Before you make any wagers this week in college football be sure to check out all the latest injury news and angles.
AKRON’S Kato Nelson was injured after fumbling away a scoop-and-score Temple TD in the 2nd Q of the Zips 45-24 loss to the Owls. Akron led the game 17-7 when Nelson was injured, as he had completed 7 of 12 passes for 82 yds. and a TD and rushed for 32 yards before being KO’d. Nelson, who missed all of LY with injury, was seen on the sidelines supported on crutches and could be out for a while.
| Team | Ticker |
| Akron | Kato Nelson was injured after fumbling away a scoop-and-score Temple TD in the 2nd Q of the Zips 45-24 loss to the Owls. Akron led the game 17-7 when Nelson was injured, as he had completed 7 of 12 passes for 82 yds. and a TD and rushed for 32 yards before being KO’d. Nelson, who missed all of LY with injury, was seen on the sidelines supported on crutches and could be out for a while. |
| Arizona State | AA candidate C Dohnovan West (1st-team all-Pac-12 LY) was KO’d with an undetermined injury against UNLV, and on the ensuing play in the third Q frosh RB Daniual Ngata injured his wrist and was helped to the locker room. Before his injury, Ngata had carried 4 times for 27 yards and 1 TD backing up Rachaad White. Also exiting the game was Utah jr. transfer WR Bryan Thompson, who left earlier after being tackled low and from behind and suffered a hamstring problem. |
| Arkansas | DT John Ridgeway, an Illinois St. transfer expected to push LY’s regular Isaiah Nichols to the bench, returned for the Texas game after undergoing an appendectomy and skipping the Rice game. He started and was credited with 6 total tackles and a TFL. |
| Arkansas St | Layne Hatcher’s 12 for 12 passing performance with 4 TDs did not go un-rewarded, as Red Wolves’ HC Butch Jones gave Hatcher the start over Florida St. transfer James Blackman, who started Game 1. |
| Ball State | RB Tye Evans, listed as co-starter with Will Jones, missed his 2nd game with a leg injury against Penn State. Against W. Illinois in the opener Jones carried 18 times for 93 yds. and a TD as the Cardinals labored to a 31-21 win over WIU, as the Leathernecks outgained Ball State, throwing for 327 yards. First team all-MAC LB Brandon Martin has a knee issue and is iffy for visit to Wyoming. |
| Boston College | BC had several injury problems against Massachusetts Saturday, with soph QB Phil Jurkovec forced to the sidelines with a wrist injury and didn’t return. Jr. Dennis Grosel took over and against UMass and he completed 111 of 14 passes for 199 YP with a TD, no ints., and a rushing TD. Jr. WR Zay Flowers hurt his leg and was assisted off the field against the Minutemen. Flowers was 1st-team all-ACC LY after making 56 catches for 892 yds. and 9 scores and had 7 catches for 135 yds. and a TD in the opener against Colgate and made just 1 catch for 19 yards before exiting the UMass game. Sr. PK Aaron Boumerhi was held out against Colgate and UMass with a hip injury. Boumerhi was replaced by jr. Danny Longman who has experience kicking, making 4 of 4 FGs and 9 of 11 X-points previously made all 6 of his extra points and his only FG attempt. |
| Clemson | S Lannden Zanders injured his shoulder in the opener and will be out for the season after making just 1 tackle. |
| Colorado | WR La’Vontae Shenault, who had 17 catches for 193 yds. in 4 games LY and made 2 receptions in the opener against Northern Colorado, was held out against Texas A&M for undisclosed reasons. |
| Florida | QB Anthony Richardson made some plays off the bench against South Florida, completing all 3 of his passes for 152 yds. and a pair of TDs while rushing 4 times for 115 yads, including an 80-yard TD run in the 4th Q, inserting himself firmly in the Gator QB starting race ahead of the Alabama game coming up next. However, Richardson also tweaked his hamstring which might affect his availability against the Tide. |
| Florida Intl | WR Shemar Thornton sat out again against Texas State after missing the opener with Long Island U. with an undisclosed injury. |
| Georgia | Jr. QB JT Daniels was held out against UAB du to an oblique injury. He was replaced by sr. Stetson Bennett, who completed 10 of 12 passes for 288 YP with 5 TD throws and no ints. Reserve Carson Beck got into the act as well with 88 passing yards, a TD and an int. in completing 4 of 10 attempts. WR Arian Smith was removed from the game after a leg contusion against the Blazers in anticipation of the South Carolina game coming up this week. |
| Illinois | The Illini went with Artur Sitkowski again in spanking suffered at the hands of Virginia, as sr. starter Brandon Peters was again unavailable after being KO’d in opener vs. Nebraska and sitting out UTSA in Gm. 2. Sitkowski completed 24 of 45 passes for 221 yds. with a TD and an interception. RB Mike Epstein, who has been plagued by injuries his entire career, is once again out indefinitely. |
| Indiana | OL was back to full strength in 56-14 victory over Idaho with the return to action of T Luke Haggard returned from a minor injury, which allowed the movement of Matthew Bedford to a guard slot |
| Iowa State | Star 6-6 TE Charlie Kolar returned from an ankle injury against Iowa and caught 4 passes for 34 yards in the 27-17 loss to rival Iowa. |
| Kansas State | Star QB Skylar Thompson suffered a leg injury against Southern Illinois that will keep him out for at least multiple weeks, although he does have a chance to return this season. Thompson has generated more than 6300 yards of total offense, including 54 combined rushing and passing TDs. His backup is 6-4 frosh Will Howard, who threw for 1178 yds. and 10 TDs LY subbing for an injured Thompson. Howard didn’t have a great outing, completing only 8 of 17 passes for 76 yda. with an int. and rushing 8 times for 9 yds. with 1 TD. Howard will be the starter going forward. |
| Massachusetts | Minutemen were without jr. Colorado transfer QB Tyler Lytle, who was sidelined against Boston College after he was battered by five sacks in the opener against Pitt and unable to answer the bell. HC Walt Bell gave the nod to frosh Brady Olson, who came through with 214 YP and 3 TD passes (and 2 ints.) in the 45-28 loss to the Eagles. Good enough to cover the generous 39-point closing spread. |
| Memphis | RB Kylan Watkins missed his 2nd game of the season, sitting out Arkansas State with a foot injury. Against Nicholls State it didn’t matter, with fellow RBs Brandon Thomas and Rodrigues Clark combining for 25 carries for 231 YR with a TD each. Thomas had 18 carries for 181 yards and 2 TDs including a 75-yard jaunt against the Red Wolves. |
| Michigan State | Projected starting RB Elijah Collins, who didn’t play against Northwestern, made an appearance in victory over Youngstown State but was injured after carrying 3 times for 32 yards. Collins finished the game on the sidelines in a walking boot. However, the rejuvenated Spartans have had no problems at the RB position thus far, with soph Kenneth Walker III rushing for 264 yds. in the opener and frosh Jordan Simmons carrying 16 times for 121 yds. against Youngstown, with Walker adding 7 for 57 with a TD. |
| Navy | QB Tai Lavatai, who suffered a knee injury in the opener against Marshall after starting and carrying 16 times for 18 yards, was held out against the Air Force and replaced in the starting lineup by Xavier Arline, but he couldn’t generate anything, going 0 of 5 passing and rushing 16 times for just 31 yds. as the Mids were held to 68 total yards of offense in the one-sided affair. Arline gave way to Maasai Maynor, who connected on 3 of 5 passes for all 32 of the passing yards, but he couldn’t help on the ground, being held to negative yardage on 4 carries. |
| Nebraska | WR Oliver Martin, who had 6 recs. for 103 yds. and a TD in the opening loss at Illinois, missed Fordham and Buffalo games with an undisclosed problem but is nearing a return to action, possibly this week against Oklahoma. True frosh Zavier Betts replaced Martin in the starting lineup against Buffalo and was also forced to the locker room with an apparent injury. Betts had 2 catches for 21 yards in his first start as a collegian. |
| North Texas | WR Tommy Bush, a transfer from Georgia who was in for spring and being counted on as a prime taget, injured his leg against SMU and had to be carted off against SMU (the Mustangs won and covered that one 35-12). |
| Northwestern | Soph WR Bryce Kirtz left the Indiana State game with a minor injury after making 1 catch for 13 yards. The Wildcat offense struggled again, as QB Hunter Johnson managed just 9 of 16 passing for 66 yards with a TD and an interception, although the rushing game perked up a bit behind RS frosh Evan Hull (22 carries for 126 YR and 2 TDs) and true frosh Anthony Tyus III (10 carries for 71 yards), while Andrew Clair made the most of his 3 carries (22 YR). |
| Oklahoma | Third-team all-Big 12 WR Theo Wease (37 recs., 539 yds. LY) didn’t play against W. Carolina due to a leg injury. Check status for Nebraska this week. |
| Oklahoma State | RB Dezmon Jackson suffered a leg injury against Tulsa and left the game after carrying just 3 times for 6 yards. Jackson was the team’s leading returning rusher LY with 547 YR, 5.5 ypc and 4 TDs). Sr. WR Tay Martin limped off the field after just 2 plays, as it appears he was dealing with a lingering injury and was giving it a try against Tulsa. Martin, a former Wazzou player, played in 8 games for the Cowboys LY, and was the team’s 2nd-leading returning pass catcher with 15 for 149 yards. |
| Oregon | TE Cam McCormick, a 6-5 jr. who has had a career star-crossed with injuries, hurt his ankle and will likely miss some time. The Ducks have depth at the position, however, as the limeup lists McCormick, 6-6 true frosh Moliki Malavao and 6-4 273-lb. jr. DJ Johnson as tri-starters at the TE position and all 3 caught a pass against the Buckeyes. The Ducks pulled off the upset of No. 3-ranked Ohio State without the services of AA DE Kayvon Thibodeaux as well. Oregon got a big performance from star RB CJ Verdell, who ran 20 times for 161 yds. and a pair of TDs as well as catching 3 passes for 34 yds. and a 4th score, as Duck QB Anthony Brown had an improved performance and led his side to 35 points and 505 yds. with no TOs against the youthful Buckeye defense. |
| Oregon State | WR Tyjon Lindsey didn’t play against Hawaii after catching 4 passes for 42 yards and then being injured in the opener against Purdue. Lindsey was the 3rd-leading pass returning pass catcher from last season and was tied for the team lead with 3 TD receptions in 2020. |
| Penn State | RB John Lovett, a transfer from Baylor expected to earn a share of the RB duties, has yet to play for the Nittany Lions for undisclosed reasons, not making the trip to Wisconsin and then not dressing for Ball State. |
| Purdue | Lead RB Zander Horvath was assisted to the locker room early against UConn and was watching the game wearing street clothes and a walking boot at the finish. Note that Boiler soph RB King Doerue and frosh Dylan Downing combined for 146 YR in relief. |
| Temple | With RS frosh Georgia transfer QB D’Wan Mathis out with an ankle injury, true frosh Justin Lynch stepped up and clicked on 19 of 23 throws for 245 yds. with 2 TDs and no ints.; check status on Mathis, although he might start regardless of Mathis’ availability. |
| Tennessee U | Soph Michigan transfer QB Joe Milton retired to the locker room with a lower leg injury after completing 7 of 12 passes for 50 yards and rushing 5 times for 54 yds. against Pitt and was replaced by Hendon Hooker. Hooker finished the game completing 15 of 21 passes for 189 with 2 TDs and a crucial 4th-Q interception that ended WR Jalin Hyatt (24 catches in 9 gms. the last 1+ seasons) was shaken up and left the field in the 1st Q against Pitt and didn’t return. |
| Texas A&M | QB Haynes King suffered a foot injury and was helped to the locker room early against Colorado and was unable to return, observed wearing a boot on the injured appendage. In his place, 6-4 RS frosh Zach Calzada took over and finished with 183 YP and 1 TD with no ints, but he completed just 18 of 38 passes (also ran 7 times for 28 yds.). |
| USC | DE Nick Figueroa was KO’d with a shoulder injury in upset loss against Stanford and re remains iffy along with a half-dozen other players most notably CB Chris Steele (foot), S Isaiah Pola-Mao (Covid quarantine), OLB Drake Jackson (thigh). WR Drake London, who had 16 catches for 205 yards in the Trojans’ first 2 games and 72 over the previous 14 games, tweaked his back in the loss to Stanford. |
| Virginia | Cav QB Brennan Armstrong was shaken up with a lower leg injury and briefly removed but returned to action and finished with a huge gam against Illinois, throwing for 405 yds. with 5 TD passes and just 1 int. on 27 of 36 passing in 42-12 tour de force vs. Illinois. |
| Washington State | Key CB Jaylen Watson was KO’d against Portland state with an upper body injury that left him in a sling on the sidelines after leaving the game. |
| Washington U | Huskies have suffered a cluser of injuries at WR, which saw them face Michigan without their top 3 at the position and lose a fourth during the game. Starters Rome Odunze, Terrell Bynum and Ja’Lynn Polk are all out indefinitely (Polk for the season with a chest injury), and backup Jalen McMillan is iffy with a hand problem. |
| West Virginia | Soph TE Mike O’Laughlin sat out the game against Long Island. He was hampered during the practice week, but might’ve been rested as a precaution in anticipation of the Virginia Tech game coming up this week. |
| Wisconsin | Starting frosh RB Jalen Berger, who had 301 yards on 60 carries with a pair of TDs last season, saw action when the Badgers hosted Eastern Michigan Saturday, rushing 15 times for 62 yards and a TD in 34-7 Badger victory. With a bye week, Berger could be back with Wiscy faces Notre Dame in Chicago on Sept. 25. Soph Chez Mellusi started and had 144 YR on 20 carries with a TD. Mellusi got the bulk of the work against Penn State as well, gaining 121 yds., but on 31 carries (3.9 ypc). |