Freshman quarterback Adam Weber was nearly flawless in leading the Gophers to their thrilling triple overtime victory over Miami (Ohio) Saturday. Monday, Weber was rewarded for his outstanding play as he was named the Big Ten’s co-Offensive Player of the Week for games of Sept. 8.
Weber chalked up a freshman record 368 yards of total offense in Minnesota’s 41-35 victory, including 271 yards through the air on 26-for-40 passing with four touchdowns. The Shoreview, Minn., product also rushed for 97 yards and a score and recorded the 13th-best total offense performance in school history.
On the day, Weber was incredibly efficient and engineered six Minnesota scoring drives, including two during overtime with the game hanging in the balance. Weber’s touchdown passes went for 59 and 25 yards to Eric Decker and a 26 and 5 yards to Ernie Wheelwright.
Weber is the first Gopher to earn conference player-of-the-week honors this season. Bryan Cupito was the last Minnesota quarterback to pick up the league’s weekly offensive honor. He was the Big Ten’s co-Offensive Player of the week for his performance in the Gophers’ 63-26 win over Indiana on Nov. 4, 2006.
Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter joins Weber as Big Ten co-Offensive Players of the Week, while Penn State linebacker Dan Connor was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Iowa defensive end Kenny Iwebema was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week.
Courtesy: Alicia Jerome/University of Minnesota
