Love earns MW player of the week honors for third time in four weeks
The Mountain West Conference announced Monday morning that Utah State sophomore quarterback was named this week’s conference offensive player of the week following his performance in USU’s 59-28 win over UNLV on Saturday.
The honor came after Love threw for a program record-tying five touchdowns against the Rebels, along with completing 17-of-23 passes for 322 yards. Love’s touchdown passes in the game came from 24, 80, 26, 7 and 29 yards respectively.
This was the third time in the past four weeks that Love has earned the honor after earning it Sept. 24 and Oct. 8, and the fourth time of his career. This was the first time an Aggie has earned back-to-back player of the week honors since linebacker Kyler Fackrell did in 2012. Quarterback Chuckie Keeton was the last player to earn the honor three times in a single season.
This season, the sophomore from Bakersfield, Calif. has thrown for 1557 yards and 14 touchdowns, while completing 125-of-186 passes. He has also thrown just three interceptions on the season, though he’s now thrown 132 straight passes without a pick.
Love currently ranks third in the Mountain West in touchdowns (14), completion percentage (67.2) and fewest interceptions thrown (3), and fourth in the conference in quarterback efficiency (161.7).
After earning the starting quarterback job mid-way through last season, Love has led the Aggies to a 5-1 start this year, their best start to a season since 1978. The Aggie offense currently ranks second in the nation behind only Alabama in points scored per game (51.7), 14th in sacks allowed per game (1.0), and 23rd in total offensive yards (478.7).
This week’s MWC defensive and special teams player of the week awards went to a pair of Aztecs, San Diego State junior linebacker Kyahva Tezino and sophomore linebacker Kaelin Himphill respectively. Tezino had 15 tackles along with a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry in SDSU’s 21-17 win over Air Force. Himphill blocked a punt at the end of the first quarter which helped clinch the victory.
Utah State’s next game will be Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. as the Aggies take on the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie, Wyo. at War Memorial Stadium.
– jadencrockettjohnson@gmail.com
Twitter: @jadenjohnson00