Chancellor Named C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week Again
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After becoming the ninth player in Conference USA history to record three interceptions in one game, leading Florida Atlantic to an emotional 34-17 win over Tulane, Owls junior CB D’Joun Smith has been named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week. The Offensive award went to Marshall junior QB Rakeem Cato, who matched his career high with five touchdown passes in the Thundering Herd’s win over Southern Miss. The Special Teams Player of the Week award went to North Texas senior KR/PR Brelan Chancellor, who became the first Mean Green player in 10 seasons to score on a punt return. C-USA Football Players of the Week are voted on by a panel of the league’s media.
Smith became the ninth player in C-USA history to record three interceptions in one game, adding an additional pass breakup and two tackles in leading Florida Atlantic to a 34-17 win over Tulane. Smith inspired newly installed Interim Head Coach Brian Wright to place
FAU as each player’s name plate, replacing what would normally be the spot for their last name. This was in an effort to unify the team, but his effort on the field helped the FAU defense hold Tulane to just 56 second half yards and 167 yards in the game. Each of the team’s four interceptions were recorded in the second half, as they happened on four consecutive pass attempts. Smith recorded his first interception on Tulane’s opening drive of the second half at the FAU 48. The next pass thrown by the Green Wave resulted in a Smith interception at the Tulane 23 and FAU would punch it in to even the score at 17-17. His third interception would set up an Owls score that put them up, 27-17. With the three interceptions, Smith moved into the nation’s lead for interceptions with seven. He is No. 2 nationally in passes defended with 17.
Cato completed 21-of-28 passes for 262 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in the Thundering Herd’s 61-13 win over Southern Miss. He powered a Marshall attack that jumped out to a 28-0 first quarter lead with four opening quarter TD passes by Cato and finished with 636 yards of total offense, which came on 9.94 yards per play. Cato has also tied Chad Pennington’s school record by completing a TD pass in 26 straight games, the second-longest active streak in the FBS.
Chancellor became the first North Texas player since 2004 to return a punt for a touchdown, when he took one 65 yards for a score in the 28-16 win over Rice. Chancellor’s score gave the Mean Green a lead it would never relinquish. North Texas had gone 104 games without a punt return for a touchdown before Chancellor broke free against the Owls. For the game, Chancellor had three returns for 84 yards and one kickoff return for 26 yards to go along with his 23 yards receiving. He now leads the nation in punt return average (21.1) and is the only Conference USA player with both a kickoff return for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown this year.
