STARKVILLE — Jameon Lewis is taking ownership of a unique statistical category.
For the second time this season, Mississippi State’s top wide receiver target left a home game with a touchdown rushing, passing, and receiving. Lewis is the only player in Division I football with four or more receiving touchdowns, three or more rushing touchdowns, and two or more passing touchdowns this season.
“He’s just so shifty and a real weapon when he gets the football that it’s becoming obvious it’s our job to get him the ball more during a game,” MSU sophomore quarterback Dak Prescott said. “It’s his statistic, and there’s no doubt in my mind about that. Hopefully, he can do it one or two more times in a game.”
MSU coach Dan Mullen refers to the statistic as football’s version of “the triple-double.”
“I criticize everything I do bad, so when something like this comes up, I look and see if anybody else is doing something,” Lewis said. “It was really no problem for me to do it, but I’ve noticed online I’m the only one doing it.”
Lewis is one of three Football Bowl Subdivision players to have four or more receiving touchdowns and three or more rushing scores. He joins Southern California’s Tre Madden and Arizona State’s Marion Grice in that statistical category.
Lewis has 23 catches for 391 yards (17.0 yards/reception) in the past five games. When he wasn’t in on offense, Lewis returned three kickoffs for 47 yards, lifting his season totals in Southeastern Conference games to six returns for 137 yards (22.8).
“It’s like I’m playing backyard football and everybody else is playing organized football,” Lewis said. “I used to play quarterback in high school, so it’s nothing for me to do something like this each and every week. It don’t matter how I score as long as I get in the end zone.”
MSU junior OG Jackson named SEC offensive lineman of the week
For the second time this season, senior offensive lineman Gabe Jackson has been named the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week.
The honor is the second of Jackson’s career. He is the second MSU offensive lineman to receive the award two or more times in the same season, joining Derek Sherrod, who was a four-time selection in 2010.
On Thursday night against Kentucky, Jackson helped MSU gain 447 yards, good for the eighth most in a league game under Mullen. Jackson also gave MSU time to throw three touchdown passes, tied for the second most in a SEC game under Mullen.
Jackson has anchored a line that is helping MSU average 456.0 yards a game, which is on pace to shatter the single-season record of 422.0 yards per game set in 1982. In the past six games, the offense has recorded 2,859 yards of total offense (476.5 ypg). The Liberty native has opened lanes for 18 rushing touchdowns this season, which equals the 2012 total.
South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw is the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, while Gamecocks placekicker Elliott Fry claims special teams honors.
The SEC also named Alabama safety Landon Collins defensive player of the week.
Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson is freshman of the week. South Carolina tackle Kelcy Quarles is defensive lineman of the week.
Johnson named CFPA Tight End of the Week
After making a career-high four catches for 70 yards and scoring the game’s first touchdown on a 60-yard bomb from Dak Prescott last week, MSU junior Malcolm Johnson has been tabbed as the College Football Performance Awards Tight End of the Week.
Johnson’s touchdown from Prescott gave MSU a 7-0 lead and helped MSU to a 28-22 victory, the program’s fifth-straight triumph against Kentucky. The win pushed MSU to 4-3, and the program owns back-to-back campaigns with a winning record through seven games for the first time since 1999-2000.
The touchdown reception in the first quarter was Johnson’s first of the season, and the second-longest pass play of the season for MSU. Three of Johnson’s four catches versus the Wildcats were good for first downs.
The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native is third on the team with 14 receptions for 191 yards for an average of 13.6 yards per grab.
Joining Johnson on the CFPA awards this week is junior wide receiver Jameon Lewis, who caught a touchdown pass, ran for a score, and threw a touchdown.
MSU to play on CBS next week for only the third time since 2006
MSU’s game Saturday, Nov. 9, at No. 12 Texas A&M will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on CBS, the Southeastern Conference announced Monday.
The last time MSU (4-3, 1-2 SEC) was on CBS’ nationally televised broadcast was a 44-17 loss on Nov. 19, 2011, at Little Rock, Ark., against the No. 3 Razorbacks coached then by Bobby Petrino. MSU hasn’t won on CBS since back-to-back home wins against Florida and Auburn in 2000.
The series with Texas A&M is tied 3-3, but the teams have met just twice since 1937. The Bulldogs won the 2000 Independence Bowl 43-41 in overtime, but the Aggies claimed the 2012 meeting in Starkville 38-13.
The Associated Press reports were included in this report.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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