If there was an award in college football for ‘most improved’ this season, it would undoubtedly go to Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein.

In 2010, Klein ran for 469 yards and 6 TDs and threw for 138 yards and one score, while his team went 7-6.

This year, it’s been like night and day.

Through 10 games, the 6-5, 225-pound Klein has 1,009 rushing yards and a staggering 24 rushing touchdowns (he leads the nation in that category). He has also thrown for 1,504 yards and 10 scores, with 5 interceptions.

He is as tough a quarterback as you’ll see these days. What John Madden would call a ‘football player.’

Last week, Klein rushed for 103 yards and 5 TDs and added 281 passing yards (with a TD pass) in K-State’s 53-50 win over Texas A&M. This came a week after a heart-breaking 52-45 loss to No. 2 Oklahoma State in which Klein ran for 144 yards and passed for 231.

As a result of Klein’s improvement, Kansas State is now 8-2 and has a very good chance of winning 10 games for the first time since 2003.

And for his efforts, Klein is the recipient of Heismanpundit’s Player of the Week honors this week.

Previous Players of the Week for 2011

Week 1: Robert Griffin

Week 2: Tyler Bray

Week 3: Lamar Miller

Week 4: Bernard Pierce

Week 5: Ray Graham

Week 6: Logan Thomas

Week 7: Sammy Watkins

Week 8: Case Keenum

Week 9: Case Keenum

Week 10: Brandon Weeden

Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden was 36 of 46 for a career-high 502 yards and four touchdown passes in his team’s thrilling 52-45 win over Kansas State last Saturday.

For that performance, we’ve selected Weeden as Heismanpundit.com’s Player of the Week.

It’s been quite a season for the 6-4, 218-pound, Weeden, who now has 3,212 passing yards, 26 TDs and 9 interceptions on the year. More importantly, thanks to his play against Kansas State, the Cowboys are undefeated and have a chance to play for the national title if they can win out.

There’s been some question as to why Weeden hasn’t gotten more Heisman hype. I think that’s starting to change.

Finish up strong with a big win over rival Oklahoma and he might be heading to New York.

Previous Players of the Week for 2011

Week 1: Robert Griffin

Week 2: Tyler Bray

Week 3: Lamar Miller

Week 4: Bernard Pierce

Week 5: Ray Graham

Week 6: Logan Thomas

Week 7: Sammy Watkins

Week 8: Case Keenum

Week 9: Case Keenum

No, this is not a broken record.

For the second week in a row, Houston’s Case Keenum is the Heismanpundit.com Player of the Week.

He went 24 of 37 for 534 yards with 9 touchdowns (and one pick) in a 73-34 win over Rice last Thursday night. For those of you keeping score at home, that gives him 15 TD passes in the last two games.

Look. I know some of you will poo-poo this accomplishment because he played a team that basically none of you know anything about.

And there’s a little something to that. Keenum would not put up these kind of numbers in a BCS conference or in a different system. Granted.

But look, let’s not act like throwing 9 touchdown passes is an every day occurrence, okay? The day Rice starts giving up 9 TD passes with regularity, we can shrug this kind of thing off.

For now, let’s celebrate Keenum for his amazing season and career.

One thing I know for sure: Heisman voters are starting to take notice.

Previous Players of the Week for 2011

Week 1: Robert Griffin

Week 2: Tyler Bray

Week 3: Lamar Miller

Week 4: Bernard Pierce

Week 5: Ray Graham

Week 6: Logan Thomas

Week 7: Sammy Watkins

Week 8: Case Keenum

Houston’s Case Keenum, already the NCAA’s all-time total offense leader, has another momentous record within his sights.

He’s 901 yards shy of passing Hawaii’s Timmy Chang (17,072 career yards) to become the all-time NCAA career passing yardage leader. Knowing Keenum, he should get there within the next three games.

Note: I doubt anyone will ever break Keenum’s final yardage record–which should be in the 18,500 yard range–given that he had an extra couple games last year to add to the total before redshirting due to injury.

This past week was just another day at the office for Keenum, but it was spectacular enough to earn him Heismanpundit’s Player of the Week honors.

Keenum was 24 of 28 for 376 yards and 6 touchdown passes as Houston moved to 7-0 with a 63-28 win over Marshall.

His play is not going unnoticed, as several Heisman polls — including one that will be released on this web site tomorrow — have him among the top 5 contenders in the race.

Houston has a great chance to go undefeated, which means Keenum’s chances of making it to New York as a Heisman finalist could blossom as the season goes on.

We’re looking forward to watching him make history along the way.

I first discovered Sammy Watkins during Clemson’s 38-24 win over Auburn earlier in the year.

It struck me right away that he was no ordinary freshman receiver.

In fact, I think he might be the best freshman receiver I’ve ever seen. His combination of speed, running ability, size, strength, hands, football intelligence and what I like to call ‘magic’ is off the charts.

He displayed all of it to full effect in Clemson’s 56-45 victory over Maryland last Saturday.

Watkins caught 8 passes for 105 yards, including two impressive touchdown grabs at critical junctures of the game. He also ran for 33 yards on one carry and totaled 207 yards on five kick returns, including an 89-yard return for a touchdown that broke Maryland’s back.

All in all, three touchdowns and 345 all-purpose yards, a Clemson record.

For this, he gets Heismanpundit’s Player of the Week honors.

I have a feeling it won’t be the last time.

Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas has had to put up with inane preseason comparisons.

After all, he’s 6-6 and 250 pounds.  Know who else was that size?  Cam Newton!

The thinking by some out there was, well, then he should be just as good as Newton.

This train of thought casts aside the importance that the Gus Malzahn scheme played in Newton’s success. In reality, you can’t just plug a big guy in any system and expect those kind of numbers. Furthermore, experience and maturity matters at the quarterback position.

And that’s been the case for Thomas, a sophomore who has been spotty in his first year as a starter for the Hokies.

But if his breakout performance against Miami last week is any indication, he’s on his way to being a pretty good player…just not a Heisman Trophy winner any time soon.

He was 23 of 25 for 310 yards and 3 touchdown passes against the Hurricanes and he also ran for two scores, including the 19-yard game winner with 56 seconds out as the Hokies won in dramatic fashion, 38-35.

For that, he is Heismanpundit’s Player of the Week.

If Logan can keep this up, don’t count Virginia Tech out of the ACC title picture just yet.

Pitt’s Ray Graham ran for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns on 26 carries to lead the Panthers to a 44-17 rout of South Florida last Thursday.

For this, Graham is Heismanpundit’s Player of the Week.

We’ve always liked Graham’s potential here at HP. We liked him better last year than his more highly-touted teammate, Dion Lewis. He’s likely to be a future high NFL draft pick, so the temptation was there to put Graham on our early-season watch list, but we worried that his team’s struggles might pull him down.

There’s no doubt he’s got the talent to put up one of the best season’s in Pitt history.  He’s currently third nationally in rushing with 146.8 yards per game and he is second nationally in carries per game with 25.2.

At this pace, he’ll end up with 1,764 yards and 19 touchdowns. Not too shabby.

If he ends up having that kind of season, he’ll look back at this week as the week that really got things going.