College football Week 9: 15 players to watch

While quarterback Jalen Hurts is the leading rusher for the Sooners, there are several backs who are having good seasons but may not be getting the respect they deserve. One is Kennedy Brooks, who is second on the team in rushing and who is averaging 8.5 yards per carry. Despite playing in a loaded and deep backfield, he's coming off two great games and is looking forward to facing a Kansas State defense that has been poor against the run but leads the Big 12 in scoring defense.  

The Mustangs are having their best season since the mid-1980s, and Buechele is a major part of that resurgence. He has thrown for 2,122 yards and 18 touchdowns this year, his first at SMU after transferring from Texas. Last week in a big game against Temple, he threw for 457 yards and six TDs in the 45-21 win. If you remember, Buechele had a solid freshman season at Texas before losing his starting job the following year to Sam Ehlinger. He became a graduate transfer this year to SMU, and he's played in some big games. This week the Ponies head into Houston for a Thursday night game that will introduce many to this undefeated SMU squad. 

Burrow is second in the nation in passing yards (his 2,484 trail only Washington State's Anthony Gordon) and is among the favorites for the Heisman Trophy. He's been big all year long and has the Tigers ranked No. 2 in the nation. As good as he's been thus far, now is the time to show everyone his greatness. The Tigers host Auburn this Saturday in a huge matchup of top 10 teams. Two weeks ago in his team's last big test, against Florida, all Burrow did was complete 21 of 24 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns. After the Auburn game, LSU gets a bye week before traveling to Alabama. 

Dillon leads the ACC in rushing and is coming off a big day against NC State when he rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Dillon has rushed for 100 yards in his last five games and at least 150 yards in four of those games. The Eagles go up against Clemson this weekend...and in two games Dillon has played against the Tigers he's rushed for a total of just 96 yards. Clemson is a bit more vulnerable this year, but can Dillon finally have a big game against the league's best program? 

Three weeks ago against Louisiana-Monroe, Gainwell ran for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Last week against Tulane, he caught nine passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 104 yards and another score. Gainwell has been fantastic this season — he leads the American in rushing yards and is eighth in receptions and receiving yards. He's rushed for over 100 yards in each of his last five games and has steadily become a huge part of the Tigers' passing attack. Gainwell and Memphis head to Tulsa to face one of the conference's worst run defenses. 

Penn State has surged up the polls after its win over Michigan on Saturday night, a game that Hamler showed out. He caught six passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns in the win, including a big 53-yard reception that put the game out of reach. That was just the second 100-yard receiving game for Hamler but his fourth straight game with a touchdown pass. Penn State travels to face a tough defense in Michigan State where Hamler will be counted on to stretch out the Spartans and make a few more big plays. 

Want to watch a fun game? Tune into North Carolina this season. In seven games, six have come down to the final possession. Even though the Heels have lost four of their last five, the feeling around Chapel Hill is that this program is on the rise thanks to its highly recruited quarterback Sam Howell. Howell leads the ACC in passing touchdowns and is second in yards passing. It isn't just that this freshman is putting up big passing stats. He's also thrown 20 touchdowns this year to just three interceptions. He has also made some huge throws in some huge moments. Oh, Duke heads down the street to play the Tar Heels this Saturday with the Victory Bell on the line. 

Heading into the season, Herbert got a lot of buzz as possibly the No. 1 overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. After the Ducks' season-opening loss to Auburn, fans grew skeptical of the hype and have moved on to several other quarterbacks across the country. Meanwhile, Herbert has thrown 21 touchdowns and just one interception this season and has Oregon still in the mix for a College Football Playoff spot. He outdueled Washington's Jacob Eason in a big win last week and goes up against Washington State's Anthony Gordon this week. With the Big Ten and SEC seeing their top teams facing off against each other in the coming weeks, the door is open for Oregon to make its move. 

With Tua Tagovailoa out for the Crimson Tide's game against Arkansas this weekend, it will be up to Mac Jones to keep the train cruising along. The sophomore from Jacksonville won't be relied on to spray the ball all over the field like Tua does but to manage the offense and make good decisions with the football. Due to a lot of blowout wins by Alabama, Jones has seen the field during garbage time but last week played more meaningful minutes against Tennessee. Last year he threw a 94-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle against Louisiana. 

I've been on Jones for about a week now. The Fighting Irish struggled to run the football during the first few weeks of the season, but Jones has stepped up and been that guy. Over the last three games, he's averaged 136 yards and scored three TDs — wins over Virginia, Bowling Green and USC. In that USC game, he ran for 176 yards and clearly was the workhorse back. Notre Dame travels to Ann Arbor this weekend to face Michigan in the biggest game left on the Irish's schedule. A win is a must for the Irish to keep their Playoff hopes alive. Can they count on another big day from Jones?

The Cyclones have crawled their way back into the Big 12 race after big wins over TCU, West Virginia and Texas Tech in the last three weeks. Purdy showed he could keep up with Texas Tech's spread offense last weekend with 378 yards and three TDs of his own. As a freshman, he came out of nowhere to secure the starting job, winning eight of the last nine regular- season games. This year Iowa State's two losses were by one point to Iowa and two points to Baylor, and Purdy was great in both games. Now the Cyclones are staring down a brutal stretch where they host Oklahoma State, go to Oklahoma then host Texas. This is a must win against the Cowboys. 

In you haven't noticed, USC is atop the standings in the Pac-12 South and has already defeated the preseason favorite Utah. Slovis has done a tremendous job coming in as the third-string quarterback and stabilizing the offense. In the two games since suffering a concussion against the Utes, he has looked good in a close loss to Notre Dame (24-of-35, 255 yards, two TDs) and Arizona. He hasn't thrown an interception since throwing three in the Trojans' loss to BYU on Sept. 14. USC plays last place Colorado on Friday night.

Don't look now but Minnesota is 7-0 for the first time since its national championship season of 1960. Smith has been big of late, rushing for over 100 yards over the last four games while scoring a touchdown in five of the last six games. He's third in the Big Ten in rushing, trailing only Jonathan Taylor and J.K. Dobbins. Smith, in his sixth year of eligibility, is looking like he did during his big sophomore season when he rushed for over 1,100 yards and 16 TDs. The Gophers host Maryland on Saturday. 

The good: Taylor became just the third back to rush for 5,000 career yards before finishing his third college season. The bad: Wisconsin blew a game against Illinois that likely cost the Badgers a shot at a national championship. If there is any way for them to get back in the mix, they obviously need to beat Ohio State in Columbus this week and Taylor must have a huge game to make that happen. The Buckeyes' defense is one of the best in the nation, and they certainly will be schemed up to limit Taylor's production. While Taylor ran well in the loss to Illinois, he didn't have as much success in a win against Michigan State the prior week. He needs a big game on Saturday. 

Young is set to be one of the top selections in next spring's NFL Draft, and it is easy to see why. He continues the recent tradition of great edge rushers for Ohio State. He's tied with Boise State's Curtis Weaver for sacks this season (9.5) and, quite simply, hr disrupts opposing offenses. With Wisconsin's patented run game and big offensive line, Young will have quite a task of keeping Jonathan Taylor from breaking free into the next levels of defense but to apply pressure on Jack Coan when the Badgers pass.