College Football's All-Week 10 Team: Top Performers at Every Position
Week 10 was the first week in history played in knowledge of the College Football Playoff rankings, but those rankings did not always hold true in their first on-field test.
No. 11 Georgia was flattened by unranked Florida, No. 12 Arizona lost at No. 22 UCLA and other highly ranked teams such as No. 1 Mississipi State, No. 2 Florida State, No. 7 TCU and No. 10 Notre Dame struggled to put away "lesser" opponents.
Half of the supposed Top 12 teams were either tested or beaten, which I think makes Week 10 a success despite the lack of outright upsets. In those games and in others, underdogs and favorites alike got enough great individual performances to win.
A weekly reminder: This list is composed by weighing stats against opponent and context. The players with the biggest numbers did not necessarily make the team. Raw totals were superseded, on occasion, based on whom those totals were posted against and how the player in question looked in posting them.
Sound off below to let us know whom else you'd add.
First-Team Quarterback
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Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee
23-of-40, 301 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; 24 carries, 166 yards, 3 TD
Tennessee burned Joshua Dobbs' redshirt a week ago against Alabama, so there was no reason not to start the Dobbs Era in earnest in Week 10.
It's hard to imagine a much better debut.
Dobbs willed the Volunteers back from a late two-touchdown deficit at South Carolina, finishing with 467 total yards and five touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns came on fourth-down conversions—one a QB draw that caught South Carolina off guard at the end of the first half, the other a screen pass to Jalen Hurd in the fourth quarter.
Tennessee won 45-42 in overtime, improving to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in SEC play. If Dobbs can mine two wins from home games against Kentucky and Missouri and a road trip to Vanderbilt, the Vols will cap a supposed "one-year-away" season with a trip to a bowl game.
Athlon Sports named Dobbs its National Player of the Week.
Second-Team Quarterback
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Nick Marshall, Auburn
15-of-22, 254 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; 10 carries, 50 yards, 2 TD
Nick Marshall solved the Ole Miss defense, leading Auburn to 507 yards of total offense (7.46 yards per play) and 35 points in Oxford. The Rebels entered allowing an FBS-best average of 10.5 points per game.
Auburn scored four touchdowns in a five-possession stretch between the end of the first half and the fourth quarter, highlighted by three straight touchdown drives in the second half. Those latter three drives were methodical, clocking in at 73 yards in seven plays, 96 yards in 11 plays and 75 yards in nine plays, respectively.
But Marshall, more than anything else, killed the Rebels with his ability to extend plays and stretch the field. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he completed five of eight passes thrown at least 15 yards down the field, averaging 34.1 yards in the air of those attempts.
Is there anything this guy can't do?
First-Team Running Back(s)
3 of 22Matt Jones/Kelvin Taylor, Florida
50 carries, 389 yards, 4 TD; 1 reception, 12 yards
Florida gained 445 yards of total offense, despite throwing only six passes in a 38-20 win over Georgia. The Bulldogs knew what (rather, who) was coming, but they still couldn't stop it (rather, them).
When the final whistle blew, the running back tandem of Matt Jones and Kelvin Taylor had amassed 401 total yards on 51 touches. The Gators rushed for 418 yards as a team, their highest total in an SEC game since 1975 (or any game since Emmitt Smith led them to 466 yards against New Mexico in 1989), per ESPN Stats & Info.
"We were going to pound them and pound them and were going to keep pounding them," said Taylor, whose father, Fred, played some equally impressive games at EverBank Field as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. "We weren't going to be be denied."
"They knew we were going to run the ball," Jones added, "but we still ran the ball on them."
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Second-Team Running Back
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Brian Hill, Wyoming
23 carries, 281 yards, 2 TD; 3 receptions, 106 yards
There was no shortage of qualified candidates from bigger-name schools than Wyoming. Duke Johnson of Miami, Shaq Thompson of Washington and James Conner of Pittsburgh all come to mind.
But, man—take a look at that stat line.
Brian Hill needed just 26 touches to gain 387 yards of offense against Fresno State, carrying Wyoming to a 45-17 rout. It was the most single-game scrimmage yards in Mountain West Conference history.
Hill is a true freshman who had barely seen the field before playing well against Colorado State last weekend. He was a 2-star recruit and the No. 2,872 overall player on the 247Sports composite rankings, receiving scholarship offers from just four FBS programs.
Recruiting rankings matter, but they aren't gospel. If ever you needed a reminder of that, flick on the tape from this game.
First-Team Wide Receiver
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Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina
11 receptions, 233 yards, 2 TD; 3 carries, 23 yards, 1 TD; 1-of-2, 30 yards, 1 TD
Pharoh Cooper has been Mr. Everything for South Carolina this season—and never was that more true than in Week 10.
The numbers above might actually undersell Cooper's performance. In addition to carrying the passing game (both with his hands and with his arm) and rushing for an 11-yard touchdown, he recovered an onside kick in the fourth quarter that appeared to put South Carolina in good shape to win.
"When South Carolina needs a play, it gets it from Pharoh Cooper," tweeted Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee. "[Offense, defense, special teams…it] doesn't really matter.
"Dude could kick and then hit 68 at Augusta."
Second-Team Wide Receiver
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Nelson Agholor, USC
8 receptions, 220 yards, 1 TD; 65-yard punt return TD
Nelson Agholor got things started with a 65-yard punt-return touchdown for the first score of the game against Washington State, and he didn't look back from there.
After the Cougars scored 10 unanswered points to claw within two scores of USC late in the third quarter, Agholor squashed any hope of a comeback with an 87-yard touchdown reception.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Agholor is the first FBS player to log 200 or more receiving yards and a punt-return touchdown in the same game since Oklahoma State's Dez Bryant in 2008.
That isn't the worst name to be mentioned with.
First-Team Tight End
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Evan Engram, Ole Miss
8 receptions, 123 yards, 1 TD
Evan Engram flies under the radar in Ole Miss' ballyhooed class of sophomores, but he has been every bit as valuable as Robert Nkemdiche, Laquon Treadwell, Laremy Tunsil, Tony Conner, et al.
The shifty tight end led Ole Miss with 123 receiving yards on eight catches, highlighted by a 50-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Engram caught the pass six yards down the field but ducked through the first wave of Auburn defenders and outran the second wave to find the end zone and give Ole Miss a 10-point lead.
"Since we have such beasts outside in Laquon [Treadwell], Vince [Sanders], Cody [Core] and Quincy [Adeboyejo], the middle sometimes opens up," Engram said after the game. "The plays required my number being called, and I made plays tonight."
That has not been a one-week occurrence.
Second-Team Tight End
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Clive Walford, Miami
6 receptions, 89 yards, 2 TD
Clive Walford is a stand-in for the entire Miami offense, which gained 397 yards before its opponent, North Carolina, even reached 60.
Quietly emerging as one of the best tight ends in the country, Walford caught a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, during which the Hurricanes turned a 7-0 lead into a 30-6 lead by halftime.
Equal snaps go to running back Duke Johnson, quarterback Brad Kaaya and every player on the offensive line. All of them could have made this team if not for positional density at their spots.
First-Team Offensive Line
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Oregon
Oregon's offensive line has gotten better each week since left tackle Jake Fisher returned to the lineup, apexing with a thorough domination of its supposed defensive kryptonite, Stanford.
Led by quarterback Marcus Mariota and running backs Royce Freeman and Thomas Tyner, the Ducks rushed for 267 yards on 48 carries. Some of that was to the credit of the skill players (see: this circle-button spin move by Tyner), but a healthy portion of those yards were won in the trenches.
According to the S&P+ ratings at Football Outsiders, Stanford entered Week 10 with the No. 2 overall defense and No. 1 run defense in the country. It held Washington State, Arizona State and Oregon State to 100 rushing yards on 86 carries in its three previous games and had only allowed four rushing touchdowns all season.
Oregon had four rushing touchdowns on Saturday alone.
Second-Team Offensive Line
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma made quick work of Iowa State in Ames, excelling more than anywhere along the offensive line.
The Sooners rushed for 510 yards on 59 carries—an average of 8.6 yards per carry—highlighted by 146 yards from quarterback Trevor Knight, 144 yards from Alex Ross and 110 yards from Samaje Perine. David Smith got in on the action with 76 rushing yards, too.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Oklahoma's 311 first-half rushing yards were the most by any team against a power-five opponent this season, passing Nebraska's 288-yard first half against Illinois.
Not a shabby tuneup before the Baylor game.
First-Team Defensive End
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Derek Barnett, Tennessee
5 tackles (3 TFL), 3 sacks, 2 QB hurries
Texas A&M freshman Myles Garrett had 3.5 sacks against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, breaking Jadeveon Clowney's record for sacks by an SEC freshman. He is third in the country with 11 so far this season.
But he might not be the SEC's best freshman pass-rusher.
Crazy as it sounds, that title might belong to Tennessee's Derek Barnett, who had three sacks and a pair of QB hurries in the 45-42 win over South Carolina. One of those sacks came in the overtime period, pushing the Gamecocks out of range for the game-tying field goal.
Barnett has four less sacks (seven) than Garrett but more tackles for loss (14 to 12.5). Garrett has recorded 73 percent of his sacks and 72 percent of his tackles for loss against Lamar, Rice and UL-Monroe. Barnett has recorded 100 percent of his sacks and 89 percent of his tackles for loss against Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama and South Carolina.
You can be the judge on who's been better.
Second-Team Defensive End
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Trey Flowers, Arkansas
7 tackles (2 TFL), 2 QB hurries
It is unfair, in so many ways, that Trey Flowers might graduate on a 20-game SEC losing streak. He deserves to win one so freakin' bad.
Flowers was a nuisance against Mississippi State on Saturday, living in the Bulldogs backfield and harrying Dak Prescott into a bad game. He didn't record a sack, but anyone who watched noticed his presence. He was at most points the best player on the field.
"It is pretty tough for how much we worked, and how much we put into it," Flowers said after the loss. "…We are just going to have to get over it, go back to work and work even harder."
Flowers will have three more shots to win a conference game: home against LSU and Ole Miss and on the road against Missouri.
First-Team Defensive Tackle
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Louis Trinca-Pasat, Iowa
5 tackles (3 TFL), 3 sacks, 1 QB hurry
Louis Trinca-Pasat does not get the NFL attention of his teammate, Carl Davis, but he has been equally important to Iowa.
He was especially important in the first half against Northwestern, recording three sacks in the first 26 minutes. They weren't baby sacks, either: Combined they cost the Wildcats 29 yards.
Trinca-Pasat is from Chicago and holds a grudge against the Wildcats for not offering him a scholarship. "They said they would, depending on my ACT [score]," he told Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. "[But] I took my ACT and they never gave me an offer."
Way to keep them local boys at home.
Second-Team Defensive Tackle
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Maliek Collins, Nebraska
5 tackles (1 TFL), 1 sack, 3 QB hurries
It is starting to become more remarkable when Maliek Collins misses the All-Week team than when he makes it.
Nebraska's "other" star defensive lineman teamed with Randy Gregory and the rest of the Blackshirts to keep Purdue's offense at bay in Lincoln, holding the Boilermakers to 14 points and 4.36 yards per play. In their previous two road games, they averaged 38 points and 7.95 yards per play.
"[Nebraska head coach] Bo Pelini compared Collins to Glenn Dorsey last week, and Collins lived up to that by being a disruptive force all game," wrote Brian Bennett of ESPN.com, who gave Collins a Big Ten helmet sticker for his performance in Week 10.
Nebraska's defense is (a lot) better than most people realize.
First-Team Outside Linebacker
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Kris Frost, Auburn
9 tackles (0.5 TFL), 0.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble
Kris Frost made what might have been the biggest play of the season against Ole Miss: a goal-line strip of Laquon Treadwell that unfortunately became bittersweet when Treadwell suffered a serious leg injury and had to be carted off the field in manifest pain.
Treadwell will miss the rest of the season, and we wish him the best in his recovery, but that doesn't change the magnitude of what Frost did. Treadwell was bounding toward the end zone to put Ole Miss up 38-35, but Frost made a sublime hustle play to catch him from behind, jar the ball lose and (potentially) save Auburn's season.
"They were killing us with slants the entire game," Frost said after the win. "Treadwell is a very fast and physical guy so when my teammates held him up, I felt the ball was loose and I made a play."
And with that play, Auburn survived its first "elimination game."
Second-Team Outside Linebacker
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Dante Fowler Jr., Florida
6 tackles (2.5 TFL), 1 sack, 1 QB hurry
Dante Fowler Jr. was the best defender on the field against Georgia, teaming up with Antonio Morrison and Vernon Hargreaves III to make the Gators of 2014 look like the Gators of old (however briefly).
Chase Goodbread of NFL.com took notice:
"[Fowler's] explosive first step was on full display Saturday against the Bulldogs. [He] didn't play the entire game, instead taking a couple of series off as early as the first quarter, but if the goal was to keep him fresh, it was achieved, because he looked especially sharp late in the game.
Georgia tight end Jeb Blazevich had a few one-on-one blocking assignments on Fowler that Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo would probably like to have back, one resulting in a tackle for loss and another in a six-yard sack of Hutson Mason. Fowler also dropped Chubb for a loss of four late in the game as Florida's defense began to stiffen.
"
Fowler played the run well against Georgia but is especially dangerous when he's allowed to pin his ears back and get after the QB.
When Nick Chubb tried to pass-protect against Fowler in the first half, it was the first time Chubb has looked like a freshman all season.
First-Team Inside Linebacker
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Scooby Wright III, Arizona
19 tackles (4.5 TFL), 3 sacks
Scooby Wright did work against UCLA, helping Arizona hold the Bruins' typically high-scoring offense to 17 points.
The numbers above tell the story of the game for Arizona's defense, which relied on Wright to force negative plays in the backfield and to mitigate positive plays at the second level. The 19 tackles, three sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss were all career highs.
For the season, Wright ranks No. 7 in the country with 97 tackles, No. 3 with 11 sacks, No. 2 with 18.5 tackles for loss and No. 1 with five forced fumbles. He deserves to be a first-team All-American.
Scooby Wright did work against UCLA, helping Arizona hold the Bruins' typically high-scoring offense to 17 points.
The numbers above tell the story of the game for Arizona's defense, which relied on Wright to force negative plays in the backfield and to mitigate positive plays at the second level. The 19 tackles, three sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss were all career highs.
For the season, Wright ranks No. 7 in the country with 97 tackles, No. 3 with 11 sacks, No. 2 with 18.5 tackles for loss and No. 1 with five forced fumbles. He deserves to be a first team All-American.
Second-Team Inside Linebacker
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Jake Ryan, Michigan
11 tackles (2.5 TFL), 2 forced fumbles
Jake Ryan has been a bright spot for Michigan this season, and he played perhaps his best game of the year against Indiana.
He forced a fumble on each of the Hoosiers' first two possessions, both times knocking the ball away from running back Tevin Coleman. Indiana recovered the first, but Michigan recovered the second to set up the its first touchdown of the game, staking it to an early 10-0 lead.
Coleman leads the country in rushing yards per game, but he didn't touch the ball on the ensuing three possessions after Ryan so clearly had his number. He finished with a season-low 108 rushing yards, thanks in large part to Ryan's contributions.
First-Team Cornerback
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Kevin White, TCU
7 tackles (2 TFL), 1 pass breakup
TCU's Kevin White won the battle of the Kevin Whites in Morgantown, holding his namesake, one of the best wide receivers in the country, to three catches for 28 yards and no touchdowns.
His coverage earned him a spot on this list, but TCU's White was active in other facets of the game, too, finishing with seven tackles and two tackles for loss. One of those TFLs came on a 3rd-and-4 pass to West Virginia's White, forcing the Mountaineers to punt.
His one pass breakup came on a 2nd-and-10 in the fourth quarter—again when matched up with his namesake—and set up a 3rd-and-10 sack that forced yet another West Virginia punt.
Second-Team Cornerback
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Kenya Dennis, Missouri
3 tackles (1.5 TFL), 4 pass breakups
Kenya Dennis was everywhere for a Missouri defense that shut down quarterback Patrick Towles and held Kentucky to just 10 points.
He broke up a 3rd-and-7 pass to Dorian Baker on Kentucky's first possession of the second half and tackled Braylon Heard on a 4th-and-8 the following possession. The Wildcats could never find the rhythm they found against teams such as Florida and Mississippi State, testing Missouri down the field but rarely inviting success.
"Missouri's defense is better; secondary is better than Mississippi State's," Towles told reporters after the game.
The numbers say he isn't far off track.
First-Team Safety
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Erick Dargan, Oregon
12 tackles, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble
Erick Dargan broke the game open against Stanford, forcing a pair of second-half turnovers that helped Oregon bury the Cardinal.
First, he intercepted Kevin Hogan on the goal line after Stanford marched into scoring position on its first drive of the third quarter. At the time, the score was 24-13. The Cardinal were threatening to pull within one score, but Dargan made sure that wasn't so.
Later, with the score now 31-16, Dargan forced a fumble on a Hogan rush attempt that Tony Washington recovered near midfield and ran back to the Cardinal 30-yard line. Marcus Mariota scored three plays later, and the outcome was never again in dispute.
Second-Team Safety
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Anthony Jefferson, UCLA
7 tackles, 4 pass breakups
Anthony Jefferson is the second in-by-proxy member of this list, representing a UCLA defense that dominated Arizona in Pasadena.
The Wildcats entered averaging 540.9 yards and 40.6 points per game, but UCLA held them to 255 and seven, respectively. Quarterback Anu Solomon completed just 18 of 48 passes for 3.6 yards per attempt, four times having a throw broken up by Jefferson.
"That was just doing your job," said UCLA head coach Jim Mora Jr. of his defense's performance. "Doing it right and trusting the guy next to you. Trust is a big word and an important word when you play defense. And I think that we did that tonight."
Jefferson, a redshirt senior who moves around the lineup a la LaMarcus Joyner at Florida State last season, is one of the leaders of this unit. When the defense plays together, trusting in each other as Mora described, it is often to the credit of the veterans.
Everyone on UCLA's defense played a heck of a game on Saturday.
But Jefferson had a hand in almost everything.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
