Rudock, Chesson Share Big Ten Weekly Offensive Honor
11/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jehu Chesson greets Jake Rudock
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Graduate student quarterback Jake Rudock and senior wide receiver Jehu Chesson of the No. 14-ranked University of Michigan football team set several U-M records in the team's double-overtime win at Indiana on Saturday (Nov. 14), earning co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday (Nov. 16).
For Chesson, it is his second conference honor of the year and his career (Special Teams Player of the Week; Oct. 12), while Rudock earns the recognition for the first time in his five-year Big Ten career. The Maize and Blue signal caller was also honored as the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) National Performer of the Week and Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week, and as one of eight quarterbacks to be honored as Manning Award Star of the Week.
Michigan's quarterback dialed up a record-setting effort under center, completing 33-of-46 passes for 440 yards, with six touchdowns to one interception. Rudock's 33 completions are tied for second most by any Wolverine in one game, trailing only Tom Brady's 34 in U-M's 2000 Orange Bowl win over Alabama, which came on the same number of pass attempts. Rudock's final three pass attempts were all touchdowns against the Hoosiers.
According to ESPN Stats and Info, Rudock is the first Big Ten quarterback to throw for 400 yards and six touchdowns in a game since Kyle Orton accomplished the feat at Purdue in 2004, and just the second in the last 20 years.
Aside from setting a new career-high in passing yardage for the second consecutive week (337 vs Rutgers, Nov. 7), Rudock threw for the third-highest total in program history, behind Devin Gardner's 503 (Indiana, Oct. 19, 2013) and 451-yard performances (Ohio State, Nov. 30, 2013) two seasons ago.
Rudock's six touchdown strikes shattered the U-M record of four, previously shared by 20 Michigan quarterbacks, and he added a career-long 23-yard run among seven carries for 64 yards to aid his 504 yards of total offense. That total trails only Devin Gardner's 584 yards accumulated against Indiana two seasons ago (Oct. 19, 2013) for most in U-M history.
Rudock guided U-M to a season-high 581 yards of offense in total, connecting with Chesson for 207 of them through the air, including a 64-yard strike that marks Chesson's career-long reception and the longest by any Wolverine this year. Chesson scored three of his career-high four touchdowns in the first half of Michigan's win, and also had his first career 100-yard receiving performance.
Chesson entered the 2015 campaign with one touchdown on his resume and has elevated that number to 11, with eight receiving touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and one kickoff return touchdown so far this year. His four-score effort against the Hoosiers last weekend tied Derrick Alexander's performance against Minnesota (Oct. 24, 1992) as the most in program history.
The St. Louis, Missouri, native's 207 yards receiving rank third on U-M's all-time single-game list, behind Roy Roundtree's 246-yard effort against Illinois (Nov. 6, 2010) and Jeremy Gallon's 369-yard game against Indiana (Oct 19, 2013).
ESPN Stats and Info names Chesson as the first Big Ten wide receiver to record 200 yards and four touchdowns since Lee Evans did so for Wisconsin in 2003, and just the second in the last 20 years. During one stretch between the Rutgers and Indiana contests, Chesson accumulated four touchdowns in the span of eight targets.
Michigan travels to State College, Pennsylvania, this weekend (Nov. 21) for a matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions. The noon game will be televised nationally on ABC.
Communications Contact: Dave Ablauf, Chad Shepard
