AP Player of the Week: Miami’s Cam Ward leads 4 straight TD drives to come back from 25 down vs. Cal

The Associated Press national player of the week in college football for Week 6 of the season:

Cam Ward, Miami

The Hurricanes’ quarterback led his team back from 25 points down in the second half, leading four touchdown drives to finish a 39-38 victory at California.

Ward completed 35 of 53 passes for 437 yards and two touchdowns and also scored on a 24-yard run. He passed for 249 yards in the fourth quarter alone, his 5-yard pass to Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left completing the comeback.

Ward has thrown for at least 400 yards in two of his last three games and leads the nation with 20 passing touchdowns and 369.8 passing yards per game.

Runner-up

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia generated 308 yards of total offense in the Commodores’ 40-35 upset of previously top-ranked Alabama — the program’s first win in 60 games against top-five opponents and first over Alabama since 1984.

The New Mexico State graduate transfer was 16 of 20 for 252 yards and two touchdowns. It was the fourth game this season that Pavia has scored multiple touchdowns and second time he has thrown for more than 250 yards for Vandy.

Honorable mention

Syracuse QB Kyle McCord was 40 of 63 for 355 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-41 overtime road win against UNLV. SMU’s Kevin Jennings had 394 yards of total offense with career highs of 281 yards passing and 113 rushing and touchdown in a 34-27 win over Louisville. Louisiana-Lafayette LB Cameron Whitfield tied a school record with four sacks and forced two fumbles in a 23-13 win over Southern Mississippi, the Ragin’ Cajuns’ first win in Hattiesburg since 1989. Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke was 21 of 33 for 380 yards and three touchdowns in 41-24 win over Northwestern. Minnesota RB Darius Taylor ran 25 times for 144 yards and caught five passes for 56 yards in 24-17 win over Southern California.

Six stats

— Alabama never led during its loss to Vanderbilt, marking the first time the Tide hadn’t led at any point in a game since Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers beat them 46-41 in 2019.

— From the military might department: Army has the nation’s longest winning streak, at nine games, and is among three teams that have not trailed. Navy has gone 19 for 19 in red-zone scoring, all touchdowns, and is the only team in the country to accomplish that.

— Arkansas’ 19-14 win over then-No. 4 Tennessee was its first at home against a top-five opponent since a 28-24 victory over a then-No. 3 Tennessee in 1999.

— Washington’s Will Rogers III had thrown 269 consecutive passes without an interception before being picked off by Michigan’s Ernest Hausmann. His previous interception was against Alabama on Sept. 30, 2023, when he was with Mississippi State.

— South Dakota State, top-ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision and the two-time defending national champion, has not allowed a touchdown in 12 quarters and outscored its past three opponents a combined 106-6.

— Iowa State is 5-0 for the first time since 1980. That team then lost five in a row before it beat Oklahoma State to finish 6-5.

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AP voters: Aaron Beard, Tim Booth, Pat Graham, Gary B. Graves, Stephen Hawkins, Pete Iacobelli, Mark Long, John Marshall, Eric Olson, John Zenor.

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