Week 12 Update

The race is really heating up. The best of the Big 12 keep finding the endzone, Tim Tebow is back to his 2007 form, and Shonn Greene just ran over one of the best defenses in the nation. Tough call 1-5 but I'll give you my five in order.

The List

(Last week's rankings in parentheses)

1. (1) Graham Harrell (Sr. Texas Tech) -- Harrell has spent his last two weeks completely destroying top ten teams' secondaries. First it was Texas. Then last week, No. 9 Oklahoma State. Harrell threw for over 450 yards in each game with no interceptions. Last week he had 6 touchdown passes while he completed 40 of 50 passes. Harrell and Tech have the week off before another top ten match up. This time with Oklahoma.

2. (2) Sam Bradford (So. QB Oklahoma) -- Bradford has thrown for at least 3 touchdowns in his last 5 games. He has also accomplished this in 8 of his 10 games this year. In the other two games, Oklahoma blew out their competition by so much that Bradford didn't get a chance to put up as many (opponents were Baylor and Chattanooga and he threw for 2 touchdowns in each of those games). Last week Bradford had 4 touchdown passes and 1 touchdown run. He accumulated 320 yards through the air. Oklahoma has a week off before they square off with Texas Tech. Personally, I can't wait.

3. (3) Colt McCoy (Jr. QB Texas) -- McCoy had 5 touchdown passes last week against Baylor. His 2 interceptions hurt him a little bit and the unbelievable completion percentage he had earlier in the season has started to slip. But McCoy is still the leading rusher for the Longhorns. The lack of a running game makes every stat that McCoy puts up that much more impressive. McCoy and Texas need to have huge games in their last two of the season if they are going to play for the Big 12 title and possibly the national title.

4. (5) Michael Crabtree (So. WR Texas Tech) -- Crabtree is in the top five in the nation in receptions and receiving yards and he is leading college football in receiving touchdowns with 18. Crabtree had 8 catches for 89 yards and 3 touchdowns last week against OK State. That was his 13th straight game with at least 5 catches and a touchdown. He is now one game away from tying the record that is held by Larry Fitzgerald.



5. (NR) Shonn Greene (Jr. RB Iowa) -- I think that there are 3 guys that could be put as high as number 4 on this list right now. But this is a top five, not a top six. Therefore, Greene barely edges out Tim Tebow this week. Greene had his toughest test last Saturday against the best run defense the Big Ten had to offer and the 6th best overall defense in the country. Greene passed with flying colors. He had 117 yards and 2 touchdowns while leading his team to a thrilling upset victory over then No. 3 Penn State. This week Iowa and Greene take on the 91st ranked run defense in Purdue.

On the Outside Looking In

(4) Tim Tebow (Jr. QB Florida) -- I'm really not sure how he fell out of the top five this week. I feel that the upset victory and the stoutness of the defense Greene went up against made his game more impressive than what Tebow did, which was impressive, as well. Tebow completed only 12 passes, but netted 171 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had his best rushing performance of the season posting 88 yards and 2 touchdowns against Vanderbilt. This week, Tebow faces a very good South Carolina defense.

Tim Hiller (Jr. QB Western Michigan) -- Hiller has been phenomenal this year. Not a lot of people have really heard of him, but after he led his team to a win over favored Illinois last Saturday, people hopefully will start talking. Hiller has 30 touchdowns this year and only 5 interceptions. Only Sam Bradford and Graham Harrell have a better touchdown to interception ratio.

Jeremy Maclin (So. WR Mizzou) -- Maclin has been too inconsistent this season to find a spot in the top five. He has had some incredible games though. Last week he had 8 catches for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 4 times for 84 yards and another score. Maclin is leading the nation in total all-purpose yards. This week he takes on Iowa State who gave up 4 touchdowns to WR Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State two weeks ago.

Top Performers Week 11

ACC: Darren Evans (Fr. RB VA Tech) -- Evans set the Hokies' school record for rushing yards with 253. He had one touchdown in the game. It was the first time all season a Tech player ran for over 100 yards.

Big 12: Graham Harrell (Sr. QB Texas Tech) -- There were lots of great games played by lots of players in the Big 12 this week, but Harrell's performance was by far the best. He threw for 456 yards and 6 touchdowns. He completed 40 of his 50 passes in Tech's 56-20 win.

Big East: Mike Teel (Sr. QB Rutgers) -- Teel was 26-36 for 276 yards in Rutgers win over Syracuse. He had 3 touchdown passes in the game.

Big Ten: Daniel Murray and The Iowa Hawkeyes -- The four-loss Hawkeyes proved that they aren't your typical 5-4 football team as the Hawks beat Penn State 24-23. No one player truly stood out for the Hawks as it was a complete team effort to win the game. Murray's kick with one second left sealed the game.

Pac-10: Michael Jones (Sr WR Arizona State) -- Jones hauled in 11 catches for 146 yards and two scores. Arizona State kept Washington win less with a 39-19 win.

SEC: Rashad Johnson (Sr Safety Alabama) -- Johnson had the biggest impact of any player on their game in the SEC. The senior had 3 interceptions in the game. One that he took to the house for a touchdown. The last one he caught in the back of the endzone in overtime to give his team the ball without letting LSU put up any points.

Independents/Non-BCS: Nate Davis (Jr. QB Ball State) -- The Cardinals just keep on rolling. Davis completed 18 of 22 passes for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns in Ball State's win over Northern Illinois. He also ran the ball in for another score.

Chase Clement (Sr QB Rice) -- Clement threw for 384 yards and 3 touchdowns in Rice's win over Army. He also ran for another touchdown and had 87 yards rushing. His third touchdown pass broke the Conference USA record for most touchdown passes in a career. He now has 87.

Where We Stand for Week 11

Wow. That pretty much sums up the play of the nation's top players last weekend. We saw some of the most incredible games of the season from the most incredible players. Picking a top five is harder now than ever.



The List


(Last week's rankings in parentheses)



1. (2) Graham Harrell (Sr. QB Texas Tech) -- Harrell delivered the biggest 'wow' moment of the week as he completed a pass down the sideline to stud receiver (and soon to be mentioned) Michael Crabtree for the game winning touchdown to defeat the No. 1 team in the nation and to dethrone the No. 1 on my Heisman list in Colt McCoy.
Harrell completed 36 of 53 passes for 474 yards and 2 touchdowns.



2. (3) Sam Bradford (So. QB Oklahoma) -- Bradford took over the NCAA lead for most touchdown passes this season after throwing five against Nebraska in Oklahoma's 62-28 dominating win. He is now on pace for 45 and won't slow down this weekend with a 4-5 Texas A&M team on the schedule.


3. (1) Colt McCoy (Jr. QB Texas) -- McCoy dropped two spots this week after sitting on top for the previous three weeks. He was outperformed by Graham Harrell in his team's first loss of the season. He had 294 passing yards two touchdowns, but one costly pick, as well. McCoy and Texas look to bounce back against Baylor this weekend.


4. (NR) Tim Tebow (Jr. QB Florida) -- Last year's Heisman Trophy winner has thrown his hat back in the ring. Tebow has only thrown 14 touchdown passes and has 9 rushing touchdowns, but he has really come up big in Florida's biggest games. Tebow only had 10 combined passing and rushing touchdowns after his team's first 5 games, but in the last three (against LSU, Kentucky and Georgia) he has 12. Tebow is finally starting to put up the numbers that made him the winner of this award last year.


5. (NR) Michael Crabtree (So. WR Texas Tech) -- Crabtree is sixth nationally in receptions and receiving yards, but is tied for first with 15 touchdown grabs. More importantly is the play he made on a Graham Harrell pass with one second remaining in the game against No. 1 Texas last weekend. That was one of the best plays in Texas Tech football history. Crabtree, Harrell and the Red Raiders have a tough match up this weekend with No. 9 Oklahoma State. OK St has the nation's 93rd ranked pass defense. They also have the fifth highest scoring average. Tech has the third highest scoring average.



On the Outside Looking In


Dez Bryant (So. WR Ok St) -- Bryant barely misses out on a top five spot after a 9 catch, 171 yard, 4 touchdown performance against Iowa State. Bryant has the second most receiving yards in the nation and is tied for the most receiving touchdowns. He also is fourth nationally in punt return average and has taken two to the house.

Kendall Hunter (So. RB Ok St.) -- Hunter is fourth nationally in rushing. He has 11 rushing touchdowns. He is also leading the fifth best rushing attack in the nation in a pass happy league.

(4) Shonn Greene (Jr. RB Iowa) -- Greene dropped out of the top five despite running for over 100 yards again and scoring a touchdown. The Iowa offense thrives off of this guy, and they need to get him the ball more than what they did in their loss to Illinois last week if they want to win ball games. Next up for Greene and the Hawks, Penn state and their 11th ranked run defense.

Top Performers Week 10

ACC: C.J. Spiller (Jr. RB Clemson) -- Spiller caught 6 passes for a school running back record of 105 yards in Clemson's win over Boston College. He ran for 55 yards and returned kicks and punts too. Enough for 242 all-purpose yards.

Big East: LeSean McCoy (So. RB Pitt) -- McCoy ripped Notre Dame's defense for 169 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries in the Panthers 4OT win. McCoy also had 23 receiving yards.

Big 12: Graham Harrell (Sr. QB Texas Tech) -- I don't think there was any question that this guy would be the Big 12 Top Performer for the week after leading his team to an upset victory over Texas. Harrell completed 36 of 53 passes for 474 yards and 2 touchdowns, including the game winner to Michael Crabtree with one second remaining. This guy was No. 2 on my list last week. Look for him to be going up on that list.

Big Ten: Mike Kafka (Jr. QB Northwestern) -- Whenever you set a conference record, you deserve to be named the Top Performer. Kafka did just that in his first start of the season by rushing for a Big Ten quarterback record 217 yards. He also threw for 143 yards with 2 touchdowns.

Pac 10: Toby Gerhart (Jr. RB Stanford) -- Gerhart rushed for 132 yards and 4 touchdowns in Stanford's 58-0 beatdown of Washington State.

SEC: Tim Tebow (Jr. QB Florida) -- Tebow showed off the skills that won him the Heisman Trophy last year in Florida's blowout victory against Georgia. He completed 10 of 13 passes for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns. He carried the ball 12 times for 39 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tebow is finally starting to get back on pace with where he was last year, although he has no realistic chance of touching the numbers he put up last year. He could definitely find himself in the Top 5 this week.

Independents/Non-BCS: Brian Brunner (Sr. QB Central Michigan) -- Starting for an injured Dan LeFevour, Brunner set a school record with 485 passing yards. He had 4 passing touchdowns and he added a score on the ground in the Chippewas' first victory against a BCS conference opponent since 1992.

Max Hall (Jr. QB BYU) -- He completed 28 of 35 passes for 389 yards and 5 touchdowns in a close win over Colorado State.