Turbin Tabbed WAC Offensive Player Of The Week, USU Student-Athlete Of The Week

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State football player Robert Turbin was named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in USU’s wild 49-42 double overtime win over Idaho Saturday, an honor selected and announced by the conference office Monday. The junior running back was also selected as the America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week for the period ending Sunday, Nov. 20, an award that is voted on by a state-wide media panel.On Sunday, Turbin garnered several national honors for his performance. Turbin was named the National Running Back of the Week by collegefootballperformance.com, the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week by College Sports Madness and was nominated for the Running Back Performance of the Year by Intersport.Turbin, a native of Fremont, Calif. (Irvington HS), rushed for a career-high 208 yards with three TD’s, including two in OT, with the second being the game-winner in USU’s wild 49-42 double OT win at Idaho Saturday. The 208 is the second-most in the most in the WAC this season, one yard behind the top spot, and Turbin now has two of the top five rushing outings on the year. Turbin scored his first TD on an 80-yard scamper on USU’s four possession of the game, giving the Aggies a 21-7 lead. After Idaho forced OT and scored first, Turbin scored his second TD of the day on a 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal to force the second OT. USU got the ball first in the second extra session and Turbin hit the endzone from 3-yards out and USU’s defense intercepted Idaho’s fourth-and-goal play to seal the win.Turbin went over 3,000 yards for his career and broke USU’s single-season rushing TD, single-season total TD, single-season scoring and the Aggies’ career scoring records. The 208 rushing yards made Turbin the Aggies’ first 200-yard rusher since Emmett White had 233 vs. Weber State in 2001. Turbin’s 208 yards is tied for No. 18 on USU’s top rushing outings, matching Rick Parros who had 208 yards against Weber State on Nov. 17, 1979.His three TD’s give him a total of 296 points for his career, breaking the USU Career Points record of 284 points held by former placekicker Brad Bohn (1997-2000) with 284 points. Turbin also broke USU’s Single-Season Rushing TD record, as his three on Saturday give him 19 on the year, breaking away from a tie with Abu Wilson (1996) who had the previous record of 16. The three TD’s also set a new USU Single-Season Total TD’s record, as Turbin now has 21 on the season, breaking his own record of 18 he set in 2009, which included a school-record tying five scores in USU’s last game at Idaho as part of USU’s 52-49 shootout at the Kibbie Dove. Furthermore, Turbin also broke his own USU Single-Season Scoring record, now with 126 points, breaking his 2009 record of 110.Turbin also became just the fifth Aggie RB to rush for over 3,000 career yards, and the first since Demario Brown (1996-99), who is the school rushing record holder with 4,053. Turbin is the 26th WAC running back to reach the 3,000 yard plateau, and he has now broken into the top 25 on the WAC’s rushing list. This is Turbin’s second career WAC Offensive Player of the Week honor, earning the accolade on Nov. 30, 2009, also after a record performance at Idaho, as he scored five TD’s in USU’s 52-49 shootout win over Idaho, snapping the Aggies’ 12-game road losing streak. The five TD’s tied a USU record, last done by Jack Hill with five rushing TD’s vs. Drake in 1956.It is also USU’s second WAC Offensive Player of the Week honor as freshman QB Chuckie Keeton collected the honor on Oct. 10 following his school-record tying five passing TD performance against Wyoming. Overall, it is the Aggies’ third WAC award as junior wide receiver Stanley Morrison earned the conference Special Teams Player of the Week on Nov. 7 for his efforts in the Hawai’i game, successfully executing two fake punts.Turbin’s USU weekly honor is his third of the season after also collecting the accolade on Sept. 12 and Oct. 3. Is it Turbin’s fifth career USU Student-Athlete of the Week award, earning it twice in 2009. It is also the fifth week this season for a Utah State football player to earn the weekly USU honor, as Keeton was the recipient on Sept. 5 and Oct. 10.Saturday’s victory evens USU’s record at 5-5, the Aggies’ first season with five wins since 2000 and best record through 10 games since that same 2000 season. Utah State has also won three in a row for the first time since 2001, in addition to being the Aggies’ first three-game conference and FBS win streak since 2000. The Aggies improve to 3-2 in Western Athletic Conference action, their best WAC mark through five games in its seven years in the league and best conference ledger through five games since a 3-2 Big West record in 2003.USU will be going for its first four-game win streak since 2001 and its sixth win of the season for the first time since 1997 when the Aggies return home to the friendly confines of Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium to host Nevada on Saturday, Nov. 26 at Noon (MT). Saturday is USU’s home finale and will be the Aggies’ Senior Day, honoring their veterans in a pre-game ceremony.A win would be USU’s sixth of the season, the first time winning six games since 1997, and also make the Aggies bowl eligible for the first time since they played in the 1997 Humanitarian Bowl.USU Athletics is offering several different ticket specials for Saturday’s home finale. Youth can get a $10 general admission ticket as can high school students with their high school ID.Lee’s Marketplace has $10 general admission coupons for fans who buy their groceries at Lee’s, with a one coupon per person limit that are only valid on game day. Additionally, fans can get a $10 general admission ticket for bringing can of food to donate to the Cache Community Food Pantry.There is also a family package for two adults and two youths for $100, which includes four game tickets, four small sodas, four hot dogs and four long sleeve Aggie t-shirts for all. Additional youth packages are $25.To purchase tickets, or for more Aggie Athletics ticket information, fans can contact the USU Ticket Office at 1-888-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305, in person at the USU Ticket Office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, or on-line 24 hours a day at www.utahstateaggies.com by clicking on the “tickets” button.Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball or on the USU football blog at usufootball.wordpress.com. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics. NOMINEES FROM OTHER SPORTS FOR USU STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK INCLUDED:MEN’S BASKETBALL – Senior forward Morgan Grim (Riverton, Utah) helped Utah State to a 1-1 record last week as it lost at Weber State (73-63) and defeated Southern Utah at home (65-62). Against the Wildcats, Grim scored a career-high 19 points and tied his career-high with seven rebounds, while playing a career-high 34 minutes, as he was 5-of-11 from the field and 9-for-12 at the free throw line. Against the Thunderbirds, he scored eight points to go along with five rebounds and a season-high tying two blocked shots. For the week, Grim averaged 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 assists, and shot 50.0 percent from the field (8-16) and 78.6 percent at the free throw line (11-14). WOMEN’S BASKETBALL – Senior forward Ashlee Brown (Chandler, Ariz.) led Utah State to a 2-0 record last week as it defeated Weber State at home (73-63) and UC Irvine on the road (69-64). Against the Wildcats, Brown scored 21 points to go along with nine rebounds, four steals and one assist as she was 8-of-11 from the field and 5-for-8 at the free throw line. Against the Anteaters, Brown posted her third double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds to go along with one assist, one steal and one blocked shot as she was 8-of-19 from the field and 5-for-7 at the free throw line. For the week, Brown averaged 21.0 points and 11.5 rebounds, while shooting 53.3 percent from the field (16-30) and 66.7 percent at the free throw line (10-15).2011-12 Utah State Athlete of the Week WinnersAug. 29 – Shantel Flanary, SoccerSept. 5 – Chuckie Keeton, FootballSept. 12 – Robert Turbin, FootballSept. 19 – Brian McKenna, Cross CountrySept. 26 – Marcus Fritz, Men’s TennisOct. 3 – Robert Turbin, FootballOct. 10 – Chuckie Keeton, FootballOct. 17 – Liz McArthur, VolleyballOct. 24 – Jennifer Flynn, SoccerOct. 31 – Brian McKenna, Cross CountryNov. 7 – Molli Merrill, SoccerNov. 14 – Brockeith Pane, Men’s BasketballNov. 21 – Robert Turbin, Football-USU-

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