College Football Week 7 players of the week: Ohio State duo dominates

Brock Purdy continues to remain one of the best surprises of the 2018 college football season. Who earned helmet stickers in Week 7?

As the college football season rolls on, new faces begin to emerge as stars each week. The established superstars are known, but it’s the players that make plays in October and later that help put their programs in big games.

All it takes sometimes is a new face stepping up to change the outlook of a season. In just two weeks, Brock Purdy has come in as a third-string true freshman quarterback for Iowa State and delivered two wins over ranked opponents.

Iowa State’s victory was just one on the day when it comes to top-10 programs going down. Four top-10 schools lost and the hierarchy of college football has been shaken up. A lot of players earned helmet stickers for their performances. Here are the players of the week.

10. Lamical Perine, RB: Florida

• 23 car, 121 yds, 1 TD. 4 rec, 93 yards

Florida almost had a total disaster by following up their emotional win over LSU last week by losing to Vanderbilt. If not for Perine leading the team in rushing and receiving, helping Feleipe Franks to a career-high day in passing, the Gators wouldn’t have won.

9. Alex Barnes, RB: Kansas State

• 34 car, 181 yds, 4 TD

Kansas State picked up their first conference victory on Saturday. Alex Barnes gave the Oklahoma State defense a headache as he rushed for 181 yards on 34 carries and visited the end zone four times. Normally, it’s the Big 12 quarterbacks featured on this list, but it’s the Wildcats running back who leads the conference standouts this week.

8. Felton Davis III, WR: Michigan State

• 8 rec, 100 yds, 2 TD

The hero of the day for Michigan State was Felton Davis III. The wide receiver showed off ridiculous hands and hauled in the big touchdown to defeat Penn State on the road late.

7. Darrell Henderson, RB: Memphis

• 31 car, 199 yds, 1 TD

Henderson almost carried Memphis to a victory over UCF. He pounded the rock 31 times for just almost 200 yards and a touchdown to further enhance his case as the nation’s best running back.

6. Jarrett Guarantano, QB: Tennessee

• 21/32 att, 328 yds, 2 TD

The sophomore quarterback put up his best performance of the season and helped deliver Tennessee’s biggest win of the year as well. Guarantano threw two touchdowns in the win on the road at Auburn, their first in the SEC since 2016.

5. Nate Stanley, QB: Iowa

• 21/33 att, 320 yds, 6 TD, 1 INT

It was a career day for Nate Stanley who threw for all six of Iowa’s touchdowns in their 42-23 qin over Indiana. The Hawkeyes are a half-game behind Northwestern in the Big Ten West after Wisconsin lost and Stanley’s arm could be what gets Iowa to the Big Ten Championship Game.

5. LSU Run Game

• Clyde Edwards-Helaire – 19 car, 145 yds
• Joe Burrow – 13 car, 66 yds, 1 TD
• Nick Brossette – 16 car, 64 yds, 1 TD

If Georgia was hoping to remain perfect until a potential SEC Championship Game trip, those hopes ended Saturday. LSU gashed the Bulldogs left and right behind a running attack that produced 275 yards.

3. Clayton Thorson, QB: Northwestern

• 41/64 att, 455 yds, 3 TD, 2 INT

After Week 7, the Northwestern Wildcats sit surprisingly atop the Big Ten West for now. Clayton Thorson threw a couple of picks but put up a lot of yards over Nebraska and engineered the 99-yard game-tying touchdown drive in the closing seconds to force overtime and later win.

2. Iowa State triumvirate: Brock Purdy, David Montgomery, Hakeem Butler

• Purdy: 18/25 att, 254 yds, 3 TD, 1 int
• Montgomery: 29 car, 189 yds, 1 TD
• Butler: 6 rec, 107 yds, 1 TD

The Iowa State Cyclones have become the upset specialists ever since Brock Purdy has taken over. After defeating Oklahoma State last week, the combined effort of Purdy, Montgomery and Butler on offense took down No. 9 West Virginia.

1. Ohio State’s passing duo: Dwayne Haskins, K.J. Hill

• Hill: 9 rec, 187 yds, 2 TD
• Haskins: 33/44 att, 412 yds, 3 TD

Haskins continues to put up monster numbers and cut into Tua Tagovailoa’s Heisman lead after the Alabama signal-caller was held in check and left with an injury. But even in a game that saw the Buckeyes settle for field goals more than scoring touchdowns, Haskins still put up ridiculous numbers.