TicketsSept. 8, 2008
CINCINNATI - University of Cincinnati wide receiver/kick returner Mardy Gilyard (Bunnell, Fla./Flagler Palm Coast) was named the BIG EAST Special Teams Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 7, the league office announced Monday.
Gilyard set a BIG EAST record with 246 yards on kickoff returns and had a school-record 365 all-purpose yards (119 receiving, 246 return yards) in the Bearcats' 52-26 loss at No. 4/4 Oklahoma. He scored a touchdown on a 97-yard kickoff return and also finished with seven receptions for 119 yards.
His kickoff return for a score snapped a 13-year, 145-game streak without a kickoff return for a touchdown. The streak was tied for the third-longest active streak in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. The 97-yard return is his career best, the fourth-longest in school history, and the fourth-longest nationally in 2008. It was the 19th kickoff return for a touchdown in school history and the 52nd in BIG EAST history.
Gilyard's 246 kickoff return yards, the best single-game total nationally this season, broke the previous school record of Roger Stephens (218 vs. Dayton), set in 1947. It also broke Najeh Davenport's (Miami, Fla.) previous BIG EAST single-game return-yardage mark of 208 yards (11/28/98).
He was awarded a helmet sticker by ESPN's College Gameday Final crew of Rece Davis, Mark May and Lou Holtz on Saturday night.
USF quarterback Matt Grothe and Pittsburgh linebacker Scott McKillop earned the conference's offensive and defensive Player of the Week honors, respectively.
This is the second-straight week a UC player has earned a weekly honor from the conference. Quarterback Dustin Grutza (Maysville, Ky./Mason County) was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 2.
Cincinnati returns to action on Sept. 20 in Nippert Stadium against longtime rival Miami University. The 113th "Battle For The Bell" will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. and be televised online by ESPN360.com.