College football Week 11: 15 players to watch

Addison has benefited from Kenny Pickett's great season ... or is it vice-versa? Addison leads the ACC in receiving touchdowns and is second in receiving yards for the Coastal leading Panthers. Last week against Duke, he caught 7 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown (he also had his first rushing touchdown of the season), marking his fifth 100-yard game in his last seven games. You don't have to be a Panthers fan to be a fan of Addison: he is using his NIL deal to buy tickets to at-risk kids. He will be doing so for Thursday's game against North Carolina. 

Don't look now but the Badgers are heating up. They've been leaning on their two backs to grind out wins and take the lead in the Big Ten West division. Most knew of Chez Mellusi but freshman Braelon Allen has been making a name for himself over the last month. Last week's 129 yards in the win over Rutgers was his fifth straight 100+ yard game -- all Badger wins. Despite having only 93 carries on the season, Allen is ninth in the conference in rushing yards (the next lowest amount of carries among the top ten Big Ten rushers is 128). Wisconsin hosts struggling Northwestern on Saturday afternoon. 

One of the more interesting games of the week is Notre Dame at Virginia. The Irish have an outside shot at reaching the playoff and go on the road to face a dangerous Cavaliers team with a quarterback who's having a spectacular season. Armstrong is second nationally in passing yards (3,557) and fifth in passing touchdowns (27). He's thrown for at least 300 yards eight times this season, at least 400 yards four times, and threw for 554 yards against North Carolina earlier this season. Armstrong has also been running the ball well of late, going for 99 yards versus Georgia Tech and 94 in their last game against BYU (he ran in two TDs in each game). Notre Dame struggled to contain North Carolina's Sam Howell a few weeks ago and could find themselves frustrated by Armstrong.

Corral's Heisman campaign has hit a bit of a lull of late. He's only thrown two touchdowns over his last three games and looked off in a loss to Auburn two weeks ago. This week the Rebels welcome surging Texas A&M to Oxford for a big SEC West showdown. Overall, Corral has been one of the most efficient passers, completing just under 67% of his throws and he's only thrown two interceptions all year. A big game against the Aggies can put a bit of juice back in the Heisman race. 

Dotson is one of the best receivers in the nation and has been putting up huge numbers of late. In the Nittany Lions' loss to Ohio State two weeks ago, he pulled in 11 receptions for 127 yards. He followed that up with 11 catches for 242 yards and 3 TDs in last week's win over Maryland. Up next is a huge game with Michigan at Happy Valley, one where Dotson will be primed to perform after having one of his worst career outings in their last meeting (3 catches, 30 yards). 

Dye had a huge game at Washington last week. The junior running back bowled over the Huskies for 211 rushing yards and scored a touchdown for a fourth straight game. He's been big for the Ducks this season though the yardage numbers may not show that each week. Three weeks ago he rushed for just 35 yards against UCLA but found the endzone four times. Dye is dangerous in the passing game as well and has taken on a much bigger role with CJ Verdell out for the season with a leg injury. Oregon hosts Washington State on Saturday night.

The Wolverines have a path to get into the College Football Playoff and running back Hassan Haskins will be in the driver's seat. Haskins has been superb over the last month, rushing for 460 yards and 5 touchdowns over the last four games. Of course, the game that sticks out of that bunch is the outing against Michigan State -- just 59 yards rushing and the only game in that stretch where he didn't find the endzone. That's also Michigan's lone loss this season. Huge game at Penn State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions defense is tough, but Haskins needs to be tougher. 

Tennessee still hasn't become a factor in the SEC race but quarterback Hendon Hooker has quietly had a nice season. He's completing nearly 70% of his passes and thrown 21 touchdowns and just two picks this season. Last week, the Volunteers ended a losing skid by upsetting Kentucky in Lexington ... with Hooker going 15-for-20 for 316 yards and 4 TDs. It will be interesting to see how effective he will be as the Vols welcome the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs to Knoxville. Can Hooker pull off the upset?

Howell began the year as a Heisman candidate, but North Carolina's roller-coaster season has put that out of reach. Still, the junior quarterback has been a force this season as the Heels have had to pile on points to make up for a porous defense. He's thrown for 2,408 yards and 20 TDs this season which is close to what he's done over his first two seasons in Chapel Hill. The difference is his ability to run -- he's rushed for 689 yards and 8 TDs this season, by far the best of his career. He's seventh in the ACC in rushing yards despite being labeled as a pocket passer. North Carolina heads to Pittsburgh is what should be a fun nationally televised Thursday night game. 

Purdue at Ohio State. That normally wouldn't move the needle in a packed weekend like this but the Boilermakers have become something of a giant killer of late. Nearly a month ago, they took down then-No. 2 Iowa with quarterback Aidan O'Connell throwing for 375 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Last week, O'Connell threw for 536 yards and 3 TDs in a win against then-No. 3 Michigan State. He's been fantastic over the last five games and has all the confidence in the world that Purdue can pop Ohio State's playoff bubble. 

The Bearcats have become a case study of sorts on the College Football Playoff. Some people believe they are deserving of one of the four playoff spots if they keep winning while others don't think their schedule (and recent struggles to put away opponents) is challenging enough to warrant getting an invitation to the tournament. Cincinnati must win and they need to start winning big. With running back Jerome Ford banged up during last week's win over Tulsa, more of the offensive load falls on quarterback Desmond Ridder. I've mentioned it here before that he's one of the better leaders in college football and he's as solid as they come on the field. He's becoming more efficient as a passer as the season wears on and he's still deadly as a runner -- which will be needed if Ford cannot go. Cincinnati travels to South Florida for a Friday night game that everyone will be checking out to see if the Bearcats look like a true contender.

Mississippi State's season tends to get lost in the midst of all that has been happening in the SEC this season, but quarterback Will Rogers has had himself a season. He's third in the nation in passing yards (3,307) and no one has had more passing attempts this season (483). Oddly enough, his 48 attempts in last week's loss to Arkansas was his second least amount this season but he did tie a season-high with 4 TDs. The Bulldogs travel to Auburn on Saturday.

I've been on the Smith train for a few weeks now and he keeps coming through for me. Last week was Smith's sixth with at least 118 yards rushing as he continues to be the feature back for the Bears. He's averaging 7.3 yards per carry this season due to his ability to break a huge run at any point. Baylor hosts Oklahoma in a game with major College Football Playoff implications. 

Tagovailoa leads the Big Ten in passing yards and second in touchdown passes this season. Over his last two games, he's completed 67 of 97 passes for 790 yards and three touchdowns -- which one of those games coming against a very good Penn State defense. The offensive has become more reliant on his arm which has led to his big numbers. Maryland has lost four of their last five games -- all coming against formidable competition -- and the schedule doesn't get any easier. Tagovailoa and the Terps travel to Michigan State to face an angry Spartans team reeling from their first loss of the season. 

Utah is becoming a sleeper team of sorts in the Pac-12 and their game against Oregon next week will go a long way to determining who wins the league title. For now, Utah heads to woeful Arizona where running back Tavion Thomas should be able to continue on his tear. He followed up his 160-yard-4-TD effort against UCLA with 177 yards and 4 more touchdowns on Stanford last week and should feast on one of the worst run defenses in the Pac-12.