Week 9 college football standouts

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

Buckeyes buck Badgers

One of the most anticipated matchups of last week’s college football schedule ended a bit anti-climatically. Ohio State demolished Wisconsin in a 38-7 rout, establishing themselves as a prominent power in college football this year. Sure, Wisconsin has just lost to Illinois but this was a team that was similarly running roughshod through their schedule and Ohio State bullies them on both sides of the ball. Ohio State’s domination was spearheaded by two phenomenal draft prospects on both sides of the ball.

On offense, it was JK Dobbins who ran through a normally tough Wisconsin defense. Dobbins carried the ball 20 times for 163 yards and two scores. He also chipped in three catches for almost 60 yards. What was so impressive about Dobbins’ performance is how grating he was on the Wisconsin defense. He didn’t have any massive runs that put his numbers over the top. Every carry felt like it gained at least five yards. He played consistent, physical and smart football on a down to down basis. It was pretty jarring to watch Dobbins cut through Wisconsin with Jonathan Taylor on the other sideline. In a game with quite a few Heisman candidates, Taylor’s game was pedestrian compared to Dobbins. Dobbins is now up over 1,100 rushing yards on the season with nine scores on the ground. This is a truly stacked class of running backs but performances like this put Dobbins in the conversation for top tier players.

In any other world, JK Dobbins’ performance would be the headline from such a game. But we live in Chase Young’s world.

4⃣ sacks, in one game?!

Watch all of Chase Young's QB takedowns ⬇️.@youngchase907 | @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/KSvqxXEdJ8

— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) October 26, 2019

Chase Young had four sacks, 5 total TFLs and two forced fumbles. Young’s box score still doesn’t fully measure his impact on the game as he was wreaking constant havoc on passing downs while dominating in run defense. Jonathan Taylor averaged a paltry 2.6 yards per carry and Young’s play can largely be to blame for that.

Young is playing at Heisman levels right now. He has 13.5 sacks on the season and five forced fumbles in only eight games. Considering there are possibly seven more games left for Young to play, it’s scary to think how much his numbers can grow. Even if I’m a team like the Dolphins or the Bengals, I’m thinking long and hard about making Chase Young the draft pick over a quarterback prospect.

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