AP Player of the Week: Vandy’s Diego Pavia wins award 2nd time in 4 weeks for big game against Vols

The Associated Press national player of the week in football for Week 14 of the season:

Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt

Pavia, the player of the week for the second time in four weeks, threw for 268 yards and a touchdown and ran for a career-high 165 yards and a score in the Commodores’ 45-24 win over in-state rival Tennessee.

Pavia passed and ran for a touchdown for the fifth time this season, and it was his second game with 200-plus yards passing and more than 100 yards rushing. He set the program record for passing yards in a season (3,192), and he ran his two-year rushing total at Vanderbilt to 1,627 yards.

Runner-up

California freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele passed for career highs of 330 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in a 38-35 win over SMU. He completed 5 of 6 passes for 61 yards on a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended with the Bears’ winning touchdown with 43 seconds left.

Honorable mention

Mississippi QB Trinidad Chambliss threw for 359 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-19 win over Mississippi State. … Florida RB Jadan Baugh ran for a career-high 266 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-21 win over Florida State. … North Texas QB Drew Mestemaker passed for 366 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-25 win over Temple. … Virginia LB Maddox Marcellus, playing in place of injured star Kam Robinson, had nine tackles, an interception and was in on a sack in a 27-7 win over Virginia Tech. … Minnesota CB John Nestor made a career-high nine tackles, including two for loss, and had two interceptions and a fumble recovery in a 17-7 win over Wisconsin. … Texas State QB Brad Jackson accounted for five touchdowns and 393 yards of total offense in a 49-26 win over South Alabama. … Miami QB Carson Beck passed for 267 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-7 win over Pittsburgh. … Illinois S Miles Scott had two interceptions in the final five minutes to help secure a 20-13 win over Northwestern.

Six stats

— Jacksonville State’s Cam Cook holds a narrow lead over Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy on the national rushing chart after the regular season. Cook, who has seven straight 100-yard games and 10 for the season, averages 131.8 yards per game. Hardy is averaging 130.

— North Texas’ Drew Mestemaker leads the nation with 319.6 passing yards per game. Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson and Florida Atlantic’s Caden Veltkamp are the other quarterbacks throwing for more than 300 yards per game.

— San Jose State’s Danny Scudero finished his season averaging 107.6 receiving yards per game. UConn’s Skyler Bell is averaging 106.5 and will have a chance to pass Scudero for the national lead in a bowl game.

— UConn has committed only two turnovers over 12 games and is on track to set the FBS record for fewest in a season. Georgia Southern holds the record of five in 13 games in 2018.

— Florida Atlantic’s minus-1.75 turnover margin is the worst in the FBS since 2017, when San Jose State finished at minus-2.0 and Rice at minus-1.92. The Owls have 29 giveaways and eight takeaways in 12 games.

— After a 40-16 win at Nebraska, Iowa fans joyfully pointed out on social media that since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten in 2011, Kirk Ferentz has more wins in conference games in Lincoln than three of the four Nebraska coaches over that time. Ferentz is 7-1 at Memorial Stadium, Matt Rhule is 6-8 (2023-25), Scott Frost was 6-11 (2018-22) and Mike Riley was 6-7 (2015-17). Bo Pelini was 12-4 in home Big Ten games from 2011-14.

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AP voters: Aaron Beard, Pat Graham, Stephen Hawkins, Mark Long, Mike Marot, John Marshall, Steve Megargee, Eric Olson and Eddie Pells.

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