College football Week 15: Players to watch

Broussard had himself a day last week against Arizona. The sophomore from Dallas rushed for 301 yards (miraculously he didn't find the endzone) in the win over the Wildcats, keeping the Buffaloes undefeated. He's rushed for at least 120 yards in each of Colorado's four victories but hasn't scored since piling up three touchdowns in the opener against UCLA. The Buffs host Utah on Friday night, with a trip to the Pac-12 championship game possibly on the line. 

Howell has been terrific this season. He leads the ACC in passing yards and touchdowns by a sizable margin and has the conference's best quarterback rating (yes, even better than Trevor Lawrence). His Tar Heels take on Miami this week -- the team that Howell broke out against on the national scene last year. His amazing comeback late in that game showed Howell's poise and talent in just his second college game. 

Minnesota has had a disappointing season, but Ibrahim has been outstanding all year. The junior running back from Baltimore has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of the Gophers' games and has piled up more than 200 yards twice. In just five games, Ibrahim has rushed for 13 touchdowns, including three against Purdue last week. Minnesota travels south to Nebraska on Saturday. 

When the season began, all the spotlight on Oklahoma State was on running back Chuba Hubbard. Since Hubbard has been less than effective (or available) with an ankle injury, Jackson has stepped in admirably. In the Cowboys' last two games, Jackson has been a workhorse, carrying the ball 67 times for 353 yards and 4 touchdowns. Oklahoma State heads to Baylor for their regular season finale.

Graduate transfer quarterbacks have been a mixed lot of late, but King has made a nice legacy for himself in Miami. In his only season in Coral Gables, the former Houston Cougar has thrown for 2,334 yards, 20 TDs and only 4 interceptions and looked a lot like his breakout season of 2018. There is a lot on the line (namely a possible New Year's Six bowl berth) when the Hurricanes host North Carolina on Saturday. 

Lee has been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal season for Penn State. Since Lee has been inserted into the starting lineup, he's had 39 carries for 229 yards and a touchdown. Not coincidentally, the Nittany Lions have won both games he's started and the offense has been able to control tempo much better. Penn State hosts Michigan State in their annual finale matchup.  

Usually the Army-Navy game is played after most of the regular season is finished. In 2020 fashion, this great rivalry will be played smack dab in the middle of a nearly full slate of games. Army (who enters the game at 7-2) loves to run the football -- they've only thrown 67 passes all year. McCoy may only be fourth in carries, but he's scored a team high 10 touchdowns this season. The senior fullback is a co-captain and loves to stick his nose in there and throw big blocks and opening holes for his fellow backs. He also loves getting those short yardage gains and those touchdowns. 

Two weeks ago I talked about Patterson being a player to watch, and he certainly didn't disappoint. All Patterson did was rush for 409 yards and eight touchdowns against Kent State and got the Bulls on a lot of sports shows that normally don't show Buffalo's highlights. Last week's game against Ohio was canceled, so what can a rested Patterson do against the Akron Zips? He isn't likely to approach those gawdy numbers this week but should be able to continue his white-hot streak against a bad Zips' defense. Over the last two games, he's rushed for 710 yards and 12 touchdowns -- a season's worth of stats for a lot of guys.

It may have started out bumpy, but Spencer Rattler has the Sooners back in the Big 12 title games. The freshman has done a much better job limiting turnovers (just two interceptions in the last five games, after tossing five picks in his first four) which was a devastating problem in Oklahoma's two losses. He has also started to understand that the entire offense doesn't need to rest solely on his arm, which has made for better decisions. Oklahoma closes out the season at West Virginia, before taking on Iowa State for the Big 12 championship. 

Rucker caught nine passes for 310 yards and 4 touchdowns against Louisiana-Monroe last week. That is an insane 34.4 yards per catch. That effort set a Red Wolves record for receiving yards in a game and and FBS record for receiving yards for a freshman. He caught passes that went for 69, 66, 55 and 31 yards. In the previous three games he appeared in, Rucker caught a total of two passes for eight yards. Arkansas State hosts Incarnate Word ... who will be playing their first game of the season ... on Saturday. 

USC is facing rival UCLA just as quarterback Kedon Slovis is coming off his best performance of the season. Last Sunday against Washington State, Slovis completed 25 of 32 passes for 287 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 38-13 win. In last year's game with the Bruins, Slovis went off ... throwing for 515 yards and 4 TDs in the 17-point win. A win puts the Trojans in the Pac-12 title game. 

Smith has capped off a fantastic career at Alabama with one of the best seasons ever for a receiver in Tuscaloosa. Smith has caught 80 passes (2nd in the nation) for 1,305 yards (1st in the nation) and 15 touchdowns (tied for 1st in the nation) this season. He dropped a dominating performance on LSU last week by totaling 8 receptions for 231 yards and 3 TDs in a runaway win over the defending champs. This week is a trip to lowly Arkansas. 

The annual Army-Navy game will be a throwback or sorts (what would you expect?).  Both teams want to run the ball and run the ball a lot. That's where fullback Nelson Smith comes in. Smith leads the Midshipmen in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns and had a big games in a loss to Memphis a few weeks ago (142 yards, TD). He'll need a similarly big game if Navy is going to take down their rivals at West Point. 

Can Trask actually win the Heisman award? He leads the SEC in passing yards and passing touchdowns while holding a ridiculous TD-to-INT ratio of a 38-to-3. His nine game start to this season holds up favorably to Joe Burrow's start to his record-breaking Heisman season. He'll get a chance to face off against this year's Heisman front runner, Mac Jones, in the SEC title game next week. This week, he gets to tee off against an LSU team that gave up 55 points to the Tide last week. 

Tuttle did a nice job taking over the Hoosiers offense now that Michael Penix Jr. is out for the season. The sophomore's numbers weren't anything to write home about (130 yards passing, 2 TDs) but he commanded the Indiana offense and didn't make mistakes in an impressive win over Wisconsin. Tuttle was once a coveted recruit for Utah, who transferred to Indiana after his freshman season. As Penix's backup, Tuttle has been humble and has been faithfully preparing for when his opportunity came. It has. Indiana faces rival Purdue this Saturday.

UPDATE: Indiana's game with Purdue has been canceled.