College football players of the week: Week 11, 2026
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, Texas defensive back Jelani McDonald and Texas kicker Gianni Spetic are the Week 11 players of the week. Dampier accounted for four touchdowns, the last a 70-yard pass to Creed Whittemore in the final three minutes, as No. 2 Utah won 40-39 at No. 22 Arizona. McDonald intercepted Sam Leavitt three times, twice in the end zone, and Spetic made field goals of 42, 41 and 50 yards as No. 8 Texas won 22-21 at No. 24 LSU on a touchdown with three seconds left.
13 of 25, 204 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; 14 rushes, 100 yards, 2 TD; 1 lost fumble; touchdown runs of 14 and 18 yards, touchdown passes of 4 yards to Byrd Ficklin and 70 to Creed Whittemore
Four touchdowns on the road against a ranked team, and the throw that won it. Arizona led 14-3 in the second quarter before Dampier ran for touchdowns of 14 and 18 yards to put Utah up 17-14 at the half. He also handed Arizona 14 points: a lost fumble on the first snap of the third quarter set up a touchdown from the Utah 18, and an interception at the Arizona 1 started a 99-yard drive that put the Wildcats ahead 28-24. After Noah Fifita's touchdown pass and two-point run made it 39-33 with 3:13 left, Dampier hit Whittemore for 70 yards on the second snap of the next drive. After a fourth-down stop, his 12-yard run on third-and-1 let Utah kneel it out. Oregon's Dylan Raiola threw for more yards and four touchdowns with no turnovers, but at home in a 31-7 game against 5-5 Michigan. Utah's Daniel Bray ran for 197 yards in the same game.
Runner-up: Dylan Raiola, Oregon: 20 of 28, 341 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT in a 31-7 win over Michigan
11 tackles, 3 INT, 1 pass breakup; two of the interceptions were in the end zone, on LSU snaps from the Texas 12 and the Texas 16
Three interceptions in a one-point road win over a ranked team, the first Longhorn with three in a game since 1997. With the score 7-7 late in the first quarter, he picked off Sam Leavitt to give Texas the ball at its 32. Early in the second, LSU had second-and-9 at the Texas 12 and he intercepted Leavitt in the end zone. Early in the third, with LSU up 14-10 and on first-and-5 at the Texas 16, he did it again for another touchback. Two LSU red-zone trips came away empty in a game Texas won on a touchdown with three seconds left. He added 11 tackles, tied for the game high. Arkansas's Joker Johnson had two interceptions and a 63-yard pick-six in a 34-6 win over No. 20 South Carolina, but at home, and the return came with Arkansas already up 17-6. LSU's Ty Benefield also had two interceptions, in a loss.
Runner-up: Joker Johnson, Arkansas: 8 tackles, 2 INT, one returned 63 yards for a TD, in a 34-6 win over No. 20 South Carolina
3 of 3 field goals (42, 41 and 50 yards), 1 of 1 extra points, 10 points; the 50-yarder on fourth-and-12 with 11:37 left made it 21-16
Ten points in a one-point road win over a ranked team. Texas threw three interceptions and scored one touchdown before the final seconds, and Spetic's kicks kept it close. His 42-yarder on fourth-and-18 with 3:22 left in the first half cut LSU's lead to 14-10, and his 41-yarder late in the third made it 21-13. Facing fourth-and-12 at the LSU 33 with 11:37 left, he made a 50-yarder for 21-16, which is why Arch Manning's 4-yard touchdown pass with three seconds left was enough to win. Tennessee's Cooper Ranvier made five field goals and scored 16 of his team's 22 points at Texas A&M, but his longest was 44 yards, in a 15-point win over a 4-6 team. Texas Tech's Malcolm Simmons returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown at Oklahoma State, in a 52-27 game.
Runner-up: Cooper Ranvier, Tennessee: 5 of 5 field goals (23, 30, 32, 44 and 27 yards), 1 of 1 extra points, 16 points in a 22-7 win at Texas A&M
One player per slot, judged the way the power rankings judge teams: what happened on the field, against whom and where. Production counts, and so does the opponent. A big game against a good defense or on the road beats the same numbers at home against a bad one, and a play that decided the game beats one that padded a lead. A great game in a loss can still win if nothing else comes close.
NFL awards follow the league's format, AFC and NFC, and go up on Tuesday morning, a day before the league names its own. College awards are national and go up on Sunday morning. Where there's an official pick (the NFL's, or Walter Camp's for college offense and defense), it's listed under ours, agree or not.
The NFL page also goes position by position: a player of the week and a season top 5 at each of 14 spots, from quarterback to punter. Players are filed by the job they do, so an edge rusher is anyone who rushes from the line, whether he's called an end or an outside linebacker, and a linebacker plays off the ball. The top 5 is the whole season's body of work, not a count of weekly wins, and a player needs to have played real snaps to make it. Offensive linemen have no box score, so they're judged on pressures and sacks allowed, penalties and what the offense did around them; that's noted on those cards.