Utah CFB Offensive Awards: Week Two
You waited for what seemed like an eternity for football season to return, and before one could fully appreciate it back in all its glory, we've already closed the books on week two action.
The AP Top 25 has already booted preseason picks and added upstart teams, supposedly mighty teams have been tamed, and afterthoughts have thrust themselves into the limelight.
The beauty and wackiness of college football hasn't gone anywhere and neither have the stellar performances we've witnessed right here in our own backyard.
Another week means another set of awards from the staff here at ESPN 97.7.
As accustomed, we start with the offense, and here’s a reminder on how it works.
We are naming the top offensive efforts from the following groups at the D1 level in Utah and Utah only:
BEST QB
BEST RB
BEST PASS CATCHER
BEST O-LINE
BEST OFFENSIVE UNIT
Since multiple categories are individual awards, every team that won this week (Utah, BYU, Weber State, SUU) and every team that lost (USU, Utah Tech) are eligible for an award if deemed worthy.
If we snub your favorite player, there’s always next week.
Lets do it.
QUARTERBACK: RICHIE MUNOZ, WEBER STATE
Last weeks winner was well on his way to another bid as Cam Rising was dicing up the Baylor Bears secondary early on.
Rising was working on 14 pass attempts, 8 completions and two more touchdowns to add to his 5 in week 1 with 92 yards.
Rising was rolling and so were the Utes.
Unfortunately deep into the 2nd quarter, Rising would dip out of the pocket and be pursued to the sideline in which he was shoved deep into the Baylor bench, colliding with Gatorade coolers, tables and the like.
That hit sidelined Rising for the remainder of the game.
Being an award based on statistics, it’s essential to get all 4 quarters in there or else we’d be giving it to SUU’s Bronson Barron who threw one pass for 40 yards and a touchdown in the win out at UTEP.
For an all 4 quarter performance we go to Ogden where Wildcats signal caller, Richie Munoz, threw for the most yards in the state (219 yards).
In the 43-16 win over Portland State, Munoz not only threw for the most yards, but finished with the 2nd highest completion percentage (63.3 %) on 30 attempts. Of course this only counts players who threw more than ten attempts.
Munoz also threw a touchdown and did not turn the football over, something no other D1 QB in Utah accomplished, that once again, played all 4 quarters.
The win, the totality of play and the effectiveness make Richie Munoz the winner here.
RUNNING BACK: TARGHEE LAMBSON, SOUTHERN UTAH
Micah Bernard had a solid showing in Utah’s win over Baylor, eclipsing the 100 yard mark with 121 rush yards to go with a receiving touchdown.
Last week’s recipient, Damon Bankston, had another showing worthy of nomination as Bankston ran rampant over Portland State to the tune of 134 yards, 8.9 yards per carry and two touchdowns including a 75 yard scamper.
Although certainly tough to beat, Southern Utah’s Targhee Lambson did exactly that.
In SUU’s third ever win over an FBS opponent, Lambson spearheaded the upset bid in El Paso.
On twenty carries Lambson gashed the Miners for a whopping 9.2 yards per carry, ran for 183 total yards without losing a single yard and scored two touchdowns himself.
Bankston did what he did on 5 less carries, but the quality of win, the road factor and the YPC give Lambson the edge to win the week two battle between the two FCS backs.
PASS CATCHER: MONEY PARKS, UTAH
No individual truly separated themselves from the pack this week in the pass catching department.
When the competition is so close and no one separates themselves in terms of yardage, a touchdown is an absolute requirement to take home this fictitious honor, unless the yardage is above and beyond.
For example, Jalen Royals of Utah State wins the reception count (6 rec) but failed to score alongside the whole of USU and finished with less than 50 yards.
They must have 3 or more receptions to qualify, because as cool the deep play is, we do value more heavy workloads.
Micah Bernard, BYU’s Mata’ava Ta’ase and Alec Burton of Utah Tech all hauled in a touchdown but didn’t quite hit on the reception volume.
With those stipulations, 4 receivers qualify.
Utah’s Money Parks with 3 receptions, 80 yards and a score.
Weber State’s Jacob Sharp with 5 snags for 76 yards and a touchdown.
Southern Utah's Zach Mitchell had 3 grabs, a touchdown and 62 yards.
Utah Tech’s Chris Street had 5 receptions, a touchdown and 46 yards to his name.
Jacob Sharp was impressive with the 2nd most grabs In the state (tied) and the 2nd most yards but we have to lean in the direction of Money Parks, who would have likely had an even bigger day if Cam Rising stayed healthy.
Parks had 4 more yards than Sharp on two less grabs, but still hauled in three balls showing that his success wasn't a one and done situation.
Parks got the party started with a 28 yard reception from Rising for the first score of the game and would haul in a 35 yard reception as well for his longest grab of the day.
His score, his state leading yardage and his 26.7 yards per catch put Money Parks at #1.
BEST O-LINE: WEBER STATE WILDCATS
COLE MILLWARD, ZOOM ESPLIN, LAVAKA TAUKEIAHO, GAVIN ORTEGA, TERRANCE CALDWELL
The big boys up north paved the way for the Wildcats to run wild against Big Sky foe, Portland State.
They made this award an easy selection by clearing the way for the most rushing yards by a D1 Utah team with 329 yards.
In terms of yards loss via the ground game, the Wildcats only lost 13 total, tying a week two best in the state.
When it came to protecting the QB, Portland State had little push as Weber State only gave up one sack, another week two tie for the best in state.
The best ground game mixed with the best pass protection makes this an easy call for Weber State.
BEST OFFENSIVE UNIT:
Which transitions nicely into the best offensive unit, as all that premier blocking allowed the offense to click, making the Wildcats the best offense in week two.
Weber State scored more than anyone in the state with 43 points which was more than Utah and BYU combined or more than Utah Tech, SUU and Utah State combined.
Their 535 yards was easily the best as no other team in Utah had more than 400.
No turnovers, only three punts and an average of 7.2 yards per play makes Weber the statistical best of week two.
Tune in tomorrow for our defensive awards!
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