It’s our final round of regular season “Game Balls” for the top weekly performers in college football, though a special conference championship edition will follow next week.
But this is the last time we sort through the overwhelming amount of loaded stat lines from around college football, having to make the tough decisions on which 400-yard passing performances or 200-yard rushing performances make the cut and which get snubbed.
So here goes — our 10 “Game Balls” for the standouts from Week 14 of the college football season.
Penn State RB Kaytron Allen
Allen is a multi-time Game Ball recipient this season, and as much as we like to spread the recognition around, he earned his way back on the list with a career-high 226 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 carries in Penn State’s 40-36 win over Rutgers.
It marked the most rushing yards in a game by a Penn State player since Larry Johnson’s 279 in 2002 and included runs of 55, 43 and 50 yards.
Allen, who a week earlier had become Penn State’s all-time rushing leader, also became the 23rd Big Ten player to reach 4,000 career rushing yards and moved into third place on Penn State’s all-time list with 39 rushing touchdowns.
Penn State won three straight games to close the season and become bowl-eligible at 6-6. Allen was the catalyst in each game, rushing for 181 yards and 2 TDs vs. Michigan State, 160 yards and 2 TDs vs. Nebraska and then the career-best performance this week.
Florida RB Jadan Baugh
Baugh had the second-best rushing total in the FBS last weekend, rumbling for 266 yards and 2 TDs on 38 carries while literally carrying the Gators to a 40-21 win over rival Florida State to end a dismal 4-8 season on a high note.
The sophomore now ranks second on Florida’s single-game rushing list behind Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith’s 316-yard performance in 1989, and he finishes the season with 1,178 rushing yards (seventh-best in program history) and 8 TDs on 5.3 yards per carry to become the Gators’ first 1,000-yard rushing since Kelvin Taylor in 2015.
Georgia Southern WR Camden Brown
Brown caught 9 passes for 157 yards and 2 TDs in Georgia Southern’s 24-19 win over Marshall to earn bowl eligibility, and in so doing he set the Eagles’ single-season receiving record with 1,049 yards. He also leads the FBS with 14 receiving TDs.
Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss
Amid all the drama of Lane Kiffin coaching what would be his last game at Ole Miss before leaving for LSU, Chambliss was unfazed and turned in his best performance of a thoroughly impressive season.
He completed 23 of 34 passes for 359 yards and 4 TDs for his seventh 300-yard passing performance in 10 starts. He added 26 rushing yards for 385 total offensive yards in the 38-19 win over rival Mississippi State as the Rebels earned their first 11-win season. With 3,016 passing yards, Chambliss is the seventh Rebel to ever throw for 3,000 in a season.
North Texas RB Caleb Hawkins
It seems like not a week goes by without a North Texas offensive star making this list, but at least we’re spreading the spotlight around as Hawkins is the third different Mean Green player to haul in a Game Ball.
Hawkins carried the ball 25 times for 186 yards and 4 TDs in a 52-25 win over Temple that pushed North Texas to 11-1 and into the AAC championship game this week.
He’s also making this list as sort of a season-long recognition as well, as the true freshman leads the entire FBS with 23 rushing TDs, 26 total TDs and 156 total points scored.
Alabama S Bray Hubbard
It’s not always about big stat totals but impact on the game, and Hubbard’s performance sure left his mark on Alabama’s 27-20 Iron Bowl win at Auburn.
The Tigers were driving for a potential game-tying score late in the third quarter, already to the Alabama 28, when Hubbard intercepted QB Ashton Daniels to thwart one of Auburn’s best drives of the game.
Then Hubbard made the play of the game. Auburn was driving at the end of the fourth quarter still down a touchdown and completed a pass to Cam Coleman down to the Alabama 20-yard line, but Hubbard knocked the ball out for what was effectively a game-sealing forced fumble with 33 seconds left.
Eastern Michigan RB Dontae McMillan
McMillan ran for 111 yards and a TD on just 11 carries and had 4 catches for 126 yards for his first career 100-yard receiving game.
That makes him the first player in Eastern Michigan history, the only player in the MAC this year and just the second in the FBS overall this season to top 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game.
McMillan averaged 15.8 yards per touch in a 31-21 loss to Western Michigan and finishes with 1,014 rushing yards. He had receptions of 50 and 48 yards in sterling performance.
Minnesota DB John Nestor
Minnesota had a rough second half of the season, but the Golden Gophers scored a 17-7 win over Wisconsin to ensure a winning record at 7-5 plus an upcoming bowl game
Nestor was the star of the day with 9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Both of his interceptions came in the third quarter with Minnesota protecting a 10-7 lead. The second was the play of the game as he picked up Wisconsin QB Hunter Simmons at the Gophers’ 20, ending a promising 9-play drive, and then returned the pick 68 yards to the Badgers’ 16. That set up a Gophers touchdown three plays later to push the lead to 17-7.
Clemson DE T.J. Parker Jr. and S Ricardo Jones
It’s been a tough season for Clemson, but the Tigers finished with four straight wins to get to 7-5 — punctuated by a 28-14 road win at rival South Carolina.
Both Parker and Jones played major roles in that victory and deserve to share the spotlight here.
Parker had 3 sacks and a fumble recovery and now ranks 10th in Clemson history with 21.5 career sacks.
And Jones had 2 interceptions — including a pick-six touchdown — and an additional pass breakup in the win. He ranks second nationally with 6 interceptions this season, and his 12-yard touchdown return with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter made it a two-score game.
Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Playing under interim head coach Nick Rolovich, Cal scored perhaps its best win of the season with a 38-35 victory over then-No. 21 SMU to knock the Mustangs out of the ACC championship game (and create total chaos in the conference).
And it was the best performance of a highly-impressive true freshman season for Sagapolutele, who completed 31 of 40 passes for 330 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs while leading a game-winning drive in the final minutes.
SMU had rallied back from a 31-14 fourth-quarter deficit to take a 35-31 lead with 2:22 to play, but the Golden Bears showed their resilience, led by their poised young QB. Sagapolutele was 5-of-5 passing for 61 yards on the game-winning drive, including a 23-yard completion down to the SMU 5 to set up a short rushing TD.
The passing yards and TDs were season-highs for Sagapolutele, who is up to 3,117 passing yards, 17 TDs and 9 INTs plus 3 rushing TDs for the 7-5 Bears.
