Brown Honored for Second Week in a Row
9/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Every time Mike Brown has started a game at quarterback, the Charlottesville, Va., native has drawn conference and national honors. This week was no different, as Brown was named Big South Co-Offensive Player of the Week, while the junior was named to the College Sporting News FCS National All-Star listing.
Brown had another career day, finishing the game against Ball State with a career-best 363 total offensive yards to lead the Flames to a 27-23 victory over the FBS foe. The win was Liberty's second-ever against a FBS opponent and was the first since the Flames downed Eastern Michigan, 25-24, on Oct. 7, 1989.
In his third start at quarterback, Brown completed 24-of-38 attempts for 276 yards, while throwing two touchdown passes. The junior also led the program with 18 rushing attempts for 87 yards, including the game-winning one-yard touchdown with 4:55 left in the contest.
Brown has surpassed the 300 total offensive yard figure during all three of his career starts under center (averaging 348.3 yards per contest). He has finished the trio of contests by completing a combined 70-of-96 passing attempts for 856 yards and seven touchdowns.
With his effort against Ball State, Brown moved past the 1,000-yard career passing mark (1,066 yards) and into double-digit career touchdown passes (10).
Brown had his hand in three of Liberty's four touchdowns on Saturday. The two scoring strikes were both to Chris Summers, including a 21-yard pass play in the first quarter and a 65-yard scoring play midway through the third quarter.
During the game-winning drive, Brown completed 3-of-3 passing attempts for 30 yards and carried the ball five times for 28 yards on the nine-play, 74-yard drive. The final rushing attempt was a one-yard gain that saw the junior carry two Ball State tacklers into the end zone with him.
Brown shared Big South Offensive Player of the Week honors with Gardner-Webb's James Perry, III. The wide receiver finished Saturday with 10 receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns, helping the Bulldogs post a 38-37 overtime victory over FBS foe Akron.
The other three weekly honors handed out by the Big South Conference this week were each given to Gardner-Webb players.
Kicker Ryan Gates was named Special Teams Player of the Week, while linebacker Bryrce Nixon was named Defensive Player of the Week. Juanne Blount rounded out the honors for the Runnin' Bulldogs, as he was named Freshman of the Week.
Brown was also named to the College Sporting News FCS National All-Star team along with Cal Poly linebacker Marty Mohamed, Gardner-Webb's Gates, James Madison linebacker Stephon Robertson and South Dakota quarterback Dante Warren.
Brown and the Flames will play their second of three-straight road games this weekend, when the squad travels to Moon Township, Pa., to square off against Robert Morris. Kickoff inside of Joe Walton Stadium is slated for Noon in Liberty's second matchup with a Northeast Conference opponent this season.
