Expectations are high as the Drake women host St, Thomas of Minnesota this evening in their season opener. Allison Pohlman begins her third season as coach and the Bulldogs return nine players that were part of a team that won the Missouri Valley tournament title and played in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs will be in search of a 15th trip to the NCAA Tournament this season.

The Iowa State women blew the game open in the third quarter and rolled to an 82-55 win over Butler in the season opener today in Ames. Senior forward Nyamer (ny-meer) Diew (dew) led the Cyclones with 19 points and nine rebounds. She started her college career at Butler.

Diew was impressed with the play of a number of freshmen in their first game.

Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly was pleased with how the Cyclones performed after halftime.

Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II (co-offensive) became just the second student-athlete in Conference history to earn four consecutive Big 12 Player of the Week awards. He was joined by his teammate Xavier Benson (defensive), UCF’s RJ Harvey (co-offensive) and the Texas duo of Adonai Mitchell (newcomer) and Bert Auburn (special teams) as Week 10 honorees. Mitchell picked up his third award of the season while the others are first-time recipients.

Gordon had another impressive performance on Saturday, producing 156 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the Cowboys’ 27-24 Bedlam win over No. 9 Oklahoma. He logged 138 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground, along with an 18-yard reception. His first touchdown came on a 20-yard run to cap OSU’s game-opening drive, and his second came on a two-yard run with just under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Cowboys the lead for good. The sophomore has now rushed for 100+ yards in six straight games, which ties for the sixth-longest streak in program history. He has scored multiple touchdowns in four straight games with 10 total scores, including three consecutive games with two or more rushing touchdowns. Gordon’s 138 rushing yards marked the most by any player against the Oklahoma defense this season, and his two rushing touchdowns matched the most against OU this year.

Harvey tallied his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game, as the Orlando native recorded a career-high 164 yards on 20 carries with a career-best three touchdowns. He is the first UCF player with four consecutive 100-yard games since Latavius Murray in 2012. Additionally, his 164 rushing yards are the most by a Knights running back since Isaiah Bowser rushed for 172 against Boise State in the 2021 season opener. Harvey had eight different runs during the game for 10 or more yards to give the Knights their first Big 12 Conference win and first win at Cincinnati since 2017. The senior interdisciplinary studies major has 876 rushing yards this season and is on pace to become the first 1,000-yard rusher for the program since 2018.

Benson was all over the field in Saturday’s win over OU, recording seven tackles, a sack, a quarterback hurry, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and three tackles for loss, which is the most by a Cowboy this season and the most by any Big 12 player this week. The senior LB is the first Big 12 player since UT’s Joseph Ossai in 2020 to record at least three TFL, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in one game. Benson helped set the tone early. On Oklahoma’s second drive of the game, he recorded a strip-sack and then recovered a fumble just two plays later. The university studies student entered Saturday with half a sack on the season and no fumbles forced or recovered in his career. In addition to his impact forcing turnovers, one of Benson’s most impactful tackles included a six-yard tackle for loss against Drake Stoops on third down with about four minutes remaining in the first half. The play forced a 51-yard field goal attempt that sailed just wide. Another big tackle also came on third down, as he helped bring down Jalil Farooq five yards short of the marker before OU’s final offensive play that was stopped to seal the three-point Cowboy win.

Mitchell caught eight passes for a career-high 149 receiving yards and one touchdown in Texas’ 33-30 win over No. 23 Kansas State. The junior physical culture and sports student had 96 yards receiving on three catches in the first quarter alone in helping the Longhorns establish a 10-0 lead. He pulled in his team-leading eighth receiving touchdown of the year on a 37-yarder, and followed that with a 47-yard reception that set the offense up for a field goal. He later caught three more passes for 44 yards on a fourth quarter field goal drive that regained the lead for the Longhorns after the Wildcats had tied it at 27-27. That included a 14-yarder on a second-and-20 that led to a manageable fourth-down conversion to get into field goal range.

Auburn made all four of his field goal attempts and three extra points for 15 of the Longhorns’ points in a 33-30 win over No. 23 K-State. Auburn connected on field goals from 32, 49, 34 and 42 yards with the last two coming in the latter part of the fourth quarter and overtime to break ties and regain three-point leads for Texas. The one in the fourth quarter came with just over six minutes remaining for a 30-27 lead, and the 42-yarder in overtime provided the margin of victory after the Longhorns’ defense held the Wildcats scoreless on their possession. The junior economics major has now made his last eight field goal attempts.

Offensive Player of the Year:

Chase Spieker (CAM)

Defensive Player of the Year:

Jack Follman (CAM)

Lineman of the Year:

Cooper Marvel (Fremont-Mills)

Coach of the Year:

Barry Bower (CAM)

Assistant of the Year:

Travis Nelson (E-EHK)

Offense 1st Team:

QB: Chase Spieker (CAM), RB: Braxton Blackburn (Fremont Mills), RB: Alex Hansen (E-EHK), TE/WR: Cash Emgarten (E-EHK), TE/WR: Jack Follman (CAM), OL: Cooper Marvel (Fremont-Mills), OL: Chase Jahde (CAM), OL: Jackson Radcliff (E-EHK), K: Kegan Croghan (CAM), Utility: Brody Paulson (CAM)

Defense 1st Team: 

DL: Cooper Marvel (Fremont-Mills), DL: Jackson Radcliff (E-EHK), DL: Owen Hoover (CAM), LB: Jackson Embree (East-Mills), LB: Jack Follman (CAM), LB: Alex Hansen (E-EHK), DB: Cash Emgarten (E-EHK), DB: Ryan Bower (CAM), P: Quintin White (E-EHK), Utility: Austin Williams (CAM), Returner: Cash Emgarten (E-EHK)

Offense 2nd Team: 

QB: Jameson Kilworth (E-EHK), RB: Jacob Martin (Stanton/Essex), RB: Austin Williams (CAM), TE/WR: Jackson Embree (East-Mills), TE/WR: Collin Bower (CAM), OL: Josh Nelson (E-EHK), OL: Owen Hoover (CAM), OL: Caleb Brandt (Fremont-Mills), K: Logan Jahnke (Fremont-Mills), Utility: Luke Madison (Fremont-Mills)

Defense 2nd Team: 

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior Jay Higgins has been named a 2023 Dick Butkus Award semifinalist. The announcement was made on Monday by the Butkus Foundation.

Higgins is one of 12 semifinalists for the Butkus Award, presented to the nation’s most outstanding linebacker. He is one of three players from the Big Ten Conference on the list along with Ohio State’s Tommy Eichenberg and Penn State’s Curtis Jacobs.

Higgins leads the Big Ten and ranks second nationally (the most by a Power 5 player) with 12.6 tackles per game. He has two 15+ and seven 10+ tackle games this season.

The Indianapolis native has 81 tackles in six Big Ten games, averaging 13.5 tackles per contest. Higgins had 18 tackles at Penn State, tied for the second-most in a game this season and the most by a Hawkeye since Jack Campbell in 2021.

Campbell won the award in 2022 and was a semifinalist in 2021, while Josey Jewell was a finalist for the Butkus Award in 2016 and a semifinalist in 2017.

Higgins was named a midseason first-team All-American last month by FOX and Sporting News and a second-team honoree by the Associated Press.

Teammate Cooper DeJean was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, presented to the best defensive back in college football, last week.

Iowa (7-2, 4-2) returns to action on Saturday against Rutgers (6-3, 3-3). Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. (CT) on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. The game will be televised on BTN and broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network.