Mountain West honors SJSU player for third week in a row
San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan’s emphasis on recruiting local high school players continues to pay off for the Spartans.
One week af ter St. Mary’s (Stockton) alumnus and Spartans defensive back Tre Jenkins was named the Mountain West Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week, defensive lineman and Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) product Cade Hall took home the same honor.
Hall turned in a dominant performance in the Spartans’ 34-17 win over UNLV as he set a seasonhigh with seven tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. Hall’s four tackles for loss are tied for the fourth-most by any FBS player in a single game this season while his 3.0 sacks are tied for the sixth-most.
The Spartans have now been honored by the Mountain West Conference in three consecutive weeks for the first time since 2012 as quarterback Nick Starkel was named the conference’s top offensive player following the team’s 38-21 win over the University of New Mexico.
Prior to last week, the Spartans had not been honored in consecutive weeks since 2013 when quarterback David Fales and placekicker Austin Lopez received recognition following back-to-back games.
San Jose State’s 4-0 start is the program’s best since 1955 and the program was named on five AP Top 25 ballots, one fewer than perennial Mountain West juggernaut Boise State. The Spartans will attempt to improve to 5-0 on Saturday when they travel to play a 3-1 Fresno State team.
Fresno State wide receiver Jalen Cropper was the Mountain West’s Offensive Player of the Week after setting career-highs with 10 catches, 202 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-16 victory at Utah State. MIAMI RAS 3 OAMLS POSTPONLI WY VIRUS >> No. 12 Miami had its remaining three games postponed Monday because of COVID-19 cases in the program, forcing the Atlantic Coast Conference to reschedule a total of six games over the last month of the season.
Georgia Tech at Miami scheduled for Saturday is now tentatively set for Dec. 19, the date of the ACC championship game. Miami’s game at Wake Forest that was scheduled for Nov. 28 was moved to Dec. 5, and its game against North Carolina was moved back a week to Dec. 12. AOOILS IILLI NOR 2NI STRAIORT WLLK >> No. 5 Texas A&M postponed Saturday’s home game against Mississippi over lingering problems with COVID-19 as the number of Bowl Subdivision games called off because of the virus climbed to five this week already.
The Aggies will be idle for a second consecuive week after missing last weekend’s visit to Tennessee. The Southeastern Conference, which has had eight games postponed this season, said the Texas A&M- Ole Miss game could be made up Dec. 19, the day of the league championship game and a week after the Aggies play the make-up game against the Volunteers.
The SEC had four games called off last week, including LSU at No. 1 Alabama.
Last week, 15 FBS games were called off because of COVID-19, the most yet this season as the total since late August is now over 60. The Mid-American Conference announced its first cancellation, Ohio at Miami (Ohio), which was scheduled for tonight. UTAR STATL IISMISSLS START IN OQWSRL LL LY NROM TLAM >> Utah State dismissed starting quarterback Jason Shelley on Sunday night for a violation of team rules. Shelley, a junior, has started each game in the Aggies’ 0- 4 start, completing 51 of 99 passes for 420 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. This was his first season at Utah State after transferring in the summer from Utah, where he played in 19 games, starting five, over three seasons.
Utah State plays at Wyoming on Thursday night. LOUISVILLL RW RAWKINS OPTS OUT TO PRLP NOR IRANT >> Louisville running back Javian Hawkins opted out of the rest of the season to prepare for the 2021 NFL draft.
Hawkins, who did not play in Saturday’s 31-17 setback at Virginia, rushed 133 times for 822 yards (6.2 average) and seven touchdowns in the Cardinals’ first seven games. He caught 16 passes for 127 yards and a score.