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Charles, Bailey earn Big 12 Player of the Week honors
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas junior RB Jamaal Charles has been named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and junior K Ryan Bailey has been selected as Special Teams Player of the Week for games played on Oct. 27, the conference office has announced. For Charles, who has already been tabbed the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week, it was his first career conference player of the week award, while it is the second for Bailey, whose previous selection came on Oct. 23, 2006, also following Texas’ game with Nebraska. It also marks the first time Longhorns have taken two out of the three honors for the same week since Dec. 1, 2003, when RB Cedric Benson and CB Nathan Vasher were tabbed for the offensive and defensive awards, respectively. Charles set career highs with 290 yards on 33 carries and scored three TDs in a 28-25 victory over Nebraska. With Texas trailing 17-9 entering the fourth quarter, Charles broke off TD runs of 25, 86 and 40 yards to help lead the Longhorns past the Cornhuskers. Charles rushed for 216 yards and three TDs in the fourth quarter alone. The 216 yards in a quarter were a UT record and just six yards shy of the NCAA mark for rushing yards in a quarter (222, Corey Dillon vs. San Jose State, 1996). Behind Charles’ career-high 290-yard rushing day (No. 4 on the UT all-time single-game list), the Horns rushed for a season-high 364 yards on 48 carries (7.6 ypc). The 290 rushing yards were the most by any player ever against the Huskers, surpassing the 247 yards by Oklahoma’s Billy Simms in 1979. The 290 yards pushed Charles over 1,000 rushing yards (1,012) for the first time in his UT career and he became the 21st Longhorn to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Charles rushed for 237 second-half yards, just four yards less than Hodges Mitchell’s UT record of 241 yards in a half versus Kansas in 2000. With Texas trailing 17-9 with 13:13 left in the game, Charles ignited the Horns final surge by capping a four-play, 74-yard drive with a 25-yard TD run that pulled Texas to within 17-15. Charles’ two rushes on that drive accounted for 50 yards. He followed up that effort with a spectacular, career-long 86-yard TD run, which is tied for the fifth-longest run in UT history, two possessions later that gave the Horns their first lead since the second quarter at 21-17. Charles completed his scoring onslaught with a 40-yard TD run that put UT up, 28-17, with 3:34 remaining. All totaled, his three TDs came during a 9:39 fourth quarter stretch that saw Charles run for 196 yards on nine carries (21.1 ypc). For his career, Charles has posted 2,721 yards (No. 8 on UT’s all-time list) on 450 carries (6.0 ypc) and scored 29 TDs (No. 7 on UT’s all-time list). He has also caught 40 passes for 418 yards and three TDs. All totaled, he has registered 3,139 all-purpose yards and 32 TDs on 490 career touches (6.4 ypp). Bailey was responsible for 10 of the Longhorns’ 28 points in the win over Nebraska after connecting on FGs from 38, 47 and 49 yards. The last of which pulled Texas to within 17-9 entering the fourth quarter. This season, Bailey is 14-of-18 on FGs and 35-of-35 on PATs. He is 6-of-8 this season from beyond 40 yards, including a career-long 52-yarder. Bailey’s 77.8 percent FG accuracy leads the Big 12 and his 77 points rank (8.6 ppg) rank 38th nationally and sixth in the Big 12. Meanwhile, his 1.56 FGs per game are tied for 23rd nationally and third in the Big 12. For his career, Bailey is 20-of-24 (.833) on FG attempts and 52-of-53 on PATs for a total of 112 points. The honors are the third and fourth of the season for Texas following CB Brandon Foster, who earned the defensive award on Sept. 17 and the special teams award on Sept. 10.
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