AP Player of the Week: Penn State’s Tyler Warren set TE receiving record with 17 catches against USC

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The Associated Press national player of the week in college football for Week 7 of the season:

Tyler Warren, Penn State

Warren caught 17 passes to tie the Football Bowl Subdivision record for receptions by a tight end in the Nittany Lions’ 33-30 overtime win at Southern California.

His 224 receiving yards set a Penn State and Big Ten tight end record, and his 17 catches were the most since Northwestern’s Joe Harvey had the same number for 208 yards against Michigan in 1982.

Warren was the first FBS tight end to go over 200 yards receiving in a game since Utah’s Dalton Kincaid had 234 against USC in 2022.

In the third quarter, Warren caught a 32-yard touchdown pass and went over 1,000 career receiving yards. Warren has made a catch in each of his last 22 games.

Runner-up

Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel threw for 341 yards and had a hand in three touchdowns in the Ducks’ 32-31 win over Ohio State in the first top-five matchup at Autzen Stadium.

He threw TD passes of 10 yards to Evan Stewart and 48 yards to Tezz Johnson, and he ran for a 27-yard score in the fourth before leading the Ducks on a 11-play, 74-yard drive to set up Atticus Sappington’s winning field goal. Gabriel threw for more than 300 yards for the second time this season and accounted for a season-high 373 yards of total offense.

Honorable mention

LSU LB Whit Weeks had one of the top defensive performances of the season in a 29-26 overtime win over Mississippi. He made 18 tackles, had a sack to send the game to overtime along with another tackle for loss, broke up a pass in overtime and forced a fumble to set up a field goal late in the first half. ... Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty had his third 200-yard rushing game of the season in a 28-7 win at Hawaii. He had 217 yards on 31 carries, including a 54-yarder that went for his eighth rushing touchdown of at least 50 yards this season. ... Georgia QB Carson Beck was 36 for 48 for a career-high 459 yards with three TDs in a 41-31 win over Mississippi State. His passing yardage was highest by a Georgia quarterback since Eric Zeier had 485 against South Carolina in 1994.

Six stats

— Army is the only FBS team to score a touchdown on its first offensive drive in all six games. The Black Knights have scored TDs on their first two drives in five of the six games.

— Tennessee’s 62 points over its last three games are its fewest over a comparable stretch since it had a combined 49 against Arkansas, Auburn and Florida in 2020 under Jeremy Pruitt.

— Boise State increased its national lead in sacks to 4.83 per game after matching its season-high with eight against Hawaii.

— Iowa State’s Jontez Williams has intercepted a pass in three straight games, joining Texas A&M’s Marcus Ratcliffe as the only FBS players to do that this season.

— Louisiana Tech freshman QB Evan Bullock threw four of his five touchdown passes on four straight drives to open the game and ran for a score on the fifth as Tech cruised to a 48-21 victory over Middle Tennessee.

— Navy has scored touchdowns on all 18 of its drives inside the opponent’s 20-yard line (red zone), the best mark by any team since at least 2019.

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AP voters: Aaron Beard, Pat Graham, Gary B. Graves, Stephen Hawkins, Pete Iacobelli, Mark Long, John Marshall, Eric Olson, John Zenor.

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