• UAB RB DeWayne McBride: The college football regular season came to a close with multiple upsets in the top 10, but the Group of Five clashes also presented several standout performances, including from McBride, who nearly broke the grading scale.
• Northwestern LT Peter Skoronski: The standout lineman once again made the PFF Team of the Week, closing out one of the best seasons in pass protection PFF has on record from an FBS tackle.
• Troy CB Reddy Steward: While many familiar players cracked the PFF Team of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week honors go to Steward for his lockdown outing.
Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins
PFF TEAM OF THE WEEK
Offense
QB: Michael Penix Jr., Washington Huskies
RB: DeWayne McBride, UAB Blazers
RB: Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss Golden Eagles
WR: Jared Wayne, Pittsburgh Panthers
WR: Cornelius Johnson, Michigan Wolverines
WR: Rashee Rice, SMU Mustangs
TE: Rivaldo Fairweather, FIU Panthers
LT: Peter Skoronski, Northwestern Wildcats
LG: Tanor Bortolini, Wisconsin Badgers
C: Bryan Hudson, Louisville Cardinals
RG: Henry Bainivalu, Washington Huskies
RT: Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma Sooners
Defense
DI: Braden Fiske, Western Michigan Broncos
DI: Jonah Tavai, San Diego State Aztecs
Edge: Andre Carter, Army Black Knights
Edge: Bralen Trice, Washington Huskies
LB: Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Clemson Tigers
LB: KD Davis, North Texas Mean Green
CB: Reddy Steward, Troy Trojans
CB: Kelee Ringo, Georgia Bulldogs
S: Calen Bullock, USC Trojans
S: Sydney Brown, Illinois Fighting Illini
Flex: Erick Hallett II, Pittsburgh Panthers
Offensive Player of the Week: RB DeWayne McBride, UAB Blazers
McBride put up numbers most can only dream about in UAB’s big win over Louisiana Tech to become bowl eligible.
• The 5-foot-11, 215-pound back racked up 272 rushing yards on 16 carries for 17 yards a pop. Seven of those 16 touches were explosive runs of 10-plus yards.
• McBride operates seamlessly out of tight quarters and knows when to bounce it out. He consistently earns yardage beyond expectation, and he did so at a high rate on Saturday with 12 broken tackles and 10.4 yards after contact per attempt.
Defensive Player of the Week: CB Reddy Steward, Troy Trojans
Steward has quietly been one of the Sun Belt’s best defensive players in 2022, helping Troy hit the 10-win mark this regular season. On Saturday, he put together his best performance yet.
• Steward saw six targets in coverage and allowed just one catch for nine yards. The other five resulted in two interceptions and three forced incompletions.
• The 5-foot-11, 180-pound cornerback turned one of those interceptions into a pick-six after playing off with his eyes on the quarterback and jumping the outside hitch perfectly.
• Steward now owns a 90.3 PFF grade on the season, the third-best mark in the FBS.
True Freshman of the Week: RB Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State Cowboys
Oklahoma State lost to West Virginia to close out the regular season, but one positive was true freshman running back Ollie Gordon.
• Gordon handled 17 carries against the Mountaineers — 10 more than any other outing of his 2022 campaign.
• He hadn’t shown much creativity in limited action before this week, but that wasn’t the case this time around. Gordon generated five explosive runs despite having just two on his first 32 carries of the season.
• The 6-foot-1, 211-pound back broke six tackles and generated 71 yards after contact, both of which were single-game bests for him by a wide margin.