Big Sky ROOT SPORTS Players of the Week - Oct. 8
OGDEN, Utah (October 8, 2018) – The Big Sky Conference announced its ROOT SPORTS Players of the Week. Idaho State’s Tanner Gueller picked up ROOT SPORTS Offensive Player of the Week honors, Northern Arizona’s Jalen Goss was named ROOT SPORTS Defensive Player of the Week, and Portland State’s Cody Williams earned ROOT SPORTS Special Teams Player of the Week.
Gueller had a career day as he tallied 492 passing yards and a school record eight touchdown passes in the 62-28 win over Idaho. His eight touchdown passes – one shy of the Big Sky record - leads the FCS this season. He had nine completions for 20 yards or more including an 87-yard touchdown pass. Gueller also rushed for 81 yards with a long of 28. The Bengals were 16 yards away from tying the school record for most total yards of offense in a game.
Goss led a Northern Arizona defense that held No. 6/7 Weber State’s offense to 176 total yards in the Lumberjacks’ 28-24 victory. The defensive tackle recovered a fumble and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 18-18 with 7:18 left in the third quarter. Goss also tallied four tackles, including one tackle for loss and a pair of quarterback hurries. He sparked an NAU defense that registered four sacks and a total of 11 tackles for loss that cost Weber State 48 yards in field position. The Lumberjack defense forced the Wildcats to punt a total of eight times, including six times on their first seven possessions and came away with three interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries.
Williams biggest kick of his college career came with four seconds to go in the game at Montana, as he connected on a career-long 52-yard field goal to stun No. 14/15 Montana, 22-20. Williams also made field goals of 22 and 43 yards out to finish 3-of-3 for the day. The 52-yarder tied for a Big Sky best this season. He also had six kickoffs for a total of 354 yards and an average of 59.0 yards per kick.
Other Nominees for ROOT SPORTS Offensive Player of the Week: Joe Protheroe, CP; Eric Barriere, EWU; Alex Wesley, UNC; Sirgeo Hoffman, PSU; Elijah Dotson, SAC; Ty Rutledge, SUU.
Other Nominees for ROOT SPORTS Defensive Player of the Week: Matt Shotwell, CP; Dehonta Hayes, EWU; Christian Holland, ISU; Dante Olson, UM; Dallas House, PSU; Chinedu Ahanonu, SUU; Preston Smith, WSU.
Other Nominees for ROOT SPORTS Special Teams Player of the Week: Roldan Alcobendas, EWU; DJ Arnson, NAU; J.J. Koski, CP; Malik Flowers, UM; Manny Berz, SUU; Rashid Shaheed, WSU.
The ROOT SPORTS Game of the Week will be on Oct. 13 when Idaho visits Montana State for a 2 p.m. MT kickoff. The game can be seen live on the DirecTV Audience Network and DISH Studio.
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