College football Week 11 players to watch: Can Wake Forest's Gio Lopez return with big game vs. SMU?

Only three weeks remain in the 2026 college football regular season. This stretch is all about teams trying to qualify for the College Football Playoff, but players are also competing for season awards and auditioning for the upcoming transfer portal.While not featured below, it is worth noting that with three weeks to go, the consensus Heisman frontrunners are Notre Dame QB CJ Carr, Miami QB Darian Mensah and Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith. The final games of the year feel even more important, and they can produce impressive performances worth watching. Here are our Week 11 players to watch. Wake Forest QB Gio LopezNo. 13 Wake Forest at SMU (12 p.m. ET, ESPN/DIRECTV)Lopez missed the Demon Deacons' 77-0 win over Merrimack due to a lower-body injury. In his absence, backup quarterback Steele Pizzella took over and finished with 432 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 63 yards and another score on the ground. The starting QB is expected to return this weekend in a big ACC matchup against SMU. Wake Forest enters the game 8-1 (5-1 ACC) and is second in the conference, while SMU is 7-2 (5-2 ACC) and currently fourth. Lopez has played eight games for Wake Forest this year, throwing for 2,176 yards and 18 touchdowns with just one interception.Boise State RB Dylan RileyOregon State at No. 24 Boise State (6 p.m. ET, USA/DIRECTV)The Broncos are 8-1, with their lone loss coming in their first game against No. 16 Oregon. Boise State's success can be attributed to Riley, who is having the best season of his collegiate career so far. The junior running back has played in nine games and has tallied 1,241 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. He has added an additional 218 yards and two touchdowns on 17 receptions. Riley has scored at least one touchdown in seven consecutive games. He also has at least 128 rushing yards in six games this year. Duke RB Nate SheppardDuke at No. 7 Miami (12 p.m. ET, ABC/DIRECTV)Eyes will be on Mensah as he takes on his former school, but don't overlook the Blue Devils' starting running back. Sheppard is coming off back-to-back monster games. Two weeks ago against Boston College, he ran for only 97 yards, but had five touchdowns. Last week, the running back ran for 217 yards and a score against NC State. The Duke RB has the fifth-most carries in the FBS (191), second-most rushing yards (1,189) and fourth-most touchdowns (17). Arizona WR Isaiah Mizell No. 2 Utah at No. 23 Arizona (7:30 p.m. ET, Fox/DIRECTV)The Wildcats' toughest remaining game this season is Saturday night, when they host the Utes. If Arizona is going to hand Utah its first loss, the offense will have to lean on Mizell. The sophomore wide receiver enters with 753 yards and seven touchdowns, with plenty of momentum. He has scored in four straight games and has at least 134 receiving yards in three of his last four games.Air Force QB Kemper HodgesSan Jose State at Air Force (7 p.m. ET, CBSSN/DIRECTV)Quarterback is doing a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to Hodges' listed position on the roster. He has attempted just two passes this year, both incompletions. While Hodges hasn't impacted the Falcons' passing game, he's been instrumental in running the triple-option. The QB has 88 carries this season for 520 yards and seven touchdowns. Over his last two games, the QB has combined for 319 yards and five touchdowns. Oklahoma State QB Drew MestemakerNo. 12 Texas Tech at No. 25 Oklahoma State (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/DIRECTV)Mestemaker has quietly been rising up draft boards. The 2027 QB draft class was expected to have a ton of talent in it, and while that could still happen, it looks like many of the names will either be coming off an injury (Dante Moore) or could benefit from coming back one more year thanks to the new eligibility rules (Arch Manning, LaNorris Sellers).One player who has improved his draft stock this year has been Mestemaker. He is often overlooked with Oklahoma State being 7-3 in the Big 12, but he currently leads the FBS with 29 passing touchdowns and has the second-most passing yards with 2,962. Mestemaker and the Cowboys end the season with Arizona State and Kansas, so this weekend's game against Texas Tech is his best chance to put on one more show against a ranked team.Northwestern WR Griffin WildeNorthwestern at No. 20 Ohio State (12 p.m. ET, Fox/DIRECTV)The Wildcats get the Buckeyes as Ohio State still tries to find its footing after the injury to Julian Sayin. Northwestern will have to get its offense working early, and one player to lean on will be Wilde.The wide receiver has 133 receiving yards and a touchdown in three of his last five games. Wilde's two outliers were against Michigan State and No. 15 Iowa, where he had at least five receptions and 50 yards in both games. His 813 receiving yards are the 16th-most in the FBS. If Northwestern heads into Columbus and pulls off the upset, Wilde will be part of the reason.