College football Week 9: Players to watch

Yes, Appalachian State is ranked No. 25 in the latest Associated Press poll, which makes it arguably the Mountaineers' biggest moment since they upset Michigan over a decade ago. Evans has been a beast the last two weeks, totaling 298 yards rushing and three touchdowns in wins over Arkansas State and Louisiana. After getting only 19 carries in App. State's first four games, he's bumped that up to 42 the last couple of weeks. Evans and the Mountaineers will be on national television on Thursday night at Georgia Southern.

People who seem to have thrown the Seminoles to the scrap heap and left them for dead, hold on just a second. No, this isn't the FSU of old, but the team has turned around its season a bit. The Seminoles have won three of four games, with the lone loss to Miami being a game they were dominating. Francois has played well of late, averaging 282 yards passing and 10 passing touchdowns over the last four games. Hosting Clemson this week is a huge test, but Francois and the 'Noles are better prepared for it.

Georgia and Florida renew their rivalry this weekend in Jacksonville, and this time both teams are ranked in the top 10. If the Bulldogs want to beat the Gators, the good Jake Fromm needs to show up. Last week, he completed just 16 of 34 passes and threw two picks. He's only thrown four touchdowns in the last three games, with three of them against Vanderbilt two weeks ago. We know he can play in big games — we saw it last year — and if the Dawgs want to defend their SEC title they need for him to come up big against the Gators.

What if I told you that no one has more receiving yards than UMass' Andy Isabella? Sure, the Minutemen have had a bad season (2-6 with their only wins against Duquesne and Charlotte), but Isabella has been a diamond in the rough. The diminutive receiver (5-foot-9) has been on a tear of late, piling up 198, 191 and 174 yards in the last three games. He's caught 35 passes in those three games (four for touchdowns) and averaged 16 yards per reception in that span. This week, UMass heads to UConn to face one of the worst defenses in the nation; the game is on ESPNU. 

There's going to be some huge games down the stretch for the AAC, and this game kicks it off. Houston (AAC West leaders) hosts South Florida (still undefeated), and both teams are coming in hot. King is leading an offense that has scored at least 41 points in every game this season. He's thrown for 1,984 yards and 23 touchdowns with three interceptions. He's also run for 281 yards and nine TDs. 

We featured Minshew last week, and he certainly delivered. Against Oregon in a huge Pac-12 North showdown, he completed 39 of 51 passes for 323 yards and four TDs in the 34-20 win. Amazingly that was his sixth time in seven games where he threw at least 50 passes and the second straight week he's thrown at least four touchdowns. Now the Cougars head to Stanford in another huge North division battle.

Moore is having a spectacular freshman season. Last week against Ohio State, he caught 12 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns (and also ran for 24 yards). On the season, he already has 57 receptions for 728 yards and seven scores, as the Boilermakers have followed an 0-3 start with four straight blowout wins. This week, Purdue heads to Michigan State to hopefully end the Spartans Big Ten title hopes and to keep its own alive.

Moss has been piling up yards...even if he isn't piling up touchdowns...for the Utes this season. Last week against USC, he ran for 136 yards in Utah's win over the Trojans, placing the Utes in first place in the Pac-12 South division. He's rushed for over 100 yards four times this year. The Utes offense is on a roll, scoring at least 40 points the last three weeks. They play at UCLA on Friday night to try to pad their division lead.

When people think of Houston's defense, Ed Oliver is usually the first, second and third things to come to mind...and rightly so. He's been a beast and will be one of the top picks in next spring's NFL Draft. But don't sleep on Austin Robinson, who is coming off a 21-tackle performance against Navy last week. He had two sacks and 4.5 tackles-for-loss and was a major part of suffocating the Midshipmen offense. This week, that Cougar defense hosts No. 21 South Florida in a key AAC matchup.

The Air Force Academy hasn't had the best of seasons, but Sanders has been fantastic. Last week against UNLV, he ran for 173 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 217 yards and another TD. His 390 yards of total offense was the second most in school history. He was born and raised on an Air Force base and has been conditioned for the structure of not only military life but of a football player — especially one on a team that platoons quarterbacks. Sanders and the Falcons host Boise State this Saturday.

If Penn State wants to keep its slim Big Ten title hopes alive, it'll have to beat Iowa this Saturday. To do that, Sanders needs to be big time. He's run for 772 yards and eight touchdowns this season but has been up and down. He ran for 200 yards against Illinois then just 43 yards against Ohio State. The next week he ran for 162 yards against Michigan State then just 72 yards against Indiana. According to that trend, he's due for a big game against the Hawkeyes.

After an off game where it seemed the Wildcats forgot about him, Snell was back to normal with a huge 169 yard rushing effort against Vanderbilt last week. He is fourth nationally with his 868 rushing yards, and only Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor has more carries than Snell's 160. If the Wildcats want to win the SEC East and make their first appearance in the SEC championship game, they need Snell to literally carry them there. They have a huge game at Missouri on Saturday, where his rushing attack will need to offset Mizzou's pass-happy offense.

Until last week's 23-0 win over Maryland, Stanley had been on a tear. The previous four weeks, he had thrown for 300 yards three times and totaled 14 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. Against the Terps he put up only 86 yards, but that was due to the windy conditions in Iowa City last week. Iowa heads to Penn State for a huge Big Ten game.

Taylor seems to be hitting his stride again. The sophomore ran for 159 yards last week against Illinois and is now second in the country in rushing yards with 1109. But his running prowess hasn't translated to touchdowns. (He has failed to reach the end zone in four of the Badgers' last five games.) Wisconsin has a huge game this Saturday as it heads to Evanston, Illinois to take on Northwestern, with the Big Ten West lead on the line.

Williams has had a fine season in College Station. He's run for 798 yards so far (11th nationally) with eight touchdowns. He ran for 78 yards in a win at South Carolina, but racked up 290 rushing yards in the previous two weeks. The win over the Gamecocks two weeks ago was the first time this season that the Aggies won a game in which Williams didn't rush for at least 128 yards. (He ran for 31 yards in each of A&M's two losses.) Point being, when the Aggies have success, usually Williams is a major part of it. He'll need to be ready, as Texas A&M heads to Mississippi State on Saturday.