Legit or Nah? Verdicts for College Football's Top Week 4 Performances
If you like watching running backs shred defensive front sevens, Week 4 of the 2017 college football season was the week for you. Kansas' Khalil Herbert had the best rushing performance of the season, headlining a brigade of guys who ran for at least 200 yards.
There were some impressive passing and receiving showings as well, with five guys throwing for at least 400 yards and three scores and half-dozen players with 11-reception games.
Somehow, there was still room for great defense, too, including one heck of a Thursday night statement from South Florida's D.
Were these top performances legit, or not so much?
Legit doesn't mean we think the player (or unit or team) will put up season averages on par with this incredible game. Nor does a "nah" mean we think the entity will crash and burn. Rather, it's a question of whether we believe the player, unit or team will still be a significant national factor at the end of the year.
Taking the opponent, the circumstances and the history into consideration, we'll let you know whether these Week 4 stars are legitimate candidates for huge years.
Manny Wilkins, Arizona State QB
1 of 10
Just when the college football world was starting to buy stock in Oregon's return to prominence, the Ducks went on the road and lost to Arizona State. They didn't play terribly. They just weren't quite able to keep pace with Manny Wilkins.
The gunslinger for the Sun Devils threw for 347 yards and one touchdown, doing almost all of his damage via two targets. N'Keal Harry and Jalen Harvey were responsible for 15 of his 24 completions and 303 of the yards. A good chunk of that yardage came on one play when he connected with Harvey for a 63-yard strike.
One passing touchdown isn't much, but he also rushed for 35 yards and two more scores, pacing Arizona State to the 37-35 upset.
Verdict: Legit
Coming into the season, it felt like it would only be a matter of time before Alabama transfer Blake Barnett was given an extended audition for this starting job. After all, Wilkins threw for 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season and did his best work against the dreadful secondaries of Arizona and Texas Tech.
But 2017 has been a different story—aside from the part about torching Texas Tech's defense, which he did again in Week 3. Wilkins has thrown for at least 298 yards and a score in each of his four games. He has at least one 50-yard pass in each of those contests and is tied with Ole Miss' Shea Patterson for the national lead in passes of 50-plus yards.
Most importantly, Wilkins has eight passing touchdowns without a single interception. He's no Baker Mayfield or Mason Rudolph, but Wilkins has quietly put together a better QB rating than those of Lamar Jackson, Trace McSorley and J.T. Barrett.
Meanwhile, Barnett got to play two fourth-quarter series in the season opener against New Mexico State and hasn't seen the field since. Unless Wilkins crashes and burns during this remaining gauntlet of Stanford, Washington, Utah and USC, don't expect to see Barnett again anytime soon. And given how dreadful Arizona State's rushing attack and defense are, Wilkins should be attempting a lot of passes the rest of the way.
Khalil Herbert, Kansas RB
2 of 10
For all of the talk about elite running backs such as Saquon Barkley, Bryce Love, Royce Freeman and Rashaad Penny, a fairly anonymous 5'9" speedster now holds the 2017 lead for rushing yards in a game.
Kansas sophomore Khalil Herbert had 336 career rushing yards in his first 11 games before popping off for a 291-yard, two-TD performance against West Virginia. Herbert set the stage with an 18-yard gain on the first play of the game—part of an opening drive in which he rushed for 70 yards and four first downs.
The biggest chunks were yet to come, though, as he would add a 60-yard gain and a 67-yard touchdown run before the game was through. Factor in his five-yard reception, and Herbert's 296 yards accounted for 52.5 percent of Kansas' total offense in the 56-34 loss.
Verdict: Nah
Though Herbert had six runs of at least 15 yards, 50 percent of his 36 carries went for two yards or fewer—including six for zero or negative yards. When a running back can't gain three yards on more than half of his carries, that's an indictment against the offensive line.
What else is new, though? Prior to this breakout performance from Herbert, Kansas was averaging 3.25 yards per carry and 117.1 yards per game dating back to the start of the 2014 season. This team isn't built to have a 1,000-yard rusher.
That said, Herbert's 36 carries against the Mountaineers are a clear indication that head coach David Beaty wants to get him involved as much as possible. With his speed, perhaps he could handle some punt returns or become a bigger factor in the receiving game. With this offensive line, that might be his only hope of averaging 100 all-purpose yards per game.
Denzel Mims, Baylor WR
3 of 10
Boise State's Cedrick Wilson had 209 receiving yards Friday night. East Carolina's Davon Grayson went for 223 yards Sunday. But no receiver had a bigger day Saturday than Baylor's Denzel Mims.
The sophomore finished with 11 receptions for 192 yards and three touchdowns. And he could have done even more damage, as Zach Smith targeted him on 18 of his 50 pass attempts.
Not too shabby for someone who entered the day with seven catches on the season.
Even though Baylor lost the game, 49-41, Mims was all over the highlight reel. There was the 71-yard touchdown grab, a clutch fourth-down touchdown catch to make things interesting in the closing minutes and the ridiculous juggling catch along the sideline.
Verdict: Legit
Baylor hasn't done a lot right in its 0-4 start to the season, but this team can sure sling the ball down the field. There are 15 players in the nation with at least 400 receiving yards, and the Bears have two of them. Both Mims and Chris Platt have benefited from how often their team is playing from behind and needing to throw the ball to play catch-up.
Platt suffered a knee injury early in the third quarter and did not return, which partially explains why Mims ended up with so many targets. If that knee problem lingers into this coming week and beyond, Mims would be the clear No. 1 receiver in this offense.
Even if he's the No. 2 target, Mims is still dripping with big-play potential. He already has six touchdowns on the season and is tied for the national lead with four receptions of at least 40 yards. More than three-quarters of his catches have gone for at least 10 yards.
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South Florida's Defense
4 of 10
By the end of the Thursday night game between Temple and South Florida, the Owls offense had become a national punching bag. They committed a holding penalty on the first play of the game, and it was all downhill from there.
But pointing fingers and poking fun at Temple's offense would be a disservice to what South Florida's defense accomplished.
Temple entered the night with a 2-1 record, averaging 356.7 yards of total offense per game with just one turnover committed all season. Granted, 356.7 yards isn't much offense in college football, but it's a hell of a lot more than the Bulls let the Owls get.
Temple finished this nightmare with 85 yards of total offense. The Owls had as many first downs as turnovers committed—six of each. Their best drive of the game only went 29 yards, and it ended with a punt on 4th-and-25 after losing yards on three consecutive plays.
Were it not for a strip-sack returned for a fumble against South Florida's offense, this 43-7 game would have been a shutout. And had Quinton Flowers not struggled to get anything going on offense, it might have been a 70-0 blanking.
Verdict: Nah, though it will continue to look good against weak competition
This beating was biblical, but it isn't repeatable.
South Florida has shown clear improvement on defense under head coach Charlie Strong, particularly in the secondary, where it has tallied 12 interceptions while limiting each opponent to a completion percentage of 50 or worse. But it also gave up at least 17 points in each of the first three weeks against San Jose State, Stony Brook and Illinois.
Numerous teams have gotten the "who have they beaten?" treatment from fans in the early going, but it's particularly applicable to South Florida. We'll have that conversation for as long as this team remains undefeated.
USF has scored at least 30 points in 21 consecutive games, and that offense will remain the calling card of the team, despite what the defense just did to poor Temple.
Jeffery Wilson, North Texas RB
5 of 10
Jeffery Wilson was one of six players to rush for at least 200 yards in Week 4. While that's almost par for the course for the likes of Love, Barkley and Mark Walton, Wilson's 211 yards in North Texas' 46-43 win over UAB were a career high.
Herbert did a lot of his damage for Kansas in two huge chunks of 60-plus yards, but that wasn't the case for Wilson. While he had eight carries of at least 12 yards, his longest run of the day was 34. Rather than a couple of haymakers, he beat up UAB's defense with a steady diet of body blows.
Of his 26 carries, 11 either resulted in a first down or a touchdown. Wilson did fumble twice—both of which UAB recovered—but he made up for it with a 34-yard scamper that set up the Mean Green for the game-winning field goal.
Verdict: Legit
Despite playing for a team that went 1-11 and barely averaged 15 points per game, Wilson rushed for 830 yards as a sophomore. He proceeded to gain 936 yards as a junior, and he has averaged at least 7.9 yards per carry in three of four games this season.
North Texas hasn't had much to root for in recent years, but Wilson's 2,508 career yards are an exception to the rule. He is the best part of this offense by far.
Though it'd be silly to expect him to suddenly start averaging 200 yards per game, it seems like a safe bet (barring injury) that he'll at least eclipse 1,300 yards this season. He might even flirt with a spot in the top 10 in the nation in rushing yards per game at the end of the year.
Hayden Moore, Cincinnati QB
6 of 10
By the time Cincinnati managed one first down, it was already in a 14-0 hole against Navy. There were bound to be a lot of pass attempts as the Bearcats attempted to claw their way back into this one.
Hayden Moore shined in the process.
After three-and-outs on the first two drives, Moore led Cincinnati to points on five of its next six possessions. He orchestrated four touchdown drives that went at least 75 yards each, as well as a nine-play possession that resulted in a short field goal. Moore had more completed passes (28) than Cincinnati had rushing attempts (23) to pace the Bearcats to 32 points.
Unfortunately, his 381 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions did nothing to help Cincinnati slow down Navy. The Midshipmen rushed for 569 yards in the 42-32 victory.
Verdict: Legit-ish
At this point, Cincinnati's best hope for points is throwing the ball with reckless abandon. This is one of the worst rushing attacks in the country, averaging 3.1 yards per carry and barely 90 yards per game. It's almost an insult to Moore and his receivers that the Bearcats are bothering to call rushing plays more than 25 times per game.
Thus, the number of pass attempts (46) in this game is legit, and it should only continue to increase moving forward.
What's probably not legit is the efficiency. Moore attempted at least 40 passes in each of the previous two weeks, yielding a combined total of 354 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. Prior to Saturday, he had a career completion percentage of 56.7 with a TD-INT ratio of 25 to 22.
Moore has always had the potential to put it together. He threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in the final game of last season and had a 557-yard game against Memphis in his freshman year. There should be at least one or two more games this season in which Moore puts up a ridiculous stat line, but don't expect his season averages to rank among the top 40 in the country.
Shamad Lomax, New Mexico State DB
7 of 10
New Mexico State sophomore defensive back Shamad Lomax was everywhere in a 41-14 win over UTEP. He had nine tackles (four solo) and a pair of pass deflections to help limit the Miners to just 227 total yards.
But it was the interceptions that made him one of the top performers of the week.
Lomax picked off Ryan Metz not one, not two, but three times in the first half. It was Metz's first multi-interception game since October 2015; however, this was not his day. He completed just six passes and threw more touchdowns to NMSU (one) than he did to UTEP (zero), thanks to the interception Lomax returned 19 yards for a score.
Verdict: Nah
Only 10 players have intercepted three passes in a game since the start of the 2015 season. But it's also a random occurrence that doesn't guarantee future success as a ball hawk.
Several of the players on that list have/had great collegiate careers. In particular, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Damontae Kazee, Karl Joseph and Kai Nacua were already dominating long before their three-pick performances. But Mike Tyson (not that Mike Tyson) only had four interceptions in the other 38 games of his career. Anthony Brown had just one other interception. And the only three interceptions of Cameron Smith's career just so happened to all occur in the same game.
Based on that data, Lomax's chances of becoming a star defensive back are, at best, a coin flip. But let's also factor in the opponent here. UTEP legitimately might be the worst team in the country, and it statistically is the worst offense in the nation in terms of total yards per game. UTEP QBs threw five picks against New Mexico State; Lomax just happened to be the recipient of the first three. There were four Aggies defenders within 10 yards of the ball that Lomax returned for a pick-six.
Texas Christian Horned Frogs
8 of 10
So, about that Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State Big 12 championship game...
In terms of point spreads, there were slightly bigger upsets in Week 4. Virginia, NC State and Arizona State won outright as bigger dogs than TCU. But in terms of national landscape-altering results, there was no bigger upset this week (this season?) than TCU's 44-31 victory at Oklahoma State.
The Horned Frogs offense was outstanding. Darius Anderson ran for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Kenny Hill threw one interception and was otherwise calm, cool and collected. TCU didn't have many chunk yardage gains, but it made a ton of clutch plays while going on 11-of-19 third downs. As a result, the Horned Frogs held the ball for more than 39 minutes.
As silly as it might sound in a game where it gave up 499 yards, the defense was great, too. (Oklahoma State was averaging 607 yards per game, so 499 is solid by comparison.) Mason Rudolph entered this game with 37 touchdowns and four interceptions in home games in his career, but TCU limited him to two of each as well as a strip-sack.
Verdict: Legit
There have been some major speed bumps along the way, but Gary Patterson has won at least 11 games in nine of his last 14 seasons at TCU. And with a 4-0 start including road wins over Arkansas and Oklahoma State, it appears as though it's only a matter of time before that streak extends to 10 of 15.
At this point, the question is: Can TCU reach the College Football Playoff? Which implies the second question: Can Kenny Football be trusted?
Prior to this season, Hill had a career record of 11-10 when attempting at least seven passes in a game. Things unraveled in a hurry in his last season at Texas A&M in 2014, and his play over the final seven games of the 2016 regular season (56.1 completion percentage, 161 yards per game, four TDs, eight INTs) left much to be desired.
So far, so good, though. Hill has completed 72.7 percent of pass attempts and has yet to throw multiple interceptions in a game. He doesn't need to be Superman for TCU to win. He just needs to avoid the back-breaking mistakes, a la Alex Smith's career with the Kansas City Chiefs. As long as Hill keeps making smart plays, the Horned Frogs will be a threat to win it all.
Davon Grayson, East Carolina WR
9 of 10
Only one college football game took place Sunday, and it featured all of the passing yards. Both Thomas Sirk and Bryant Shirreffs threw for at least 400 yards against mutually putrid secondaries. Connecticut and East Carolina now rank last and next-to-last in the nation in passing yards allowed per game.
The primary recipient of that yardage bonanza was ECU senior wide receiver Davon Grayson, who hauled in 11 catches for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Unsurprisingly, he held the game high in all three of those categories.
Even though he had two of those touchdowns within the first 10 minutes of the game, Connecticut apparently forgot to make any halftime adjustments to deal with him. On the first play after the intermission, he got behind one defender to make an uncontested catch and juked a second one for an untouched 75-yard touchdown. On ECU's first four offensive plays of the third quarter, Grayson had three catches for 130 yards.
Verdict: Nah
It was a fantastic afternoon for Grayson, but this box score breakout was primarily about Connecticut's defense being terrible.
Entering the day, Grayson wasn't even the leading receiver for the Pirates, and he was fresh off a one-catch, nine-yard performance against Virginia Tech. (At least that one catch was a touchdown.) His previous career single-game highs were seven catches and 99 yards, and this was only the second time he scored multiple touchdowns in a game.
Perhaps if we were talking about a freshman having a monster day against Connecticut, we'd be more willing to believe it could be the start of something more. But in 29 career games before torching the Huskies, Grayson was averaging 3.1 catches for 36.3 yards. This was a one-time event, and it would be a surprise to see him finish the year with anything more than 750 receiving yards.
KirVonte Benson, Georgia Tech RB
10 of 10
Pittsburgh had no answer for Georgia Tech's rushing assault. As a team, the Yellow Jackets ran for 436 yards and five touchdowns. As an individual, KirVonte Benson was responsible for 196 yards and two scores.
Early on, that didn't look like a plausible outcome. On his first touch of the game, Benson lost one yard and fumbled the ball. But he was unstoppable the rest of the way. Twenty-two of his next 28 carries went for at least four yards, and he wasn't tackled behind the line of scrimmage again.
How Benson ended the day was a far cry from how it began. He broke several arm tackles before leaking out for a 47-yard touchdown run that put the final nail in Pittsburgh's coffin. It was the first carry of his career that went for more than 15 yards, but could it be the start of something special?
Verdict: Legit
Big rushing performances at Georgia Tech are the furthest thing from a surprise. The Yellow Jackets lead the nation with 393.7 rushing yards per game, and they have ranked among the top 10 in the nation in that category in each of the past nine seasons.
It's usually a three- to five-player attack with the QB and several running backs and fullbacks sharing the workload. But thus far this season, it's been predominantly Benson and TaQuon Marshall. That could change at a moment's notice, but as things stand, Benson has five more rushing attempts than the rest of the roster (except for Marshall) combined.
He's only had the one big play, but this guy is always falling forward for extra yards. And when a player is getting 22 carries per game, that's a lot of extra yards.
Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of ESPN.com, Sports Reference and cfbstats and recruiting data courtesy of Scout.
Kerry Miller covers college football and college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.
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