Clayton named MWC Offensive Player of the Week

UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton, who threw for a career-high 340 yards in Saturday night’s 34-33 victory over previously unbeaten Hawaii, was named the Mountain West Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week today.

It’s the second time in his career that Clayton has received the honor. He shared the award almost one year to the day (Sept. 22, 2008) after helping lead the Rebels to an overtime win over Iowa State. He is the first UNLV offensive player to win the award outright since Jason Thomas won it on Nov. 4, 2002. There had been four co-winners since.

Clayton, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior from Normal, Ill., passed for three touchdowns, including a 15-yard game-winner to sophomore wide receiver Phillip Payne with 36 seconds remaining, and also rushed 11-yards for another TD. He set career highs for yards passing (340) and completions (28).

Clayton has now thrown a touchdown pass in 12 consecutive games, the third longest streak in Mountain West Conference history. The league record is 15 straight games set by BYU’s John Beck in 2001-02.

Air Force linebacker Andre Morris (7 tackles, 2 sacks at New Mexico) was named MWC Defensive Player of the Week while Colorado State punter Pete Kontodiakos (47.2 average vs. Nevada) won the special teams honor.