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Press release LOGAN -- Utah State football player Robert Turbin has been named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week, USU's first Offensive WAC Player of the Week in the Aggies' five seasons in the league.
Turbin was also named the America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week for the week of Nov. 23-30. The award is voted on by a state media panel.
Turbin also earned national recognition with a helmet sticker from ESPN.com, his second this season. He is the lone WAC player to earn a helmet sticker among the non-BCS conferences list.
Turbin, a sophomore running back from Fremont, Calif. (Irvington HS) scored five TD's in USU's 52-49 shootout win over bowl-eligible Idaho, snapping the Aggies' 12-game road losing streak. Turbin accounted for 183 yards of total offense with 113 yards rushing and 70 yards receiving for three rushing and two receiving TD's. The five TD's ties a USU record, last done by Jack Hill with five rushing TD's vs. Drake in 1956.
Turbin's five TD's and 30 points scored in a game ties the most scored by an individual in the WAC this season, but is the most scored in a WAC vs. WAC game as Turbin ties Nevada's Mike Bell, who had five TD's vs. UNLV. It is the most scored in a WAC vs. WAC game since 2007.
Turbin scored USU's opening TD and the Aggies' final TD which proved to be the game-winner. Turbin had three TD's in the first half, after his 3-yard rushing TD on USU's first possession, then later scored on a 48-yard TD pass and a 22-yard pass from junior QB Diondre Borel. Turbin tacked on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter and capped the scoring with another 1-yard run.
Turbin's WAC Offensive Player of the Week award is the first offensive conference weekly honor since QB Travis Cox earned the Big West Offensive Player of the Week accolade on Nov. 22, 2004.
It is the first WAC Player of the Week for a Utah State player this season and is the first since this same week of the season last year when defensive end Ben Calderwood earned the Defensive Player of the Week honor on Dec. 1.
This is Turbin's second America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week award this season, after earning the honor on Sept. 28, and it is the sixth time that an Aggie football player has collected the accolade, after Diondre Borel (Sept. 21 and Nov. 9), Walter McClenton (Oct. 26) and Bobby Wagner (Nov. 23).
Additionally, Turbin and Borel both collected honorable mention running back and quarterback of the week accolades from collegefootballperformance.com, respectively. Borel threw for 369 passing yards and four TD's, both career highs. Borel was also on ESPN.com's honorable mention list for a helmet sticker.
Turbin, Borel and the Aggies finish head coach Gary Andersen's first year at the helm of the USU program with a 4-8 mark, USU's most wins since 2002. Utah State finished 3-5 in WAC action, matching last season for top conference record in USU's five seasons in the league.
(Courtesy Utah State University)
