Football Pac-12 Conference

Pac-12 Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva - Football Week Four

The Pac-12 today announced its 2023 football season's fourth weekly performance awards, presented by Nextiva . See below for Week Four's recognitions across the Conference and keep track of the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year watchlist here : 

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OFFENSE:  Cameron Ward, Jr., QB, Washington State (West Columbia, Texas)

  • Completed 28-of-34 attempts for 404 yards, 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in WSU's upset win over No. 14 Oregon State
  • Completion percentage of 82.4 percent is the 7th best completion % in WSU single-game history
  • Added 9 rushes for 14 yards and a touchdown
  • Connected with Kyle Williams on a 63-yard pass TD on the second play from scrimmage, the longest pass in his WSU career
  • Completed 19 of his first 20 passes, including 14 straight completions to close the 1st half, giving WSU a 28-14 lead
  • According to PFF, Ward had the 3rd best QB grade in the country, best in the conference, and 4th best passing grade in the country.
  • Has the most pass attempts in FBS this season without an interception (141 att.)
  • Nationally, Ward ranks among the Top 10 total offense (2nd), in passing yards (3rd), passing yards per game (3rd), passing touchdowns (4th), completions per game (6th), passing efficiency (9th) and completion percentage (10th).
  • First Pac-12 QB since at least 1996 to have at least 1,300 pass yards, 13 pass TD and 0 INT through a team's first 4 games.  Only 4 other Power 5 QB's have done it since 1996 with the last being Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa in 2019.
  • 1st time winning this award and first Washington State player to be named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week since QB Anthony Gordon was honored 3 times in 2019 (Week 1, 3, 12).

Also nominated: Cam Skattebo , RB, Arizona State; Brendon Rice , WR, USC; Deshaun Fenwick , RB, Oregon State; Jonah Coleman , RB, Arizona, Rome Odunze , WR, Washington; Bo Nix , QB, Oregon

Check out the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year Watchlist, presented by Nextiva , to learn more. 

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DEFENSE:  Karene Reid., Jr., LB, Utah (American Fork, Utah)

  • Intercepted the very first play from scrimmage, returning it 21 yards for Reid's first career Pick 6.  His Pick 6 was 1 of only 2 in the Pac-12 this past weekend, and the only 1 against a Top 25 opponent this season
  • Season-high 9 tackles, including an assisted TFL in a 14-7 win over No. 22 UCLA
  • 2 PBU were also a career-best
  • 3 tackles in the 1st quarter, while the Utah defense held UCLA to 30 total yards
  • UCLA's 9 rushing yards for the game were tied for 8th fewest allowed in Utah history. For the first time since 2002, Utah has held two opponents under 15 rushing yards (Florida had 13)
  • Reid is the first Ute since 2016 to have a Pick 6 on the first play from scrimmage. It is 1 of just 2 such plays known in the Pac-12 since at least 2007
  • Utah has a Pick 6 in consecutive weeks; the Utes also accomplished this feat in 2022 (vs. Oregon State, at UCLA)
  • 1st time winning this award but had previously won the Freshman of the Week in Week 4 of 2021.  The last Utah player to be named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week was Clark Phillips III in Week 4 of last season.

Also nominated: Kain Medrano , LB, UCLA; Jordan Burch , DE, Oregon; Jacob Manu , LB, Arizona, Chris Edmonds , S, Arizona State; Edefuan Ulofoshio , LB, Washington; Romello Height , RUSH, USC 

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SPECIAL TEAMS:  Rome Odunze, Jr., WR/KR, Washington (Las Vegas, Nev.)

  • Padded another highlight to his 2023 reel Saturday in a 59-32 win over California with an 83-yard punt return, early in the 1st quarter, which staked the Huskies' to a 14-0 lead before the UW offense had ever taken the field
  • Huskies' first punt return for a TD since Aaron Fuller returned one at BYU in 2019
  • In addition, tied his own UW record with his 4th straight 100-yard receiving game (he's the only Husky ever to do that, and has done it twice), catching 5 passes for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns
  • Odunze leads the Pac-12 in total touchdowns, receiving yards and receiving yards per game
  • Nationally, is ranked 2nd in receiving yards and receiving yards per game, 3rd in All-Purpose yards per game, and 11th in total touchdowns
  • 1st Husky to win this award since PK Peyton Henry won it 3 times last year (Week 4, 10, 11).  1st non-kicker from Washington to win since WR/PR Dante Pettis won it 3 times in 2017

Also nominated: Jack Bouwmeester , P, Utah; Casey Rogers , DL, Oregon; Kyle Ostendorp, P, Arizona; Denis Lynch , PK, USC; Dario Longhetto , K, Arizona State

OFFENSIVE LINE:  Jackson Powers-Johnson, Jr., C, Oregon (Draper, Utah)

  • Led Oregon with 4 knockdowns and earned an 83.0 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus in Oregon's 42-6 win over No. 19 Colorado
  • Did not allow a pressure in 37 pass-blocking opportunities
  • Helped the Ducks rack up 522 total yards, including 240 rushing yards
  • On the season, ranks 3rd among all FBS centers with an 88.4 pass-blocking grade from PFF, 3rd with an 82.6 run-blocking grade, and 4th with an 84.1 overall grade
  • 1st time winning this award and first Oregon player to be honored since 3 different Ducks were named Pac-12 Offensive Lineman of the Week last year (Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, Alex Forsyth, and T.J Bass - twice).

Also nominated: Parker Brailsford, C, Washington; Christian Hilborn , LG, Washington State; Jordan Morgan , LT, Arizona ; Michael Tarquin , RT, USC; Leif Fautanu , C, Arizona State 

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DEFENSIVE LINE:  Jonah Elliss, Jr., DE, Utah (Moscow, Idaho)

  • Had a career-high 10 tackles, 5.0 TFL (32 yards) and 3.5 sacks (28 yards), including an assisted 3rd down stop vs. No. 22 UCLA.
  • 5.0 TFL and 3.5 sacks are both the most of any Pac-12 player this season and second-most of any FBS player to date in 2023. No Pac-12 player has had 5.0 TFL in a game since 2021, none since 2017 have had 3.5 sacks in a game.
  • Helped close out the win in the fourth quarter with 2.5 sacks.
  • 5.0 TFL tie him for 4th most in program history and are the most by a Ute since 2021; his 3.5 sacks are tied for 8th (most by a Ute since 2016)
  • Anchored a defensive line that had a hand in 11 TFL and 7 sacks, both the most for Utah since the 2022 Pac-12 Championship vs. USC.
  • UCLA's 9 rushing yards for the game were tied for 8th fewest allowed in Utah history. For the first time since 2002, Utah has held two opponents under 15 rushing yards (Florida had 13).
  • First Utah player to win this award since 2021 when both Junior Tafuna and Van Fillinger won as freshmen.

Also nominated: Jordan Burch , DE, Oregon; Bear Alexander , DL, USC; Sione Lolohea , DL, Oregon State; Taylor Upshaw , DE, Arizona; Dashaun Mallory , DL, Arizona State 

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FRESHMAN:  Tackett Curtis, Fr., ILB, USC (Many, La.)

  • Made his defensive presence known as he collected 7 tackles, with 2.0 for loss of 11 yards, including 2.0 sacks for minus 11 yards in USC's 42-28 victory over Arizona State in Tempe
  • Has started every game for the Trojans and was the first true freshman ILB to start a season opener for USC since Cameron Smith did against Arkansas State to open the 2015 season.
  • First USC player to win this award since QB Jaxson Dart in Week 3 of the 2021 season and first Trojan defensive freshman to be honored since the award was created prior to the 2019 season.

Also nominated: Logan Fano , DE, Utah; Parker Brailsford , C, Washington; Kyson Brown, RB, Arizona State; Teitum Tuioti , OLB, Oregon;

Date Offensive Defensive Special Teams Offensive
Line 		Defensive Line Freshman
Sept. 5 Shedeur Sanders , Colorado Travis Hunter , Colorado Jack Bouwmeester , Utah Brian Driscoll California David Bailey Stanford Dylan Edwards , Colorado
Sept. 11 Bo Nix , Oregon Ron Stone Jr. , Washington State Zachariah Branch , USC Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan , Colorado Ron Stone Jr. , Washington State Dante Moore , UCLA
Sept. 18 Michael Penix, Jr. , Washington Shilo Sanders , Colorado Jack Bouwmeester , Utah Joshua Gray, Oregon State Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Washington Parker Brailsford , Washington
Sept. 25 Cameron Ward , Washington State Karene Reid , Utah Rome Odunze , Washington Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon Jonah Elliss , Utah Tackett Curtis , USC