College football Week 2: 15 players to watch

Achane stepped into becoming a focal point of the Aggies' offense with his performance against Kent State. He ran the ball 12 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns ... including a 63 yard TD run that put the game away. A&M travels to Boulder to face Colorado in a battle of old Big 12 foes. Isaiah Spiller is still the main back in College Station, but Achane is showing why he needs more touches.

Brown admitted that the Ducks' win over Fresno State wasn't "clean", but Brown was still extremely effective against the Bulldogs. His passing numbers weren't fantastic (15-of-24, 172 yards, TD) but when combined with his rushing (56 yards, TD) he showed why Oregon's offense can be dangerous. With defensive star Kayvon Thibodeaux banged up with an ankle injury, the Ducks' offense will need to be able to put up points against Ohio State on Saturday.

Corum and backfield mate Hassan Haskins form a thunder-and-lightning duo for the Wolverines (Corum is the "lightning") that piled up 335 rushing yards against Western Michigan last week. Corum's part was 111 rushing yards and a 30-yard touchdown run, and he also caught a touchdown pass. With receiver Ronnie Bell now out for the season, expect head coach Jim Harbaugh to use Corum more as a receiving threat as a wounded Washington heads to Ann Arbor. 

Lost in all the different narratives of Georgia's 10-3 victory over Clemson was how the Tigers' defense stuffed JT Daniels and the Dawgs offense. Daniels threw 30 passes in that game but gained only 135 yards, threw no touchdowns, and was picked off once. The rub on Georgia this year was if the offense could do enough to make a championship run and the Clemson game didn't give us much faith that it will. Georgia hosts UAB on Saturday and it will be interesting to see how Daniels bounces back over this stretch of games before their October 9th trip to Auburn. 

Last year when Coastal Carolina went up to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks, Heiligh caught three passes for 74 yards and a touchdown in the Chanticleers' 38-23 win. That win was the catalyst towards an 11-0 regular season and the best season in program history. This year, Kansas heads to the Myrtle Beach area for the rematch, and Heiligh is already warmed up. Last week against The Citadel, the receiver caught six passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. 

Jones was okay in the Gators' 35-14 win over Florida Atlantic, but he may need to step it up if he's going to keep his starting job. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 113 yards, a touchdown, and two picks (he also had 74 rushing yards). The issue is what his backup came in and did. Anthony Richardson ... while wearing jersey number 15 like a certain Tim Tebow used to ... was electric when he was on the field. Richardson ran the ball just seven times but piled up an amazing 160 yards ... including a 73-yard TD run late in the game. Head coach Dan Mullen emphatically stated that Jones is the starter since he is more familiar with the offense (Richardson completed just 3 of his 8 passes), but if Jones struggles against South Florida, the whispers will get louder. Expect Jones to come out swinging against the Bulls. 

London seemingly caught everything in USC's 30-7 win over San Jose State last week. The junior caught 12 passes for 137 yards for the Trojans -- receiving half of Kedon Slovis' completions. He caught 33 balls in six games last season and is becoming one of Slovis' favorite targets. The Trojans host Stanford in a key Pac-12 showdown.

How great was Riley Moss against Indiana last week? The senior picked off two Michael Penix Jr. passes and returned both for touchdowns -- both in big moments. The first pick came on the Hoosiers' third offensive play, building the lead to 14-0 while the second pick-six happened right before half -- a 55-yard return to give the Hawkeyes a 28-3 lead that broke Indiana's backs. Moss will go up against a very potent Iowa State offense this week with a Heisman hopeful at quarterback in Brock Purdy. Can he make another big play?

Why is the McNeese State starting quarterback a player to watch this week? Well, that's because he leads his Cowboys into Baton Rouge to face the LSU Tigers ... who are coached by his dad. Yes, Cody Orgeron is Ed Orgeron's son which will make for a nice, yet tough, situation in what would normally be looked at as a cupcake game for a mighty SEC program. Cody threw for 367 yards and two TDs in a 42-36 loss to West Florida. Saturday's matchup will likely be another loss for McNeese State, but it will be interesting to see how he performs against his dad's team that won a national championship just two years ago. 

Pau'u picked up where he left off last season with a big game against Arizona in the Cougars' opener. The junior receiver caught 8 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the 24-16 win over the Wildcats. With Zach Wilson as his QB last season, Pau'u caught 45 passes for 603 yards and four TDs, but it seems that he's developed a rhythm with new quarterback Jaren Hall. BYU hosts Utah in the Holy War, trying to end a 9-game losing streak in the series.

Pickett has been a solid quarterback over his five seasons at Pitt and is an under-the-radar quarterback nationally. He's had 37 starts with the Panthers, thrown for over 8,000 yards in his career, and led his team to the 2018 ACC title game. He lit up UMass last week for 272 yards passing and two touchdowns in a 51-7 win and heads to Knoxville for an interesting matchup against Tennessee in the Majors Classic. His experience could give Pitt a huge win on the road against the SEC and turn the Panthers into a contender in the ACC Coastal Division.

Iowa State struggled against Northern Iowa last week and will take a major step up facing rival Iowa on Saturday. Quarterback Brock Purdy will need to be at his best against a Hawkeyes team that shut down Indiana last week. Purdy did complete 21 of 26 passes against Northern Iowa last week for 199 yards but didn't throw a touchdown. The last time he faced Iowa, he threw for 276 yards and a TD in an 18-17 loss in 2019. Purdy has come a long way -- as have the Cyclones -- and will need to have a big game to end a five-game slide in this series. 

Such is the life of an Ohio State quarterback. In Stroud's first start for the Buckeyes, he struggled a bit to get going before turning it on in the second half. The stats: 13 of 22 passing for 294 and 4 TDs. Any quarterback would love to struggle like that. This week is a bigger test as Oregon's tough defense heads to Columbus for a major Big Ten-Pac 12 showdown. Stroud won't get the same opportunity to ease into this game against this Ducks' D.

Walker's first game with the Michigan State Spartans felt a lot like the ones he used to have at Wake Forest. The junior transfer piled up 264 yards and 4 touchdowns against Big Ten foe Northwestern in a sensational showing. In seven games at Wake last season, he had four games where he scored multiple touchdowns and three games where he rushed for three scores. The Spartans step out of conference to host Youngstown State this Saturday. 

Zappe, a transfer from Houston Baptist, went off in his first start for Western Kentucky. Against UT-Martin, he completed 28 of 35 passes for 424 yards and 7 touchdowns. It is a safe bet he won't throw for seven scores against Army at West Point this Saturday (Army's ground attack will eat up some clock), but it will be interesting to see if the Hilltoppers' offense can be as dynamic. Zappe's coach at Houston Baptist, Zach Kittley, came over to become the offensive coordinator at WKU. Kittley also coached Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, so while that may be too lofty a goal for Zappe to become, it does show the potential is there for the Hilltoppers to make a run at a C-USA title.