MWC honors 2 Cougs, Ute

Utah's Alex Smith and BYU's Brady Poppinga and Matt Payne were honored by the Mountain West Conference on Monday.

Smith, who led Utah to a 41-21 win over Texas A&M, accounted for 435 of Utah's 582 yards of total offense and was honored as MWC offensive player of the week. He completed 21-of-29 passes for a career-high 359 yards, while also rushing for 76 yards on 13 attempts. He threw three touchdown passes, including a 78-yard play to Steve Savoy on the fourth play of the game, and rushed for two more scores. Smith was also named the national college football player of the week by The Sporting News magazine and radio.

Poppinga, an all-MWC defensive end who moved to linebacker this year, had a career-best 12 tackles, including seven solo takedowns, in a 20-17 win over Notre Dame on Saturday and was named defensive player of the week. Poppinga also recovered a fumble and had a sack.

Payne, a senior, was 2-for-2 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra points Saturday, earning special-teams player of the week honors. With 1:31 remaining in the first quarter, the Ogden native connected on a 44-yard field goal to give BYU a 10-0 lead. In the second quarter, Payne hit a 53-yard field goal, equaling his career long. Payne (245 career points) is now in third place on the BYU all-time scoring list.

Payne also had nine punts for 421 yards, averaging 46.8 yards per punt, against the Irish. Six of Payne's nine punts landed inside the 20-yard line, while four of those landed inside the 10-yard line. Only two punts were returned all night.