The Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award today named BYU kicker Will Ferrin as one of its three “Stars of the Week.” The national place-kicker award is given annually by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission and presented by the Orange Bowl.

No. 7 ranked BYU remained undefeated on Saturday beating rival Utah 22-21 on a 44-yard game-winning field goal by Ferrin with just four seconds remaining. The junior from Kaysville, Utah, was a perfect 3-for-3 on the night with kicks of 23, 33 and 44 yards, his second consecutive game with a career-best three field goals. He was also 1-for-1 on PATs.

The BYU co-captain has now made nine consecutive field goals over the last four games and currently leads the Big 12 in scoring with 85 points, averaging 9.4 points per game, good for sixth in the nation. Ferrin also leads the Big 12 and is tied for seventh nationally with 17 made field goals.

The Lou Groza Award is named for NFL Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954.

For more information about the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award and to see the “Stars of the Week” throughout the season, please see www.lougrozaaward.com.

The Lou Groza Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards. This season, 13 of the 24 NCFAA awards also honor national players of the week each Tuesday. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit NCFAA.org.

Retzlaff named as Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist

The Davey O’Brien Foundation today announced that BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff has been named a semifinalist for the 2024 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.

Retzlaff has started every game for No. 7-ranked BYU, leading the Cougars to a perfect 9-0 start. The 6-1, 205-pound junior from Corona, California, has competed 152 of 262 passes for 2,091 yards and 18 touchdowns. He is also the Cougars’ third-leading rusher with 71 carries for 291 yards and four additional scores.

The junior signal caller is responsible for 14.9 points per game for the BYU offense. He has multiple touchdown passes in 7 of 9 games this season, thrown for 200 or more yards in five consecutive games and 8 of 9 contests in 2024 while rushing for a score in each of the last three games. Retzlaff has led the Cougars to 33.7 points per game en route to an undefeated start.

For his performance over the first half of the season, Retzlaff was previously named to the Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2024, as well as the Midseason Big 12 Quarterback of the Year and All-Big 12 First Team by College Football Network. The Cougar co-captain was also named to the Manning Award Stars of the Week and the Davey O’Brien Great 8 list for his efforts in BYU’s 38-35 comeback win over Oklahoma State in week seven.

Retzlaff and Shedeur Sanders of Colorado are the only Big 12 quarterbacks named to 16-member semifinalist list.

The next round of the Davey O’Brien Award selection process will include fan voting that will take place on @DaveyOBrien Instagram, Twitter (X) and Facebook accounts from now through midnight (ET) on Friday, Nov. 22. The top vote getters on each of the three social media platforms will receive bonus committee votes which will be added to the ballots cast by the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee.

The Foundation will then announce three finalists for the award on Nov. 26. The winner of the 2024 Davey O’Brien Award will be unveiled live on ESPN on Dec. 12, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.

The 48th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner honoring the winner will be held Feb. 17, 2025, at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Since former Consensus All-American Jim McMahon won the inaugural quarterback award in 1981, two other BYU signal callers have won the prestigious award, including Steve Young (1983) and Ty Detmer (1990 and 1991). Only Oklahoma, with five, has won more Davey O’Brien Awards than BYU. Detmer is one of only four players to have won the award more than once.

Arrest made in water-bottle incident at BYU-Utah game

University of Utah police announced Tuesday they had arrested and charged 18-year-old William Gardner on “a charge of assault, a Class A misdemeanor.”

Police said in a statement that Gardner, who is not a University of Utah student, is charged with “throwing a water bottle onto the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium that struck a member of the BYU cheerleading team during the Utah-BYU football game Nov. 9.”

The Cougar cheerleading coach, Jocelyn Allan, posted on social media that after the conclusion of the game, she was hit in the head by a water bottle thrown from the stands and briefly lost consciousness. She requested public aid to find the perpetrator, which police believe has now been apprehended.

UVU cross country earns WAC honors

Western Athletic Conference coaches voted Utah Valley University’s Anna Martin, Mo Guled, and Coach Scott Houle as its major award winners for the 2023 season, the league announced on Tuesday.

Martin was the Women’s Athlete of the Year after leading the 30th-ranked Wolverines to a perfect score and their fifth WAC Championship. Her individual title was the third won by a Utah Valley woman since joining the league 2013. Guled’s individual championship was the fourth time a Utah Valley man has won.

Houle was named the Women’s Coach of the Year, marking the 14th time he has received a Coach of the Year award from the WAC, 10 of which have come in cross country. He has now won conference coach of the year 38 times in his 21 seasons leading the program.

Guled has had an impressive season, winning five races so far this season. He opened with a victory at the UVU Invitational and has recorded first-place finishes at the Roy Griak Invitational, Color Country Invitational, Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, and the WAC Championship. His win at the Griak earned him the USTFCCCA National Men’s Athlete of the Week.

The Wolverines will race this Friday at the NCAA Mountain Regional. The women’s race begins at 11 a.m. PT/noon MT and the men’s race starts at noon PT/1 p.m. MT.