Football

BU, KU and TTU Capture Week 11 Football Awards

Kansas’ Devin Neal (offensive) and Baylor’s Terrel Bernard (defensive), along with Texas Tech’s Jonathan Garibay (special teams) and Donovan Smith (newcomer) picked up Big 12 Football Player of the Week honors. Bernard collected his fourth career award while Garibay was recognized for the second time this season.
 
Neal rushed for a career-high 143 yards on 24 carries with three touchdowns to lead Kansas to a 57-56 overtime victory at Texas. He also caught two passes for 26 yards, including a 19-yard score. Neal is the first KU player since at least 2000 to have three rushing TDs and one receiving TD in the same game. He is just the third player in college football this season to achieve the feat and the only with 140+ rushing yards, 3+ rushing TDs, 25+ receiving yards and 1+ receiving TD in a game.
 
Bernard led Baylor with nine tackles, including a pair of sacks in its 27-14 win over No. 8 Oklahoma, the Bears’ first over the Sooners since 2014. He spearheaded a dominant defensive performance holding OU to just 14 points, 26 below their season average and their fewest points since December of 2014. With his two sacks, Bernard became the sixth player in program history with 14+ career sacks.
 
Garibay connected on a school-record 62-yard field goal as time expired to lift Texas Tech to a 41-38 victory over Iowa State. The field goal was one of two on the day for Garibay, who helped push the Red Raiders to their sixth win of the season to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2017. Both of his field goals came with no time on the clock as he previously connected on a 45-yarder to close the first half. His 62-yarder matched the second-longest field goal in Big 12 history and was the longest by an FBS kicker since 2019. It was only the third field goal of 62 yards or longer by an FBS kicker since 2000. The field goal was the longest by a conference kicker in a Big 12 game in league history as Garibay connected on the third game-winner of his career, including his second this season. He is now 12-for-12 on attempts this season, which is one shy of the Texas Tech record for most consecutive made field goals.
 
In his first career start, Smith completed 25-of-32 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns in Tech’s win over ISU. He became just the seventh freshman in the Big 12 era to start at quarterback for the Red Raiders. Of those seven freshmen, Smith was the fifth to make his first career start against a Big 12 foe as the Red Raiders are now 4-1 in those games. His performance marked the second-most passing yards by a Red Raider freshman making his starting debut during the Big 12 era as he trailed only Davis Webb's 415 yards and three touchdowns from the 2013 victory over Iowa State. In addition to his success in the passing game, Smith rushed for 50 yards to give him 372 yards of total offense on the day.
 
Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week
Devin Neal, KU, RB, Fr.

Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week
Terrel Bernard, BU, LB, Sr.

Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week
Jonathan Garibay, TTU, K, Sr.

Big 12 Newcomer of the Week
Donovan Smith, TTU, QB, Fr.