1. Jake Locker - Locker had good stats, not great ones but its the performance in the spotlight that garners him a spot in top performers of the week. Locker had 237 passing yards without a touchdown, but he also had no picks. He did pick up a rushing touchdown. Locker led his team down the field at the end of game with a clutch fourth quarter drive to allow his kicker to win the game with an easy chip shot. It's probably fair to say Washington would have won a few games last year had Locker not gotten hurt, but no one could have expected this kind of start for Washington this season. Locker kept the team competitive with a top 10 LSU team and led his team to an upset of a top 5 USC team. Washington isn't a BCS caliber team yet, but Sarkisian definitely has the team on the right track and faster than expected.
2. Joe Cox - After a dismal start to the season against Oklahoma State, Cox has progressed nicely. Special teams was the difference in the Carolina game, but it was the offense in the Georgia game. Cox threw for 375 yards and 5 TDs (1 INT) against Arkansas and ultimately prevailed in the slugfest. Ryan Mallett would be sitting here if he couldn't have come up more at the end of the game and brought Arkansas back. He also had 5 TDs and over 400 yards passing but he made some costly plays in the final drives that held back Arkansas from a big win for the program. Cox's main target was Green, but Moore gave him a viable second option.
3. Landry Jones - Tulsa is not a bad team, but Oklahoma made it seem that way led by the young quarterback. Despite 2 picks, Jones threw for 336 yards and a astounding 6 TD passes while Oklahoma destroyed Tulsa 45-0. Jones looks like a viable replacement next year when Bradford is gone and it's a shame for Oklahoma that he was thrown into the fire against BYU. One would have expected it to be Brown and Murray taking the load with Bradford on the sidelines, but Oklahoma is still maintaining a strong passing game in his absence. The freshman quarterback is up to 9 TD passes in two games and if he can keep his picks down, he could put up some serious numbers. The question will be how he performs against Miami if Bradford isn't back by than.
4. DeAndre McDaniel - The Clemson safety continues to make plays for a Clemson defense that is coming together nicely. If their offense can catch up, Clemson could make some noise in ACC play. McDaniel is up to 4 picks in the early season after another one in the game against BC this weekend. He also picked up a sack and 8 tackles as Clemson held BC to a late touchdown and 7 points. The Clemson defense played pretty well against Georgia Tech with the exception of a few plays including the fake that went for a touchdown. The offenses of the ACC aren't spectacular and look for Clemson to continue to play well on the defensive side of the ball.
5. Mike Williams - The big news of the offseason for Syracuse was what Greg Paulus could provide to a bad Orange offense, but Syracuse fans knew the bigger news was the return of the star receiver. Williams proved true to his reputation in a win over Northwestern as he totalled 209 yards on 11 catches and 2 touchdowns. If Paulus can continue to get him the ball, Williams could provide competition to Brown and Pike for Big East offensive player of the year honors from the position of wide receiver, a difficult position to win from.
Best Performance in a loss - Ryan Mallett
As I already mentioned, Mallett put up 5 touchdowns and 400+ yards as Arkansas lost to Georgia in a game where defense was invisible. Mallett took a few costly tackles in the closing drives but his play can't be ignored. He didn't throw a pick and led his team despite not having the playmakers that other top quarterbacks in the country may have at their disposal. Mallett looked good his freshman season at Michigan and it may just work out right for the Hogs that Mustain left.
Surprises
1. The devastating injuries that always happen
Sam Bradford's injury will probably go down as the biggest of the season unless Tim Tebow gets hurt, but two big players are now done for their respective teams this season. Michael Floyd, a guy I listed as a potential Heisman candidate as recently as last week, is gone for the season in a potentially lethal blow to the Irish's BCS hopes. Golden Tate will have a lot more pressure on him and I expect their passing game to be contained better in the coming weeks. Matt Grothe also had a season ender, by tearing his ACL. Grothe has been the heart and soul of South Florida the last few seasons and with a wide open Big East race South Florida had a good shot of taking the title. Now those hopes are diminished and West Virginia and Cincinnati appear to be the favorites.
2. A tough weekend for the BCS busters
TCU, Houston, and Boise State are the three remaining non-BCS schools that appear to have a good shot at busting the BCS. BYU took a major blow this weekend by not only losing to Florida State, but getting thoroughly beat by a superior team and one that isn't BCS caliber at the moment. Utah also lost to Oregon, a team that hasn't exactly lived up to its preseason ranking. Jeremiah Masoli played poorly again, but he did enough for his team to win. Cain didn't do much at the quarterback position and Utah desparately missing Brian Johnson from last year's undefeated squad. Houston and TCU have big games in sight and need to perform well or we could see an all-BCS school pool of BCS games.
3. Georgia Tech
How disappointing. A lot of people are going to look at this game as how good Miami is, but I really think this exposed Georgia Tech more than it proved Miami as legit. Georgia Tech could not get a push upfront for the second consecutive game and Jonathan Dwyer is production-less. The big plays are too far between and the team doesn't have the talent on the line to overcome the fact that other teams are learning their system. Nesbitt is a terrible quarterback and it's really hurting Tech when they find themselves down in games. The offense relies on getting ahead, because the offense requires time to operate. Nesbitt is a good athlete, just not a quarterback. The defense also looks badly conditioned. Yes, they'll be tired if the offense can't move the ball, but they looked gassed in the first quarter of the game and that shouldn't ever happen. The coverage was terrible and it wasn't just the result of Jacory Harris being that good.
4. Washington
Washington was definitely going to be a better team going into the season. Jake Locker does wonders for the offense, but an improvement to this magnitude? Sarkisian has his team believing and the results to date have been impressive. Washington took a sluggish LSU team to the fourth quarter and almost sparked an upset. They won an easy game last week, but it was still important to feel what it's like to win for the first time in two years. They did what they couldn't do against LSU and won the USC game with a crucial drive in the fourth quarter against USC showing composure as Locker led them to that fateful field goal.
Week Wrap-up
College football seems to be down this year. Everyone knew with 85 man scholarship limits that the gap between the elite and average teams was going to get smaller, but not to this degree. The top 5 isn't as dominant as it usually is. Last year's Penn State team, for example, was way better at this point than they are this year and Penn State is ranked 4 in the coaches poll. A lot of the top teams have also struggled to put teams away early this year. Alabama had trouble a week ago putting away their opponent, while Oklahoma State never got going and lost to Houston. Florida struggled to gain a big advantage on a Tennessee team that lost to UCLA the week before. Ole Miss struggled against Memphis for the better part of the game in the first half a few weeks ago. Teams from small conferences like BYU can win a big game (Oklahoma) only to get killed by a mediocre team (Florida State). No team has proved they are National Championship caliber yet, but the time has come for someone to step to the forefront.
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