Eight touchdowns before the third quarter was done
Beau Brungard stopped playing after Youngstown State’s first possession of the third quarter. By then he had eight touchdowns. Six through the air, two on the ground, 401 yards of total offense, and a 70-13 scoreline against Duquesne. No FCS player had put up eight total scores in a game since Presbyterian’s Ren Hefley did it against Valparaiso in November 2021.
The reigning Walter Payton Award winner has not been a one-week story either. Brungard accounted for 351 yards and five touchdowns against Mercyhurst and still threw for 243 in a blowout loss at Kentucky. He sits at 63 of 87 for 765 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception, with 259 yards and four scores on the ground.
This is the 40th season of the Payton Award, and quarterbacks have taken it 21 times in the last 22 years. Only Cooper Kupp, the Eastern Washington receiver, interrupted the run, in 2015. Before 2003 the split looked nothing like that: nine running backs, seven quarterbacks, one wide receiver.
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The names everyone expected
Keali’i Ah Yat threw for more than 4,000 yards last season, the only FCS passer to manage it. Montana’s quarterback has 793 yards and five scores so far and has been sacked twice in three games. He is 20-4 as a starter.
Jerry Kaminski has been sharper still. The North Dakota redshirt sophomore has completed 61 of 79 for 801 yards and 11 touchdowns, including a career-high five against St. Thomas. Last year he needed eight games to reach 22.
Jordan Cooke averaged 18.1 yards per completion against VMI and 22.1 against San Diego, and his numbers at Utah State mattered less than the result: Idaho State’s first win over an FBS opponent since 2017. Justin Lamson has run Montana State’s offense at a 184.2 passer rating through two games, then won at Nevada to stretch the defending champions to 17 straight.
The ones nobody had circled
South Dakota lost Aidan Bouman, the winningest quarterback in program history, and handed the job to Austyn Modrzewski. He threw six touchdown passes in his first career game, a school record, and added a 68-yard run. His efficiency rating sits at 214.2.
Anthony Grigsby Jr. was responsible for all five Cal Poly touchdowns in a 35-34 win over Idaho, the last of them a run with nine seconds left. Kamden Sixkiller threw for 343 yards as Campbell beat ETSU 49-37. Donovyn Omolo, a Division II transfer, cleared 100 rushing yards in each of Central Arkansas’ first two games. And Jax Leatherwood, all six foot eight of him, went 24 of 35 for 289 yards and four touchdowns against Monmouth after an injury-hit year at Southeast Missouri.
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