College Football's All-Week 12 Team: Top Performers at Every Position
For a fan with zero rooting interest, Week 12 might have been the best week of the season. It didn't have the chaos of Week 6 or Week 11, but it had the best combination of upsets, drama, big games and singular performances.
The last of those ingredients was the most important. Week 12 featured the breaking of an FBS record, and a notable one at that. And it only took three quarters for the player in question to break it.
Yes. He was That. Freaking. Good.
Before we continue with the rest of the list, here is your weekly reminder that the All-Week team is not based on raw statistics. The player with the biggest numbers did not necessarily make the team. Stats were a primary factor, but only after they were weighed against context (opponent, situation, location, game film, etc.).
Sound off below and let us know who you would add.
First-Team Quarterback
1 of 22
J.T. Barrett, Ohio State
15-of-25, 200 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT; 17 carries, 189 yards, 1 TD
J.T. Barrett was not as good against Minnesota as he was against Michigan State, but in a soft week for quarterbacks, he was good enough to repeat his spot on the first team.
Who else was better?
Barrett had 389 total yards against a solid Gophers defense in a snowy, defense-friendly environment, highlighting his performance with an 86-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. The run was the longest by an Ohio State QB in program history and the longest by any player since Eddie George broke an 87-yarder in 1995.
"Early in the season we had no idea who J.T. Barrett was," head coach Urban Meyer told reporters after the game. "We have a very clear picture now."
That picture looks a lot like a Heisman contender.
Second-Team Quarterback
2 of 22
Tyrone Swoopes, Texas
24-of-33, 305 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Tyrone Swoopes heard (and earned) a lot of criticism at the start of the season, but he has slowly improved during Big 12 play and now looks like he might be a real, live, actual quarterback.
The Texas Longhorns hung 28 points on Oklahoma State in Stillwater, controlling the clock for more than 38 minutes by converting 11 of 19 third downs. Swoopes managed the offense and made assured decisions throughout, flashing a newfound skill for deep accuracy on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Armanti Foreman.
"Tyrone (Swoopes) played exceptional tonight," quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson told reporters after the game. "He did a lot of good things and handled a lot of things well at the line of scrimmage."
After starting the year 2-4, Swoopes has helped the Longhorns earn bowl eligibility with a game left to spare. If he can lead a College Football Playoff-relevant upset over TCU on Thanksgiving, it would be hard to call Charlie Strong's first season a failure.
First-Team Running Back
3 of 22Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
25 carries, 408 yards, 4 TD
Melvin Gordon broke the FBS record with 408 rushing yards in one game, and he did it on just 25 carries. The previous record holder, LaDainian Tomlinson, needed 43 carries to gain two fewer yards.
Gordon broke the record on the last play of the third quarter.
He didn't break it against Purdue or Indiana or some overmatched MAC school, either. He broke it against Nebraska, the one team Wisconsin looked up to in the Big Ten West standings.
"This game meant a lot," Gordon told reporters after the game. "Forget about the statistics. I knew if we lost this game, it would be tough for us to get in the Big Ten Championship. It was pretty much the end of the road for us. These last few games are very important."
Nothing Gordon said is untrue…but we're not going to "forget about the statistics." Not when they say he ran for .23 of a mile.
Not when they're the best we've ever seen.
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Second-Team Running Back
4 of 22
Tevin Coleman, Indiana
32 carries, 307 yards, 1 TD
Tevin Coleman picked a bad week to rush for 307 yards. He was barely within 100 yards of the conference's leading rusher.
Oh, well.
Coleman has played every bit as well as Melvin Gordon this season. He's just done it for a far worse team. Indiana lost 45-23 at Rutgers, despite Coleman's outburst, dropping to 0-6 in conference play.
But don't worry, Hoosiers. We'll always have Columbia, Missouri.
First-Team Wide Receiver
5 of 22
Nelson Agholor, USC
16 receptions, 216 yards, 2 TD
Nelson Agholor has a career night against Cal, helping stake USC to a 31-2 first-half lead that even the cardiac Trojans couldn't find a way to blow (although they did their best to try).
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Cody Kessler targeted Agholor on 21 of his 42 passes, averaging 10.3 yards on those attempts. Agholor's 13 first-half receptions were the most by an FBS player in the first half of a game since Tyler Jones of Eastern Michigan caught 14 in 2008.
Fourteen of Agholor's 16 total catches gained a first down.
Not too shabby.
Second-Team Wide Receiver
6 of 22
Will Fuller, Notre Dame
9 receptions, 159 yards, 3 TD
Will Fuller did everything in his power to help Notre Dame avoid a shameful home loss to Northwestern, and even though he failed in that endeavor, he deserves credit for the best game of his career.
The Irish rebounded from their first deficit of the game when Fuller caught a 23-yard touchdown in the second quarter and took an eight-point lead when he caught one from the same distance in the third. His third touchdown of the day, an 11-yard catch in the fourth quarter, put Notre Dame up 40-29 with 10:34 left to play.
If not for the play of Fuller, an embarrassing overtime upset might have been an embarrassing blowout upset. He couldn't save the Irish from what Keith Arnold of Bleacher Report called "the worst loss of the Brian Kelly era," but he provided a silver-ish lining.
First-Team Tight End
7 of 22
Jimmay Mundine, Kansas
7 receptions, 137 yards, 1 TD
Kansas played well for the second consecutive week, and tight end Jimmay Mundine was again one of its biggest catalysts.
His 13-yard touchdown in the second quarter gave the Jayhawks a 13-7 lead over TCU, capping a drive in which he had three catches for 50 yards. On the first drive of the second half, he caught two passes for 77 yards, setting up the touchdown that put them up 20-10.
Even though the lead didn't hold, Mundine finished with the first 100-yard game by a Kansas tight end since Dwayne Chandler in 1995. His 137 yards were the most by any Jayhawks tight end since 1974.
Second-Team Tight End
8 of 22
Clive Walford, Miami
4 receptions, 127 yards, 1 TD
Clive Walford fumbled on Miami's first possession against Florida State, but from there on out he played fantastic.
He caught a 22-yard pass on the Hurricanes' third drive that helped set up a Duke Johnson touchdown and followed that up with a sprinting 61-yard touchdown catch of his own two drives later. He was one of the biggest reasons for Miami's (short-lived) 16-point lead.
The 6'4" senior topped 100 receiving yards for the first time since 2012 against South Florida. He has been a pleasant surprise this entire season and might be playing his way into a high NFL draft pick.
First-Team Offensive Line
9 of 22
Wisconsin
It's redundant to make the first-team offensive line the same unit that blocked for the first-team running back. I get that. I know. I try to avoid doing that. And most weeks I am able to succeed.
But this week there was no way around it.
Wisconsin's offensive line paved the way for Melvin Gordon's historic game, opening chasms in Nebraska's defense (which to that point had been decent against the run).
All things told, the Badgers rushed for 581 total yards. According to ESPN State & Info, Nebraska has allowed the most rushing yards in program history in each of its last two games against Wisconsin (the first being the 2012 Big Ten title game).
Here's what Gordon told reporters of his line after the game:
"Like I said earlier, it showed Melvin Gordon and 408 yards, but it should have everyone up there, all the offensive linemen because they really made it easy for me today. And they allowed me to have a lot of one on one matchups. And it's kind of been like that all season. Those guys have really been looking out for me. I couldn't thank them more.
"
Don't sleep on Wisconsin to win the conference.
Second-Team Offensive Line
10 of 22
Missouri
Missouri rushed for 335 yards at Texas A&M, relying on its offensive line to control the line of scrimmage in a 34-27 win.
The Tigers also pitched a clean sheet with their pass blocking, not allowing a single quarterback sack. Maty Mauk was given time to survey the field and ended up with one of his least awful games of the year.
Somehow, someway, this team still controls its fate in the SEC. The offensive and defensive lines are the biggest reasons why.
First-Team Defensive End
11 of 22
Nate Orchard, Utah
10 tackles (3.5 TFL), 3.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble
Nate Orchard is the leader of Utah's defense and (should be) one of the top candidates for the Bednarik and Nagurski awards.
His 3.5 sacks at Stanford pushed his season total up to 16.5—tied with Hau'oli Kikaha for the national lead. They also vaulted him past Jimmy Bellamy (15) for the single-season Utah sack record.
Orchard recorded his final sack on the first play of the second overtime, pushing Stanford into a 2nd-and-18 that eventually became a 4th-and-19 and a 51-yard field goal. Utah scored on the ensuing possession to seal the 20-17 win and advance to 7-3 on the season.
Second-Team Defensive End
12 of 22
Henry Anderson, Stanford
11 tackles (5.5 TFL), 3 sacks
Henry Anderson played just as well as Nate Orchard and only made the second team because Orchard's team beat his team.
To be honest, though, the two defensive ends were a wash. Anderson is a fifth-year senior who made his final home game count with career highs across the board (tackles, tackles for loss and sacks).
"So many guys playing their last home game today played so hard and played so well. Henry being at the top of that," head coach David Shaw told reporters after the loss. "Just a relentless high effort, energy. Beat double-teams. Second effort and third effort to get tackles for loss."
What a fitting end to Anderson's home career.
First-Team Defensive Tackle
13 of 22
Danny Shelton, Washington
9 tackles (2.5 TFL), 1 sack
Danny Shelton got his production back on track against Arizona, leading Washington to a near-upset of a top-15 team.
The 6'2", 339-pound nose tackle had 9.5 tackles for loss in the first four games of the season but only four in the six ensuing games, but he made the Wildcats offensive line look as hapless as he did those of Hawaii, Eastern Washington and Georgia State.
"Danny Shelton outgrew the college game a while ago," tweeted SB Nation's Washington blog, UW Dawg Pound, during the game.
It's about time he starts picking on people his own size.
Second-Team Defensive Tackle
14 of 22
Leonard Williams, USC
8 tackles (1.5 TFL), 1.5 sacks
Leonard Williams rounds out an All-Week 12 defensive line that might eventually become the All-Pac-12 defensive line.
Worship at the altar of the 12!
Williams got a frequent push into Cal's backfield, sacking Jared Goff 1.5 times and making an impact that exceeded the box score. Even when he took on a double-team, he fired off the line and won the rep.
Bleacher Report's Matt Miller ranked Williams the No. 3 overall draft prospect on his post-Week 11 big board, behind Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston. That would make him the No. 1 non-quarterback.
Sounds about right to me.
First-Team Outside Linebacker
15 of 22
Joe Schobert, Wisconsin
11 tackles (2.5 TFL), 0.5 sacks, 1 pass breakup, 1 fumble recovery
Melvin Gordon stole the headlines (and rightfully so), but he wasn't the only Wisconsin player who balled out in Week 12.
Joe Schobert, for example, was a missile for the Badgers defense, leading a unit that held Nebraska to 180 yards. Gordon's supposed equal, Ameer Abdullah, rushed for 69 yards on 18 carries.
In addition to his 11 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss—both of which were career highs—Schobert recovered his first career fumble when Wisconsin trailed 17-10. Corey Clement scored the game-tying touchdown two plays later, opening the floodgates in a 59-24 win.
"It’s just a great feeling," Schobert told reporters after the game. "Those turnovers have been especially big because we hadn’t gotten a lot of those so far this year. And those opportunities presented themselves today, so it was a great overall team defense."
Second-Team Outside Linebacker
16 of 22
Dante Fowler Jr., Florida
6 tackles (2 TFL), 1 sack, 4 QB hurries
Special teams cost Florida a game it should have won against South Carolina, but the Gators defense—like usual—did its part.
Leading that Gators defense—again, like usual—was Dante Fowler Jr., one of the few Florida players who has lived up to expectations. He swarmed into the backfield whenever it seemed he wanted to, sacking Dylan Thompson once and hurrying him four more times.
"Fowler is the best at what he does, at the college level," tweeted Bleacher Report's Michael Felder. "Just a knack for both inside and outside moves to stay disruptive."
That should translate to the next level, too.
First-Team Inside Linebacker
17 of 22
Amarlo Herrera, Georgia
12 tackles (1 TFL), 1 INT
Florida rushed for 418 yards against Georgia, leading many (this author included) to think the Bulldogs would get stomped by Auburn. After the Tigers' first possession of the game—a 10-play, 70-yard-touchdown march—it appeared that that might be the case.
It wasn't.
Auburn didn't score for the rest of the evening, and its running game, which by some accounts was the best in the country, finished with just 150 yards on 35 carries. Everyone on Georgia's defense deserves a helmet sticker, but Amarlo Herrera stood out.
"We just ran to the ball on every play," Herrera told reporters after the game. "We practiced that way all week. We practiced with the mindset that we were going to get to the ball and we weren't going to let them run on us."
Mindset: accomplished.
Second-Team Inside Linebacker
18 of 22
Paul Dawson, TCU
9 tackles (2 TFL), 1 sacks, 2 pass breakups
Paul Dawson continued to play at an All-Big-12 level at Kansas, helping TCU escape Lawrence with its playoff hopes intact.
Especially in the first half, Dawson stopped a small Kansas lead from ballooning into a big one, making things happen in a miscellany of ways. He forced a fumble. He registered a sack. He broke up a third-down pass to Justin McCay.
Everything the Horned Frogs needed, Dawson provided.
Story of their 2014 season.
First-Team Cornerback
19 of 22
Jared Collins, Arkansas
7 tackles, 4 pass breakups
Jared Collins exorcised his demons against LSU, which was easily one of the coolest moments of Week 12.
Last year Arkansas led the Tigers 27-24 until Collins was burned for a 49-yard touchdown by Travin Dural with 1:16 left to play. It's unclear whether Collins or a coverage breakdown was the central issue that allowed Dural to score, but Collins was the scapegoat regardless.
Saturday, however, was a drastically different story. LSU gained 123 total yards with an offensive game plan that relied on targeting Collins down the field. But Collins locked down the perimeter, breaking up four passes—including three against his nemesis, Dural—and registering seven tackles. Dural finished with five catches for 46 yards.
The result was the first conference win of Collins' career.
Second-Team Cornerback
20 of 22
Steven Nelson, Oregon State
10 tackles, 3 pass breakups
Steven Nelson held his own (and then some) against Jaelen Strong, helping Oregon State upset No. 6 Arizona State in Corvallis.
The 5'11" cornerback fought hard despite a four-inch height disadvantage, breaking up three passes. Two of those breakups came in coverage against Strong, and one came on a third-down against running back D.J. Foster. The last of Nelson's breakups was on a 50-50 ball with a collision so physical that Strong had to exit the game.
Michael Doctor iced the upset with a pick-six the following play.
First-Team Safety
21 of 22
Jalen Ramsey, Florida State
3 tackles (1 TFL), 1 INT, 1 forced fumble, 4 pass breakups, 1 QB hurry, 1 blocked PAT
What did Jalen Ramsey not do in Week 12?
He forced a turnover on Miami's first possession. He blocked an extra point. He hurried Brad Kaaya on a crucial third down. He broke up four passes. And he intercepted Kaaya to end the game.
"Jalen Ramsey played the best single game I've seen any defensive player play this year," tweeted Spencer Hall of SB Nation.
Godspeed trying to find the game that proves him wrong.
Second-Team Safety
22 of 22
Nick Perry, Alabama
12 tackles (0.5 TFL), 1 INT
Any number of Alabama defenders could have made this list.
A'Shawn Robinson was great. Reggie Ragland was great. Cyrus Jones was great. Landon Collins was great. Et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam.
But Nick Perry was the best of the group and gets to represent the Crimson Tide by proxy after their 25-20 "upset" over No. 1 Mississippi State. He had 12 tackles (nine solo) and the first of three interceptions that derailed Dak Prescott's Heisman campaign.
He was everywhere for all 60 minutes.
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