• PFF’s Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week: The winners for Week 9 are no strangers to the limelight. The two true sophomores both were among the top 10 recruits of the 2021 cycle.
• An Ole Miss RB stars: The Rebels held off Texas A&M in College Station thanks to another stellar performance from running back Quinshon Judkins, who took home PFF True Freshman of the Week honors.
• Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Notre Dame S Brandon Joseph: The Buckeyes wideout continues his push for Biletnikoff Award after an explosive day in Happy Valley, while Joseph had his best performance in his time wearing the Golden Dome in the Irish’s big win over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
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PFF TEAM OF THE WEEK
Offense
QB: Caleb Williams, USC Trojans
RB: Zach Charbonnet, UCLA Bruins
RB: Blake Corum, Michigan Wolverines
WR: Rashee Rice, SMU Mustangs
WR: Antoine Green, North Carolina Tar Heels
WR: Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State Buckeyes
TE: Jalin Conyers, Arizona State Sun Devils
LT: Anderson Hardy, App State Mountaineers
LG: Clark Barrington, BYU Cougars
C: Luke Wypler, Ohio State Buckeyes
RG: Beaux Limmer, Arkansas Razorbacks
RT: Darnell Wright, Tennessee Volunteers
Defense
DI: Thomas Gore, Georgia State Panthers
DI: Leonard Taylor, Miami Hurricanes
Edge: J.T. Tuimoloau, Ohio State Buckeyes
Edge: Viliami Fehoko, San Jose State Spartans
LB: Cedric Gray, North Carolina Tar Heels
LB: Darius Muasau, UCLA Bruins
CB: Quincy Riley, Louisville Cardinals
CB: Cam Stone, Wyoming Cowboys
S: Rod Moore, Michigan Wolverines
S: Brandon Joseph, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Flex: Cole Bishop, Utah Utes
Offensive Player of the Week: QB Caleb Williams, USC Trojans
Williams was his usual playmaking self in USC’s road win over Arizona in Week 9.
• The star quarterback tossed four big-time throws and didn’t produce a single turnover-worthy play en route to a 92.5 passing grade on first review.
• Williams completed 27 of his 30 non-deep passing attempts for the game while also racking up a whopping 219 deep passing yards for the game, the latter being the most he has recorded in a game for USC.
• He was poised under duress and made some incredible throws when forced to create outside of the structure of the offense, as evidenced by his 95.4 pressured passing grade for the game.
Defensive Player of the Week: Edge J.T. Tuimoloau, Ohio State Buckeyes
Tuimoloau was the key reason Ohio State was able to run away with a victory late against Penn State. The former five-star recruit finished with a jaw-dropping stat line.
• Tuimoloau intercepted a pass in the first quarter that the Ohio State offense proceeded to take advantage of by scoring a touchdown just a few plays later. The same thing happened in the fourth quarter with a strip-sack fumble from Tuimoloau, as quarterback C.J. Stroud threw a touchdown on the first play of the new drive. And the cherry on top was another Tuimoloau interception late in the game that he took all the way to the end zone for another touchdown.
• In all, the Ohio State edge defender finished with two sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, one batted pass and four defensive stops for a 94.6 PFF grade on the day.
True Freshman of the Week: RB Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss Rebels
Week in and week out, Judkins has shown he is not just one of the best true freshmen in college football, but also one of the best running backs overall. His performance against Texas A&M in Week 9 was one of his best yet.
• Judkins averaged 4.4 yards after contact per attempt and accumulated 142 yards after contact overall against the Aggies.
• The Ole Miss running back totaled 14 broken tackles for the game, the second-most against a Texas A&M defense in a single outing since 2014.
• Judkins generated five breakaway runs of 15 or more yards, which tied for the second-most against a Texas A&M defense in a single game since 2014 along with Derrick Henry (2015), Alvin Kamara (2016) and Chuba Hubbard (2019).