By Ty Scheiner
Although there aren’t many Top 25 showdowns this week, there are still plenty of games that will have an impact on the conference races. Here are my three players to keep an eye on heading into Week 10.
LaNorris Sellers: The Key to South Carolina’s Success
Texas A&M controls their own destiny for getting to the SEC conference championship game, but they’ll need to get through South Carolina Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Aggies are a top-50 defense, giving up 338 yards per game.
LaNorris Sellers has been pretty inconsistent and ranks toward the bottom in the conference when it comes to passing, but he has been a bit better on the ground. Sellers doesn’t necessarily need to take over the game, but he has to move the chains, whether that’s through the air or with his legs. In addition, he’ll need to be able to protect the ball and not turn it over, giving the Aggies a short field, or else it’ll be a long day in Columbia.
Mikail Kamara: Game-Changer for Indiana’s Defense
In what could be a potential trap game for Indiana, I’m looking at defensive lineman, Mikail Kamara, for the Hoosiers to have a big game in East Lansing Saturday. It will be a tough road environment, but for the Hoosiers to have success, they’ll need to get to Michigan State quarterback Aiden Chiles and force him to make mistakes.
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On the year, Kamara is leading the Big Ten with seven sacks and has forced two fumbles this season. He’ll be tasked with containing a mobile, and young quarterback in Chiles who has been sacked 18 times and thrown 9 interceptions this season. To win on the road and keep the Hoosiers’ season undefeated, I think Kamara will need to make a few impactful plays to help Curt Cignetti and the team move to 9-0.
Eli Holstein: The Star QB to Watch in ACC Showdown
Pittsburgh and SMU are next to each other in total offense with the Panthers averaging 0.1 more yards per game than the Mustangs (443.6 and 443.5). On the flip side, the Mustangs are giving up about 20 yards less per game compared to Pittsburgh.
I think these two teams are pretty even and I think it’s going to come down to Eli Holstein. He is completing 64.2% of his passes, has a 17:5 TD-to-INT ratio and has added 286 yards on the ground. Holstein is coming off an injury from last week’s Syracuse win, but he is good to go for Saturday’s game.
I know people are still questioning how legit Pat Narduzzi and the Panthers are as an undefeated ACC team, but I believe that to stay at the top of the ACC, it will come down to Holstein making plays through the air, on the ground when needed and most importantly, protecting the ball.
