College football Week 9: 15 players to watch

Ahlers leads the American Athletic Conference in passing yards (2,435) and touchdown passes (18). He's played better of late (three 100-yard games in the last four games) though he hasn't found the endzone as often (just one TD pass in each of the last three games). His best performance was at the beginning of the month when he threw for 465 yards and 6 TDs against South Florida. His issue is in the Pirates' big games. Against NC State and Tulane, he combined to throw four of his five interceptions on the season. Limit mistakes against BYU and East Carolina could pull an upset on Friday night. 

Chase Brown continues to roll along. Every opponent knows they must stop him to stop Illinois, and yet no one can do it. Last week was no different, as he carried the ball 41 times against Minnesota for 180 yards. While he didn't run for a touchdown, he caught a 40-yard pass for a TD to start the game. He leads the nation in rushing yards yet, strangely, has only punched in only four TDs. Illinois heads to a surging Nebraska on Saturday. 

I've said all season long that Ohio State could be ridiculous once they get healthy. For the time being, we've seen various guys step up and perform when opportunities present themselves. One is wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. As a freshman last season, Egbuka was mainly a special teams player as he was buried on the depth chart behind some stud receivers. He caught just nine passes all last season -- he caught nine passes in the Buckeyes' opener against Notre Dame. He has 41 receptions this year, and his 735 yards are third-best in the Big Ten (so are his 7 touchdown grabs). He's one of the best receivers in yards after catch and is always a threat to break one for a huge gain. Ohio State heads to Penn State for a high-noon showdown in Happy Valley. 

Surprise! South Carolina has entered the top 25 and running back MarShawn Lloyd has been balling of late. During the Gamecocks' four-game winning streak, Lloyd has carried the ball 66 times for 451 yards and 7 touchdowns -- a great turnaround after a slow start to the season. Even as the offense is emerging, it is still very much a work in progress. This week, that offense gets to host Missouri.

The Tar Heels are one of the most fun teams to watch this season. Four of their games have come down to the final seconds, their defense is improving yet still a pushover, and they have one of the best young quarterbacks in the country. Drake Maye (son of former Tar Heel QB Mark; brother of former Tar Heel hoops player Luke) leads the ACC in passing yards and is second in the nation in passing touchdowns. It isn't just that he can pile up stats, but he's clutch as well. His drive to beat rival Duke in their last game was stone cold and has Carolina in first place in the always wild ACC Coastal Division. The Heels host Pitt on Saturday in a key division battle.

Sure, Notre Dame isn't playing for a national championship this year, and the Fighting Irish have issues all over the place ... but tight end isn't one of them. Michael Mayer is the best tight end in college football and will be the next big thing at the position at the next level. Last week against UNLV, he caught six passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. He also averaged 19.2 yards per reception, which is extremely impressive for a tight end. He's caught a touchdown in five of the Irish's last six games despite clearly being the only real option in the passing game and no matter who the quarterback is.  He's simply that good. Notre Dame heads up to Syracuse to battle an angry Orange team.

Here is one of the more interesting players on this list. Rice's Luke McCaffrey is the younger brother of the Niners' Christian McCaffrey and the son of former NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey. He was a highly touted dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school and would end up at Nebraska. He started a couple of games with the Cornhuskers but would transfer to Rice in 2021. After one season with the Owls as a quarterback, he decided to switch positions this offseason and it has paid off. The now-receiver has already caught 43 passes for 555 yards and 5 TDs, including last week, where he caught 10 passes for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns. McCaffrey and the Owls host a reeling Charlotte team that just fired their head coach. 

Max Duggan gets a ton of credit for the No. 7 Horned Frogs ... and deservedly so ... but running back Kendre Miller has been fantastic during their key five-game stretch. TCU has faced SMU, Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Kansas State -- all wins. Miller has rushed for 142, 136, 88, 104 and 153 yards, respectively, over that stretch. He has rushed for a touchdown in every game this season, including two each against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Miller waited for his time to shine for two years and took full advantage once Zach Evans transferred last offseason. TCU is undefeated, leads the Big 12 and heads to West Virginia the face the disappointing Mountaineers on Saturday. 

Ivan Pace Jr. has been everywhere for Cincinnati this season. His seven sacks are just a half-sack off the nation's lead and he's among the league leaders in tackles for loss. Pace transferred into Cincinnati from nearby Miami-OH, where he starred for three seasons, and joins his brother Deshawn on Luke Fickell's always tough defense. Last week against SMU, Pace had nine tackles, including two sacks. Cincinnati travels to UCF to face an important AAC (and soon, Big 12) foe. 

Nebraska has gotten a little bit better once head coach Scott Frost was dismissed a month ago, and wide receiver Trey Palmer has been a big part of that. Last week Palmer caught 7 passes for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns in a loss to Purdue (he also had a 60-yard run in that game). He averaged 37.1 yards per touch against the Boilermakers, including receptions of 72, 64, 39 and 37 yards and that 60-yard run. He caught 41 passes in three years with LSU ... and has already caught 47 this season with the Cornhuskers. Nebraska hosts Illinois on Saturday. 

Reese is coming off a big day -- 31 carries for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns against Kansas. That was his second 100-yard day on the season and his TD total has reached 9 for the season. Baylor likes to run the football -- Abram Smith set the school record for rushing yards last year and was honored during the win over Kansas -- and Reese is the 2022 bell cow of this offense. He isn't just piling up stats but making timely plays that keep drives going. He's just a freshman so there are ups and downs but he is getting every opportunity to succeed. Baylor heads to Texas Tech this weekend. 

Coming into the season, you figured Utah to be a team that likes to be physical and would run the ball behind Tavion Thomas. Well, quarterback Cameron Rising has been spectacular this season. A week after being off in a loss to UCLA, Rising rose to the occasion in a huge win over USC last week. He completed 30 of 44 passes for 415 yards and a couple of touchdowns while rushing for 60 yards and 3 TDs. That's been the most impressive progress of his game. Over the first four games of the season, Rising ran just 16 times for 116 yards and no scores. In the last three games, he's rushed 31 times for 192 yards and 6 touchdowns. Utah heads to Washington State for a Thursday night showdown. 

One of the weird things about Kentucky's season is that they've lost both their games right after Chris Rodriguez Jr. came back from injury. That's more of a coincidence (and playing good Ole Miss and South Carolina teams) than an indictment on Rodriguez Jr. After easing into his first game against Ole Miss (yeah, 112 total yards and a TD is easing in), he's looked like his old self against South Carolina (126 yards) and Mississippi State (197 yards, 2 TDs). Kentucky continues its brutal section of the schedule as they head to Knoxville to face arguably the buzziest team in the country, Tennessee. Last year, Rodriguez rushed for 109 yards against the Vols last year in a loss. 

If Penn State is going to upend Ohio State, they must be able to control the time of possession and get Nicholas Singleton going. After a strong start to the season, the freshman has tailed off a bit, failing to reach 100 yards over the last four weeks. His lowest point was the Nittany Lions' last big game, a loss to Michigan, where he ran for just 19 yards. He recovered last week with 79 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Minnesota (he was more involved in the passing game as well). Singleton must have a big day if Penn State has a shot against the Buckeyes. 

When the Wildcats are good, they are running the football. They were doing so early against TCU last week (Vaughn's 47-yard touchdown gave K-State a 28-10 lead) but it fizzled out after that point. In the second half, they turned the ball over twice, missed two field goals and turned the ball over on downs. Vaughn needs to be the focal point of the offense in a big bounce-back game against Oklahoma State on Saturday. With QB Adrian Martinez a question mark, the 5'6 Vaughn (744 rushing yards this season) has to be big in Manhattan.