Texas' Ricky Williams, Texas A&M's Nguyen, Nebraska's Joe Walker Tabbed Big 12
Oct 05, 1998 | Football
October 05, 1998
In a game dotted by five conference battles, three student-athletes have been named as Big 12 Conference superlative performers for games of Oct. 3 by a group of media observers.
Texas running back Ricky Williams of San Diego, Calif., is Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. Texas A&M linebacker Dat Nguyen of Rockport, Texas, is Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week while Big 12 Specialty Player of the Week is Nebraska DB Joe Walker of Arlington, Texas.
Williams had a school-record 350 rushing yards on 37 carries with five TDs as the Longhorns downed Iowa State 54-33 at Austin. Williams broke the school mark by Roosevelt Leaks of 342 yards rushing against SMU in 1973. He also caught two passes for 17 yards and toppled the Texas game record for all-purpose yards with 367. The San Diego resident and football-baseball star broke the NCAA Division I-A record for back-to-back rushing performances with a composite 668 yards (including 318 against Rice on Sept. 26). Wisconsin's Ron Dayne held the prior standard with 628 yards (289 vs. Illinois, 339 against Hawai'I) in 1996. Williams also joined USC's Marcus Allen (1981), Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders (1988) and Iowa State's Troy Davis (1996) as the only four student-athletes in NCAA history to reach 1,000 yards at the five-game mark in the campaign.
Nguyen was a one-man "Wrecking Crew" for the Aggies' defense with eight total tackles (six unassisted), one tackle for loss, one pass deflection, one interception return with an 18-yard return to set up one TD, and fumble recovery on a muffed punt to set up a field goal in A&M's 24-21 Big 12 win at Kansas. Nguyen raised his career tackles' total to 414-fourth on the Aggies' all-time listing behind All-America LB Ed Simonini with 425 stops from 1972-75.
Walker provided the margin of victory in the Huskers' 24-17 conference win over Oklahoma State before 79,555 fans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City with a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown with 7:29 left in the contest. He ended the evening with 160 total return yards, including 92 on five punt returns and 68 yards on four kickoff returns. Walker also started for the Huskers at rover and registered seven tackles, including one for a one-yard loss.
