Mountain West Conference Names Football Players of the Week

Air Force WR Hall, San Diego State LB Allen, UNLV LB Bell and Utah K/P Sakoda honored

Oct. 15, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Chad Hall (Air Force), Russell Allen (San Diego State), Beau Bell (UNLV) and Louie Sakoda (Utah) are Mountain West Conference Players of the Week for games through Oct. 13. Hall earns the Offensive Player of the Week honor, while Allen and Bell share the Defensive Player award. Sakoda receives Special Teams recognition. Hall and Sakoda collect player of the week honors for the second consecutive week. This is Hall's second career weekly award, while Sakoda earns his sixth career honor. Bell captures weekly honors for the third time in his career, while this week marks Allen's second award as an Aztec.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

CHAD HALL, AIR FORCE

Senior, WR, Atlanta, Ga./Wesleyan

Chad Hall recorded a school record 256 yards rushing yards on a career-high 31 carries (8.26 yards per carry) in Air Force's 45-21 win at Colorado State. Hall broke the previous Academy record of 249 yards by quarterback Dee Dowis vs. San Diego State in 1989 and is the first Falcon with 200-plus yards rushing since Beau Morgan had 217 yards against Fresno State in 1996. Hall has recorded back-to-back 100-yard games for the first time of his career, as he notched 169 yards last week vs. UNLV. He is the first Falcon with back-to-back 100-yard games since quarterback Adam Fitch vs. Army and San Diego State in 2004. Hall is the first non-quarterback with back-to-back 100-yard games since fullback Jason Jones against Colorado State and Utah in 1991. Hall also recorded his third straight multiple-touchdown game. Hall rushed for a career-best four touchdowns against the Rams.

CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

RUSSELL ALLEN, SAN DIEGO STATE

Junior, Linebacker, Oceanside, Calif./Vista

Russell Allen broke a 36-year old school-record with 22 tackles, including 10 solo stops, in San Diego State's 23-7 loss at Utah. Allen's 22 tackles are one shy of the Mountain West Conference record and are tied for the second most tackles by a Bowl Subdivision player this season. The 22 tackles also tied the Rice-Eccles stadium record. Allen recorded his first career sack in the game and had 1.5 tackles for loss on the afternoon. Eleven of his stops resulted in gains of four yards or less and 14 of his 22 tackles resulted in the Utes being held short of the first-down marker.

Senior, Linebacker, Tustin, Calif./Tustin

Beau Bell recorded a season-high 13 total tackles, including six solo, and forced three turnovers with two interceptions and a forced fumble in UNLV's 24-14 loss to BYU. On BYU's first drive of the game, Bell stripped WR Matt Allen and the fumble was recovered by a UNLV teammate. The Rebels converted the turnover into an early 3-0 lead after kicking a short field goal. Late in the second quarter, Bell grabbed his first career interception at his own 18-yard line to keep UNLV within a point at halftime (7-6). In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Bell picked off Cougar quarterback Max Hall at the UNLV goal-line to keep the Rebels within 11 points at 17-6.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

LOUIE SAKODA, UTAH

Senior, Place Kicker, San Jose, Calif./Branham

Louie Sakoda scored all nine of Utah's first half points, making field goals of 51, 32 and 27 yards as the Utes defeated San Diego State, 23-7. Sakoda accounted for 11 of Utah's 23 total points and his 51-yard field goal was a career long, and the first 50-yard field goal by a Ute since 2002. He also averaged 35.7 yards on three punts and placed two inside the 20-yard line.