchinson leads the nation in receptions and is fifth in receiving yards. His 105 receptions are 45 more than the second-place receiver in the Big 12 (West Virginia's Bryce Ford-Wheaton) and broke the Cyclones' season-season record of 83 ... that he set last year. He's the Clones' all-time leading receptions king, which is amazing for a kid who wasn't highly recruited out of high school and began his career at JUCO powerhouse Blinn with just 15 catches. Iowa State's Matt Campbell saw something in him, pulled him to Ames and the rest is history. 

The Egg Bowl has been one of the most fun rivalries over the past decade and has ramped up a bit ever since Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin took over Mississippi State and Ole Miss, respectively. Quinshon Judkins leads the SEC in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns and seems to be getting stronger as the season winds down. He romped for 214 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Arkansas last week -- his second 200-yard game in the last three games. The Rebels do limp into this Egg Bowl by losing three of their last four after starting the season 7-0, but Judkins has ran for 665 yards and 6 touchdowns in that span. The Egg Bowl is the only college football game on Thanksgiving Day, so watch this freshman do his thing after you have that second slice of pumpkin pie.

Obviously, running back Blake Corum in the most important player for the Michigan Wolverines this season, but he left last week's close win over Illinois with a knee injury. It isn't known yet if he'll play in Saturday's massive showdown with Ohio State or how effective he would be if he played, so quarterback J.J. McCarthy may be relied on to be a bigger part of the offense. Michigan is built on being physical on both sides of the ball, but McCarthy must not turn the ball over (he's had just two picks all year) and make some big plays with his arm. He did it to an extent last week against the Illini and will have to do it if they are going to beat the Buckeyes and keep their national championship hopes alive ... even if Corum plays. This is a huge stage.

Look, there are not that many players who can resurrect their careers like Nix has this season. He was a legacy at Auburn that didn't pan out and then he bolted to Oregon. We all know how that first game with the Ducks turned out as Oregon was squashed by Georgia. Yet, he has turned himself into a Heisman contender and with a win over rival Oregon State will put the Ducks back into the Pac-12 championship game. He's completed 75% of his passes over the last six games and has accounted for 39 touchdowns and has thrown just 6 interceptions on the year. 

Penix has had one of the most riveting seasons when you take into account his entire college football career. He began his career at Indiana, a program that isn't really known for its football prowess. Penix created buzz in 2020 when his amazing performance (and final play) in a win over Penn State vaulted the Hoosiers to legit Big Ten title contenders. He suffered an injury late in the season, however, and the rest of that season and 2021 became major duds. So when he transferred to Washington this offseason, no one really thought that he would produce one of the greatest seasons in Huskies history. He leads the nation in passing yards as Washington heads into the Apple Cup against Washington State. He's nearly thrown more yards in this season with the Huskies than he did over his entire career at Indiana and has a shot to top Washington's single-season passing record (set by Cody Pickett in 2002). Holding the passing mark for 2022 could be difficult as he has to hold off USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye ... who both have the advantage of playing in a conference championship game next week (Western Kentucky's Austin Reed, who trails Penix by just 32 yards, could play in the CUSA title game). Penix could, too, if the Huskies beat the Cougars and Oregon State upsets Oregon. 

If you know me, you know I'm all about Texas' Bijan Robinson. Sure, he had an absolutely horrible game against TCU two weeks ago but bounced back nicely against Kansas last week. He gobbled up 243 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Jayhawks, averaging nearly 10 yards per carry. In fact, that ugly loss against TCU was bookended by 200+ yard games (he also had 209 against Kansas State on November 5th). Robinson is wrapping up one of the great running back careers in Longhorns history -- and that's saying something with names like Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, Jamal Charles, and D'Onta Foreman. With the trend of draft prospects skipping out on bowl games, this weekend's game with Baylor could be the last time we see Robinson in a Horns' uniform. 

Cincinnati hosts Tulane in a game that has huge implications. The winner of the game will host next week's AAC Championship game, while the loser could find themselves out of the chase (Houston and UCF also have a good shot). Bearcats receiver Tyler Scott has been explosive this season, catching 53 passes for 888 yards and 9 TDs on the season despite missing some time with an ankle injury. In November, he hauled in 21 receptions for 341 yards and 3 TDs. As Cincinnati is departing the AAC for the Big 12, the Cats would like to play for a third straight conference title. 

Lincoln Riley's teams have never been known as great defensively, but Tuli Tuipulotu is trying the change that narrative. Tuipulotu's 11.5 sacks lead the nation, but it is more than his ability to rush the quarterback that makes him so valuable -- it is his flexibility. Tuipulotu has played a lot as a defensive tackle, his natural position. And he's had to spend a lot of time at defensive end. Oh, and he's often been a linebacker. He has a nose for reading and stopping plays behind the line of scrimmage. He is the key to this defense and a possible run for a national championship. USC hosts Notre Dame in a huge game at the Coliseum on Saturday. 

The battle of the Palmetto State, to me, is one of the more interesting rivalry games of the weekend. South Carolina is coming off that dismantling of Tennessee last week, while Clemson, I feel, still has a shot at getting into the College Football Playoff. Look, DJ Uiagalelei  is not Trevor Lawrence, Deshaun Watson or Tajh Boyd. You can't depend on him to throw you into wins, but he does have the skill to make winning plays. Remember how he won a shootout with Sam Hartman and Wake Forest earlier this year? He also ran for two big touchdowns in a win over NC State. And last week, he threw for 227 yards and 2 TDs while also rushing for 89 yards and a score in a spanking of Miami. Clemson pounded South Carolina, 30-0, last year, but Uiagalelei really wasn't the reason for it (just 99 yards passing and no scores). Maybe he can pull out another one of those shootout wins against the Gamecocks.  

The diminutive running back has a shot at vaulting his Wildcats to their first Big 12 championship game since 2012. To do so, they have to beat rival Kansas (remember Kansas? The 5-0 team that had ESPN's College Gameday show up in Lawrence and then promptly lost 5 of their next 6 games?). Well, Vaughn has scored a touchdown in the Cats last five games and has had 100+ yards from scrimmage in four of those games. Last year against Kansas, Vaughn carried the ball just 11 times but gained 162 yards and scored three touchdowns (he also had 70 receiving yards). In 2020, he had 152 yards from scrimmage and a TD against the Jayhawks. 

The reigning Heisman trophy winner has had more adversity to deal with this time around, but he's still one of the best QBs in the nation. He's also pretty clutch in the Iron Bowl -- last year he led two huge drives that wiped out a 10-0 deficit in the 4th quarter to send the game to overtime. In the four overtimes, he threw for a touchdown and two two-point conversions to pull out the 24-22 victory and kept the Tide's playoff hopes alive. The playoffs are likely a longshot this year but winning the Iron Bowl is still a huge feather to put in the cap of any season. Look for Young to have a huge game in what could be his final regular season game with Alabama.