College football Week 10: 15 players to watch

Who wants to go trick-or-treating on Halloween night when you can sit in the warmth of your living room and watch West Virginia-Baylor? Instead of passing out candy, watch Bears quarterback Brewer, who passed out 312 yards on just 13 completions in a win over Oklahoma State in their last game. He's not only efficient throwing the football (12 TDs to just 3 interceptions) but he also is a smart runner who ran for three scores against Texas Tech a few weeks back and has run for six touchdowns this season. While Baylor was enjoying its bye week, it watched Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa State get beat, putting the Bears in the driver's seat in the Big 12. 

The Mean Green have had a miserable season by their standards. They enter the weekend at just 3-5 and 2-2 in Conference USA. Mason Fine, however, keeps on plugging away. He's the two-time defending C-USA Player of the Year and North Texas' all-time leading passer. He leads the school in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions and pass attempts. Last week in a loss to Charlotte, he threw for 398 yards and five TDs. Look for Fine to rack up some stats against UTEP this Saturday on the NFL Network.  

Fromm has looked good in big games during his career at Georgia. Whether it has been the SEC championship game or the College Football Playoff, he usually rises to the occasion. If the Dawgs want to get back to the Playoff, they'll need another one of those games against rival Florida this Saturday. The winner of this game is the front-runner to get to the SEC championship game and with it the opportunity to knock off Alabama or LSU and possibly earn one of those coveted four Playoff berths. Fromm has looked uncharacteristically bad in his last two outings: Sloppy conditions led to him throwing just 12 passes in a win over Kentucky and his horrible game in the loss to South Carolina.  The last time these two foes faced off in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party he was great, throwing for 240 yards and three TDs in the win. 

Is Haskins the key to the Wolverines' success? Well, against Notre Dame last week and Illinois a few weeks back, Haskins rushed for 149 and 125 yards, respectively, and an amazing 8.6 yards per carry in those two games. Sandwiched between those wins was the loss to Penn State where he gained just 28 yards. He's run for only one touchdown this season (in the Illinois game), but it is obvious that Michigan believes it needs to run the ball more to be successful. That will have to be the case against Maryland this Saturday. 

We were all waiting for a shootout between Herbert and Washington State's Anthony Gordon last week, and it didn't really happen like that. Herbert was OK but threw for only 222 yards and no touchdowns — the first time since his first game as a freshman in 2016 that he didn't throw a touchdown pass in a game. Puzzling, since he's thrown 21 touchdowns and just one pick all season long. Still, the Ducks won the game and with losses to several big dogs in front of them, Oregon now moves into the "next four out" of sorts in the race for College Football Playoff berths. The Ducks head south to face USC in what could be a preview of the Pac-12 championship game in a month. Needless to say, Herbert needs a stronger game on Saturday. 

Here are the names of the nine quarterbacks who have thrown the most touchdowns this season: Anthony Gordon, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Cole McDonald, Justin Fields, Sam Ehlinger, Sam Howell, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts. Yes, the true freshman Howell is seventh in the nation in touchdown passes with 22. No QB in the nation has been in as many close games as Howell has with the Tar Heels (seven of their eight games have come down to the final moments) and no freshman quarterback has made the kind of plays down the stretch that this guy has. North Carolina hosts Virginia in a key ACC Coastal division battle with the winner taking control of the division. 

Moss hasn't had the season many projected him to have, but he's still had a big year. He's rushed for at least 100 yards in every other game this season. Yes, in Games 1, 3, 5 and 7 he's hit the century mark and has failed in the even-numbered games (though he gained 99 yards in Game 6). He's rushed for 728 yards on the season and scored 10 touchdowns and over the last two games has been a part of the passing attack. The Utes are built around running the ball and defense and aside from a slip-up against USC, they have been successful using that formula. They'll need to continue it against Washington in Seattle on Saturday. 

Don't look now, but the winner of the South's Oldest Rivalry — Virginia vs. North Carolina — will be leading the ACC's Coastal Division and be a favorite to get to Charlotte to play Clemson in the conference championship game. What? Well, that's the way the Coastal Division goes. For the Cavaliers to pull off the win, Perkins will have to have a big day. He's struggled of late, as the Wahoos have lost three out of four games and Perkins has thrown just one touchdown pass in the month of October. His legs have been doing well, highlighted by a three-TD effort against Duke a couple of weeks ago. But he'll need to have a full effort against a Tar Heel team that has a knack for playing in close games this season. If it comes down to the wire, can Perkins get Virginia over the top? 

Navy has really turned it around this season, as it enters Friday night's game at UConn with a surprising 6-1 record. Perry's passing stats will never wow you, as he's thrown just 47 passes all season (four went for touchdowns, three for interceptions. But he is outstanding at running the Midshipmen's flexbone rushing attack. He's rushed for nearly 1,000 yards already and has been exceptionally strong of late. He's piled up over 100 yards in six of his last seven games and totaled 659 rush yards in the last four. During those last four games, he's averaging 7.6 yards per carry, which includes a 67-yard scamper in a win over South Florida a couple of weeks ago. 

Philyor has been sensational over the last month. In three of Indiana's last four games, he's hit double digits in receptions and has gained over 140 receiving yards. Last week against Nebraska, he hauled in 14 catches for 178 yards. He is the Big Ten's leader...and tied for sixth nationally...in receptions. The Hoosiers have been hot, too, winning three of the last four and are 6-2 on the season. (The losses were to Ohio State and Michigan State.) Indiana faces defending Big Ten West champion Northwestern. 

Last week's one-catch-for-8-yards against Houston was quite the letdown from the eight-catch, 250-yard, three-touchdown effort the week prior against Temple. Such is the life for Roberson this season, who is just as capable of putting up ridiculous numbers as he is to show up on the back of a milk carton as missing. He's had three games this season where he's gained over 120 yards receiving (two for at least 180 yards) and three games where he's caught less than 50 yards in a game...all of which have occurred over the last four games. SMU goes to Memphis this week in a huge AAC matchup. The Mustangs are going to need some of those big plays if they want to remain undefeated. 

What a year 2019 has been for Slovis. The true freshman quarterback wasn't highly sought after in high school nor was much expected from him this season. Since JT Daniels was knocked out for the year, Slovis has been lights out, passing for 1,625 yards and 13 touchdowns. Aside from a grotesque three-interception game against BYU, he has been efficient and consistent all season long. Last week against Colorado, he threw for 406 yards and four TDs. USC currently leads the Pac-12 South and owns a win over Utah. With Oregon heading to Troy, Slovis has a chance to end another conference rival's championship hopes.

I've been a fan of Trask since he's taken over the Gators' starting quarterback job after Feleipe Franks' season-ending injury. He isn't particularly flashy, but he is cool and calm, which apparently is what this team needed. Even in the Gators' loss to LSU a few weeks ago, he looked good, completing 23 of 39 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns. In fact, over his past four games he's thrown 11 touchdowns to just two interceptions, which is impressive when you consider he played LSU, Auburn and South Carolina in that span. While the LSU game was huge, this upcoming game against Georgia may be much larger, as the winner has the inside track to the East division championship and a spot in the SEC championship game. 

We talked earlier about how Justin Herbert didn't throw a touchdown pass in the win over Washington State last week. CJ Verdell is the reason why. Verdell was outstanding against the Cougars, rushing for 257 yards and three TDs...the first three scores of the season for the running back. Verdell has been boom-or-bust for much of the season but has had his two biggest games in the last three weeks. Prior to the Washington State game, he rushed for 171 yards against Colorado. Also against the Cougars, he was more active in the passing game, catching a season-high four passes for 56 yards. It will be interesting to see if he is leaned on more during the stretch run. 

For weeks now, I have been praising Tigers' running back Kenneth Gainwell in this space. This week, quarterback Brady White needs to get some love. He's been fantastic the last few weeks, throwing for 998 yards in his last three games and has thrown for 20 TDs and just four interceptions all year. Memphis hosts SMU in a huge game in the AAC West division. Both teams are ranked, and the winner will have a leg up on getting to the conference title game.