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PROVO, Utah (Oct. 9, 2006) -- For the third time in four weeks, and the sixth time in his career, BYU quarterback John Beck has been named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Cougars (4-2, 2-0) to a 47-17 win over San Diego State on Saturday. With his four touchdown completions, Beck broke the MWC career touchdown completions record, improving to 59 TD's throughout his career.
Beck, a 6-foot-2, 216-pound senior from Mesa, Ariz., completed 16-of-21 attempts for 267 yards and a season-high four touchdowns in under three quarters of play. The Davey O'Brien Award candidate finished the game with a career-high efficiency rating of 245.9, marking the highest rating by a BYU quarterback since Steve Sarkisian posted a 260.8 rating against Rice in 1996.
"I think John feels like he can throw the ball into anything right now," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said after Saturday's victory. "That's the great thing for your quarterback to feel and I don't intend to get in his way."
With his eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jonny Harline in the second quarter, Beck passed Wyoming's Casey Bramlet for the Mountain West Conference career record with 57 touchdown passes. Beck finished the day with a total of four touchdown completions, improving the MWC career record to 59.
Beck's 267 yards on Saturday gives him 8,689 over his career and moves him closer to passing Jim McMahon (9,536) for second place on BYU's all-time passing list.
The senior captain led the Cougars to a 40-3 lead in the first half, completing 12-of-15 attempts for 190 yards and three touchdowns.
"They [BYU] had a good game plan against us, and we were facing a great QB and an excellent offense," San Diego State head coach Chuck Long said. "We had a lot of young secondary in there, some of them learning for the first time. What a baptism that is—playing against one of the best QB's in the country."
On the season, Beck leads the Mountain West Conference and ranks fifth nationally with an average 302.0 yards of total offense per game. He leads the league averaging 310.6 yards passing per game and ranks 12th nationally in passing efficiency with a 164.0 rating. Through five games, he has connected on nearly 70 percent of his passes, completing 121-for-175 for a league-best 1,553 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Cougars are off to a 3-0 start at home this season, marking their best home start since the 2001 season. At home, the Cougars are outscoring opponents by an average 31 points per game. BYU is posting an average 44.7 points per game while holding opponents to just 13.7 points per contest at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Through six games, BYU is averaging 33.5 points per game while holding its opponents to just 17.3 points per contest—the best scoring defense average through six games since 1988.
Reflecting on the season, including games against UTEP, Wisconsin and Utah, Long said, "BYU is one of the best teams we have played so far."
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