HERO Sports’ Group Of Five Best CFB Performances Of Week 3

We’re onto Week 4 of the college football season, and we’ve seen some monster games already. Last week was no different. 

Here are the top Group of Five performances from Week 4. 

Nick Nash, San Jose State

Nash started the season with a huge Week 1, catching 10 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns while also tossing a TD. He’s followed that up with two more strong showings. Last week, Nash hauled in 17 receptions for 225 yards and three TDs.

The 17 receptions broke the San Jose State single-game school record. The senior leads the FBS in TDs (six), receiving yards (485), receiving yards per game (161.7), receptions (34), and receptions per game (11.3). He already has nearly as many catches, yards, and TDs as he did last season. Oh, and he also has two tackles. He’s having a better start to the year than the other premier wideouts in the Mountain West.

Kevin Swint, Georgia State

It didn’t take long for Swint to make an impact on Saturday’s 36-32 upset win over Vanderbilt. On the third play of the game, Swint laid a hit on Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia and forced an early fumble, giving the Panthers the ball with great field position. They were only able to kick a field goal, but they never trailed after that. Aside from the forced fumble, Swint tallied eight total tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, and two pass breakups. One of those PBUs came on a fourth-down attempt in the fourth quarter which helped limit any chance at a Vandy comeback. College football betting odds had the Panthers as 8.5-point underdogs.

Caden Veltkamp, Western Kentucky

Veltkamp probably didn’t wake up Saturday morning thinking he would go 27-for-30 passing for 398 yards and five touchdowns. But when WKU quarterback TJ Finley was injured early in the game, Veltkamp took advantage of the opportunity. The Hilltoppers scored a TD on seven of their eight drives — minus the final drive of the game where they kneeled at the Middle Tennessee two-yard line. Finley is expected to miss a significant amount of time, but head coach Tyson Helton doesn’t need to worry about his backup QB not getting the job done.

Marquis Cooper, Buffalo

Buffalo’s defensive unit was lights out during the Bulls’ 34-3 victory over UMass. The Minutemen finished with a mere 193 yards of total offense. Cooper’s outing came after a big Week 2 game and has helped him start off strong in his first season as a starter. Cooper finished with eight tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a pick-six that came when UMass was threatening to make it a two-score game. The interception went 100-plus yards.

Teammate Shaun Dolac finished with 16 total tackles, one sack, and two TFLs while Red Murdock tallied 12 tackles, one sack, and three TFLs. Cooper is establishing himself as another piece of this stout Buffalo defense. 

Omari Kelly, Middle Tennessee

Weeks 1 and 2 were quiet for Kelly before he exploded last week against WKU, hauling in nine catches for 239 yards and three scores. He averaged 26.6 yards per reception. Kelly might’ve won Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week honors if it wasn’t for Veltkamp stealing the show and the Hilltoppers knocking off MTSU. Kelly scored all three of the Blue Raiders’ TDs and almost single-handedly kept them in the game.