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The first half of the season is in the books and the race to the Final Four is in a full court press. The second half of the season opens with a great slate of games, including 8 matchups of AP-ranked Top 25 teams.
No. 9 UCLA faces No. 10 Oregon Ducks in Eugene in a potential Pac-12 title game preview. No. 5 Clemson hosts No. 14 Syracuse Orange in a battle of unbeatens. The Big 12 has two top-25 matchups on tap as No. 8 TCU hosts No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats and No. 11 Oklahoma State hosts No. 20 Texas. And in the SEC, No. 6 Alabama and No. 24 Mississippi State Bulldogs
This is a battle between the two remaining undefeated teams in the ACC, and the two teams currently atop the Atlantic division standings. They are also 2 of only 9 remaining FBS teams. The others are Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, Mississippi, TCU, and UCLA.
Is Syracuse for real? It is starting to feel that way after the No. 14 Orange got an impressive home win on Saturday afternoon against North Carolina State. It doesn’t get any easier for ‘Cuse this weekend. Quarterback Garrett Shrader (1,434 passing yards, 12 touchdowns) and running back Sean Tucker (644 rushing yards, six touchdowns) are part of an efficient Syracuse offense that will need to put up some big numbers if they hope to make some more noise this weekend.
For Clemson, this is the fourth ranked opponent on the schedule in the past five games.
This is a battle between the two remaining undefeated teams in PAC-12 play and UCLA is 1 of only 9 remaining FBS teams . You can safely argue the PAC-12 needs UCLA to win to stay firmly in the hunt for a Final Four berth, though the door doesn't shut completely if either UCLA, Oregon or USC wins out. Everyone else in the conference has 2 or more losses.
This should be an exciting match-up between two high-scoring teams as UCLA is second in the Pac-12 in scoring offense and Oregon is fourth. The Bruins will be aiming at their third straight win over an AP Top 15 team. The Ducks have won five straight, with one ranked win, since getting run over in its season opener at Georgia,
The big question is obvious. How will the Crimson Tide respond after their tough loss at Tennessee last week? Alabama previously survived a near loss at Texas and another at home to Texas A&M.
The next biggest question points to Mississippi State and how they will perform after the sudden death of freshman linebacker Sam Westmoreland that was announced on Wednesday, days before his 19th birthday. Both of MSU's losses have come on the road at SEC teams, LSU and and Kentucky.
How will the Nittany Lions respond after getting shredded by RB Blake Corum and Michigan? Will Tanner Morgan be available at QB for the Gophers? Minnesoita RB Mohamed Ibrahim has rushed for at least 102 yards in every one of the last 14 games in which he has played.
The Big 12 is faced with the same issue as the PAC-12 - only one team remains undefeated and both are a surprise. In the PAC-12, it's UCLA as the Bruins head to Oregon. For the Big 12, it's TCU as the Horned Frogs get set to entertain the Wildcats.
This is TCU's fourth consecutive ranked opponent, and third straight at home.
WR Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee –Talk about a massive impact from Hyatt, who had six catches for 207 yards in the Volunteers upset of Alabama over the weekend. Five of those receptions were touchdown catches for Hyatt, who was named the Maxwell Award’s Player of the Week.
QB Hendon Hooker, Tennessee – Much like his teammate Hyatt, it was a sparkling performance from Hooker in the win over Alabama. He had five touchdown passes – all to Hyatt, along with 385 passing yards on 21-of-30 passing.
QB Bryce Young, Alabama – Despite it coming in a losing effort, Young sent out a reminder over the weekend that he is one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Throwing for 455 yards, Young completed 35-of-52 passing attempts and had two touchdowns.
QB Cam Rising, Utah – With his arm (415 passing yards and two touchdowns) and his legs (60 rushing yards and three touchdowns), Rising put together one of the best performances of the weekend in an upset of USC. Rising has been quietly solid this season for Utah but this breakout performance is a huge boost as Utah’s Pac-12 hopes have been re-ignited following this weekend’s win.
QB Jayden Daniels, LSU – Florida was unable to contain Daniels this past weekend as the junior quarterback completed nearly 72 percent of his passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 44 rushing yards on 14 attempts and three rushing touchdowns. At 5-2, LSU is on the verge of bowl eligibility in their first season under Brian Kelly and the play of Daniels is a huge reason why.
RB Chase Brown, Illinois – Not many had Illinois with a winning record this year, let alone ranked at midseason. A huge reason why is the play of Brown, who had 233 yards of total offense (180 yards rushing) in the Illini’s 26-14 win over Minnesota. Brown runs consistently between the tackles but has shown some nice get-up once he reaches the second-level.
QB KJ Jefferson, Arkansas – The Razorbacks looked strong over the weekend in a 52-35 win at BYU, a game where their junior quarterback looked impressive. He had 367 passing yards and five passing touchdowns as Arkansas snapped a two-game losing streak.
DE Myles Murphy, Clemson – The line from Clemson is last weekend’s win over Florida State was impressive. Murphy had six total tackles, with 3.5 tackles for a loss and two sacks. He also added a forced fumble in an impressive performance off the edge for the Tigers on his way to being named the Bendarik Award’s Player of the Week.
LB Jacoby Windmon, Michigan State – Michigan State got a much-needed win over Wisconsin on Saturday with Windmon making plays all over the field. He finished with 11 tackles including two tackles for a loss. He also had a forced fumble and an interception for ‘Sparty.’
DE Akheem Mesidor, Miami – Unstoppable off the edge, Mesidor had 3.5 sacks in a 20-14 at Virginia Tech. Mesidor finished the game with eight total tackles as Miami evened their record to 3-3.
DE David Perales, Fresno State – The Bulldogs may just be 2-4 on the season, but they are coming off a strong win over a solid San Jose State – a win in which Perales played a huge role. Talk about efficiency: Perales had five tackles in the win. Four of them were sacks.
LB Jaylan Ford, Texas – In a 24-21 win over Iowa State, Ford did a lot of everything. The junior linebacker had eight total tackles, two fumble recoveries and an interception to key a solid effort from the Longhorns defense.
LB David Ugwoegbu, Oklahoma – It has been a down season for the Sooners, but Saturday’s win over No. 19 Kansas certainly has the feel of something that could turn the season around. Ugwoegbu had eight total tackles (five solo) including a sack, two tackles for a loss and a quarterback hurry as Oklahoma got the upset win.
DB DeAndre Boykins, North Carolina – Following on a strong performance the week in before a win over Miami, Boykins had seven tackles, a sack, 1.5 tackles for a loss and a quarterback hurry as the Tar Heels got a win at Duke over the weekend.