College football Week 5: 15 players to watch

With the ACC having a ... well ... down start to the 2021 season, could Pittsburgh be a darkhorse team to watch? That could be a stretch, but the Pickett-to-Addison connection is becoming one of the best in the league. Last week was the second straight game that Addison caught three touchdown passes (against Western Michigan two weeks ago; New Hampshire last week). He's caught a touchdown in each of the Panthers' four games and is averaging 17.7 yards per catch. Last week he caught six passes (again, three for touchdowns) for 179 yards. Pitt opens their conference slate at Georgia Tech, which is coming off two great showings against Clemson and North Carolina. 

While Virginia's defense has completely imploded, quarterback Brennan Armstrong has been on a tear of late. He threw for 405 yards and 5 TDs in a win over Illinois, 554 yards and 4 TDs in a loss to North Carolina, and 407 yards and 2 touchdowns last week in a loss to Wake Forest. He's second nationally in passing yards and in a season where ACC quarterbacks have been disappointing thus far, Armstrong has been fantastic. 

Timing is everything. Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral has become one of the Heisman favorites just as his Rebels take on top-ranked Alabama and the other Heisman favorite, Bryce Young. Corrall, in just three games, has thrown for 997 yards, 9 touchdowns, and no interceptions ... and rushed for 158 yards and 5 touchdowns. The last time we saw Corral, he threw for 335 yards, 3 TDs, rushed for 68 yards and 4 TDs against Tulane. Saturday, it's Bama, where he can make a Heisman statement. 

As we're watching some of our playoff regulars struggle in 2021, one of the most maligned programs is seemingly having a resurgence. Michigan heads into Madison for a huge game against Wisconsin, and it is the Wolverines with the No. 14 ranking while the Badgers are the ones reeling. Blake Corum has been fantastic. Last week against Rutgers was rather pedestrian compared to his first three games, but he's rushed for 475 yards and 7 touchdowns this season while averaging 6.9 yards per carry. Even though Wisconsin was blown out by Notre Dame last week, they gave up just nine yards rushing against the Irish. 

Ford found the yardage tougher to come by in the Bearcats' win over Indiana two weeks ago, but the junior from Tampa found the endzone twice. In the two games before that, he carried the ball 30 times for 233 yards (a 7.7 average) and 4 TDs. Ford, who transferred to Cincinnati from Alabama two years ago, will need a huge effort if the Bearcats are going to win at Notre Dame ... arguably their most important game in a long time.

It seems every year there is that Group of 5 quarterback that grabs the attention of the rest of the nation. Last year it was BYU's Zach Wilson, this year it is Fresno State's, Jake Haener. Haener leads the nation in passing yards (1,842) and his 15 touchdown tosses are second in the country. After an amazing effort in a comeback win over UCLA two weeks ago, Haener threw for 378 yards and 5 TDs against UNLV last week in a tighter than expected win. Fresno State heads west to the islands to take on Hawai'i for your late-night snack on Saturday.

A little of the pressure surrounding the entire Miami Hurricanes program was alleviated in last week's 69-0 domination of Central Connecticut. Quarterback D'Eriq King missed that game and is questionable for Thursday night's game against Virginia, so Harris will be counted on to step up. He ran for 100 yards against CCSU, including a 51-yard touchdown romp that turned the game into a rout. That was the first time Harris reached the century mark since the 'Canes beat Louisville in the second game last season. With the QB situation still up in the air and Virginia's defense getting shredded over the last few weeks, Harris may be headed for another huge game. 

If Arkansas is going to go between the hedges and knock off Georgia and that rabid Dawgs defense, Jefferson needs to have a huge game. The Razorbacks' dual-threat quarterback got banged up in their win over Texas A&M last week, hurting his knee at the beginning of the third quarter but was able to return late in the fourth. Before his injury, he threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks and a 48-yard score to AJ Green. Georgia is a physical defense who will look to beat up Jefferson. If he can make plays, Arkansas has a shot at beating No. 2 Georgia. 

Exciting backup Anthony Richardson has been getting a lot of hype early on in the season (from me, too), but Jones has been outstanding as well. Last week in the Gators' win over Tennessee, Jones threw for 209 yards and 2 TDs and rushed for 144 yards -- becoming the first Gator QB to throw for 200 yards and rush for 100 yards in a game since Tim Tebow twelve years ago. Richardson has missed the last two games but should be back this week to play a feisty Kentucky team in Lexington so Jones' number could go down. Still, he has the goods to make a run to the SEC championship. 

Houston rarely gets to have a national audience like it will this Friday, so if you get a chance, check out Mr. Everything Marcus Jones. Jones plays cornerback and should end up playing there on Sundays. He's also getting time on the offensive side of things, where's he caught ten passes so far this season. He's also been outstanding as a punt returner, already returning two kicks for touchdowns this season. In last week's win over Navy, Jones returned a punt for a 73-yd touchdown and caught a 47-yd TD pass. Houston heads to Tulsa for a Friday night showdown in the AAC. 

The Trojans season may be a disappointment so far, but London leads the nation in receiving yards. His 39 catches for 540 yards already surpasses his 2020 output, he's had three games with at least 10 receptions and three 130+ yard games. He's been tremendous, even as USC has lost a pair of head-scratchers. The Trojans travel to Colorado to take on the Buffaloes. 

Nix came to Auburn as a legacy -- the son of a former Tiger quarterback who was coming home to lift the program back to the College Football Playoff. It hasn't happened that way and came to a head last week in a bad game against Georgia State. Nix completed just 13 of 27 passes and was replaced by TJ Finley in the second half. It took a 98-yard drive and a TD by Finley with 48 seconds remaining for Auburn to finally take the lead (it also took a blocked punt for a touchdown and a pick-six). Auburn heads to Baton Rouge to take on LSU with head coach Bryan Harsin not tipping his hand to who the starter will be. Needless to say, this is a story to watch in a wild SEC West race -- especially since TJ Finley transferred to Auburn from ... LSU. 

There were a lot of weird happenings last week in college football, with fans calling for Spencer Rattler's benching being near the top of that list. Rattler began the season as the Heisman frontrunner but that has certainly died down. Still, it isn't as if Rattler has been horrible. He's still completing 74% of his passes, has thrown for over 1,000 yards after four games, and has the Sooners undefeated. He's just not piling up video game numbers as Oklahoma quarterbacks have done under Lincoln Riley. At some point, that will come and could against a tough opponent in Kansas State this week. 

One of the more interesting games of the weekend happens in the Big Ten's Friday night matchup. No. 5 Iowa travels east to face a good Maryland Terrapins team and a hot quarterback. Best known as Tua's brother, Taulia Tagovailoa is making a name for himself as he has thrown for 1,340 yards, 10 TDs, and just one interception this season. Last week against Kent State, Tagovailoa completed 31 of 41 passes for 384 yards and 3 TDs. Friday he'll face a tough Iowa defense and will need to 

Texas woke up last week with a 70-35 beatdown of Texas Tech, and Casey Thompson may have solidified his hold on the Longhorns' starting QB gig. After losing the battle to be the starter to Hudson Card before the season, Thompson took over after the Horns' loss to Arkansas and he's come out guns blazing. He was efficient in light-duty in a blowout win over Rice and then went off for 303 yards and 5 touchdowns against Tech (he rushed for another score). Now Thompson gets to face a TCU team that gave up 595 yards to SMU last week.