AP Player of the Week: Iowa State RB Aiden Flora ran for 212 yards and 3 TDs and passed for 2 scores

The Associated Press

Oct 5, 2026


The Associated Press national player of the week in football for Week 5 of the season:

The former walk-on ran for three touchdowns and a career-high 212 yards and passed for two TDs in a 45-42 victory over West Virginia.

His five touchdowns accounted for are most among Football Bowl Subdivision running backs this season, and he's the first FBS running back since at least 1996 with two rushing TDs, two passing TDs and 100 yards rushing in a game.

Flora averaged 9.6 yards on his 22 carries and scored on runs of 24, 63 and 2 yards, with the last one giving the Cyclones the lead for good with 1:57 left. His TD passes went for 46 and 2 yards.

Flora is first in the Big 12 in all-purpose yards with 157 per game and second with 118 yards rushing per game.

Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith had 11 catches for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-17 win at Iowa.

Smith broke the program record for career receiving touchdowns, passing Chris Olave’s previous mark of 34. Smith’s 11 receptions moved him past Emeka Egbuka (2021-24) and K.J. Hill (2016-19) to become Ohio State’s career receptions leader. With 207 career catches, Smith needs seven more to enter the Big Ten’s top 10.

Smith leads the nation with 164.6 receiving yards per game and is tied for first with Oregon State's Jesse Legree with nine TD catches.

Yale QB Dante Reno passed for 298 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-24 win over Merrimack the day after the school announced the death of his father, former Bulldogs coach Tony Reno; Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson was 31 of 34 for 427 yards and five touchdowns in a 56-26 win over Colorado State; Alabama QB Keelon Russell was 16 of 22 for 285 yards and three TDs in a 56-23 win over Mississippi State; Missouri QB Austin Simmons was 23 of 30 for 340 yards and two TDs and Jamal Roberts ran 24 times for 211 yards and three scores in a 45-17 win over Florida; Tennessee RB DeSean Bishop carried 34 times for 220 yards and three TDs in a 24-14 win over Auburn.

— Maryland and Nebraska combined for 28 penalties in the Cornhuskers' 48-23 win, most in a Bowl Subdivision game since Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky totaled that many in 2021. The 247 penalty yards were most of any game this season.

— Oregon State's Atkinson, who was second in the Championship Subdivision with 326.9 yards per game for Mercer last season, leads the FBS with 369.6 yards per game.

— Ohio State's Smith became the first FBS player since Indiana's Ty Fryfogle to have back-to-back 200-yard receiving games.

— Georgia's 257 points through five games are most in program history since the 1910 team piled up 258.

— North Dakota State has allowed a total of seven points through three home games with shutouts over Fordham and Wyoming.

— Boise State's 36-minute, 14-second average time of possession per game is the highest since Air Force held the ball an average of 36:33 in 2022.

___

AP voters: Aaron Beard, Maura Carey, Pat Graham, Stephen Hawkins, John Marshall, Michael Marot, Steve Megargee, Eric Olson and Eddie Pells.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

More CFB News

CFB 2026 Leaders

CFB 2026 Rankings

CFB 2026 Standings

Pac-12WLPCT
1
5
1
.833
2
4
2
.667
3
4
2
.667
4
2
4
.333
5
2
4
.333
6
2
3
.400
7
2
3
.400
8
1
5
.167
Big 12WLPCT
1
5
0
1.000
2
5
0
1.000
3
5
0
1.000
4
4
1
.800
5
4
1
.800
6
5
1
.833
7
5
1
.833
8
4
1
.800
9
3
2
.600
10
3
3
.500
11
3
3
.500
12
3
2
.600
13
2
3
.400
14
2
3
.400
15
2
3
.400
16
3
3
.500
Mid-AmericanWLPCT
1
4
3
.571
2
4
2
.667
3
4
2
.667
4
2
4
.333
5
3
3
.500
6
4
2
.667
7
3
3
.500
8
3
3
.500
9
4
2
.667
10
2
4
.333
11
1
5
.167
12
1
5
.167
13
1
5
.167
SoutheasternWLPCT
1
6
0
1.000
2
5
1
.833
3
5
1
.833
4
4
1
.800
5
5
1
.833
6
5
1
.833
7
4
1
.800
8
3
2
.600
9
4
2
.667
10
4
1
.800
11
4
2
.667
12
3
2
.600
13
3
3
.500
14
3
3
.500
15
3
3
.500
16
2
4
.333
Big 10WLPCT
1
6
0
1.000
2
5
0
1.000
3
5
1
.833
4
4
1
.800
5
6
1
.857
6
3
3
.500
7
5
1
.833
8
5
1
.833
9
4
2
.667
10
4
1
.800
11
3
2
.600
12
3
3
.500
13
3
2
.600
14
1
4
.200
15
3
3
.500
16
3
3
.500
17
2
4
.333
18
2
4
.333
Conference USAWLPCT
1
5
1
.833
2
5
2
.714
3
3
3
.500
4
2
4
.333
5
2
4
.333
6
2
4
.333
7
3
3
.500
8
1
4
.200
9
1
4
.200
10
1
4
.200
American AthleticWLPCT
1
5
1
.833
2
5
1
.833
3
4
2
.667
4
4
1
.800
5
3
2
.600
6
3
2
.600
7
3
3
.500
8
2
4
.333
9
4
2
.667
10
2
3
.400
11
2
3
.400
12
3
3
.500
13
1
5
.167
14
0
6
.000
Atlantic CoastWLPCT
1
5
0
1.000
2
5
1
.833
3
3
2
.600
4
5
1
.833
5
4
1
.800
6
4
2
.667
7
3
3
.500
8
2
3
.400
9
3
3
.500
10
4
1
.800
11
3
2
.600
12
4
2
.667
13
3
3
.500
14
3
3
.500
15
2
4
.333
16
2
3
.400
17
2
3
.400
Mountain WestWLPCT
1
4
2
.667
2
4
1
.800
3
5
1
.833
4
4
1
.800
5
3
3
.500
6
3
3
.500
7
2
3
.400
8
0
5
.000
9
1
5
.167
10
1
5
.167
IndependentWLPCT
1
6
0
1.000
2
3
3
.500
Sun BeltWLPCT
1
6
0
1.000
2
4
2
.667
3
4
1
.800
4
3
2
.600
5
3
2
.600
6
4
2
.667
7
2
4
.333
8
2
4
.333
9
2
4
.333
10
3
2
.600
11
1
4
.200
12
0
5
.000
13
3
3
.500
14
2
4
.333

CFB 2026 Scores & Schedule

Scores

DATEMATCHUPSCORE
Sat
9/19
@
31-35
Sat
9/19
@
31-35
Sat
9/19
@
31-21
Sat
9/19
@
48-20
Sat
9/19
@
30-44

Schedule

DATEMATCHUPTIME (ET)
Wed
10/14
@
7:30 PM
Wed
10/14
@
8:00 PM
Thu
10/15
@
7:30 PM
Thu
10/15
@
7:30 PM
Thu
10/15
@
8:00 PM