Following his record-breaking performance in a 59-31 season-opening win over Bowling Green, WKU quarterback Brandon Doughty racked up a pair of national awards and Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday.
Doughty, a redshirt senior, was named the National Performer of the Week and Quarterback Performer of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) after completing 46 of 56 passes for 569 yards and six touchdowns against Bowling Green. He was also recognized as the Conference Offensive Player of the Week following his performance that resulted in 13 school records.
According to ESPN Stats and Information, Doughty is one of three FBS quarterbacks in the past 10 seasons to eclipse 500 yards passing with six touchdown passes and no interceptions. Only six FBS quarterbacks have thrown for more than 569 yards in a game since the 2004 season, and of those six, only West Virginia’s Geno Smith threw more touchdowns (8 vs. Baylor 9/29/12) in their monster performance.
Doughty set WKU individual records with 46 completions, 569 yards passing and six touchdowns on a 82.1 percent completion rate while leading the WKU offense to nine team single-game records. His six touchdown passes also tied a Conference USA record.
Doughty obliterated WKU’s 45-year old completions record and set the new passing yards standard that had previously stood at 494 since the 1985 season. His dominance led the Hilltoppers to a school record 702 yards of total offense and a program FBS record of 59 points. Doughty led WKU to eight touchdowns and a field goal in 12 possessions, which included eight touchdown drives of 69 yards or longer – all against a Falcon unit that led the Mid-American Conference in total defense during the 2012-13 seasons.
He distributed his 46 completions to nine different receivers, six of which finished with 50 or more receiving yards. Doughty did not throw consecutive incompletions in his first 40 pass attempts and hit 27-of-32 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He led the WKU offense to a school record 40 first downs as the Hilltoppers averaged 7.2 yards per play on a program record 97 plays, converting 14-of-18 third downs along the way.
Entering the second week of the college football season, Doughty leads the nation in completions, yards, touchdown passes and touchdowns responsible for. He and his Hilltopper teammates now turn attention to Big 10 foe Illinois, which WKU visits Saturday morning in Champaign, Ill.