AP Player of the Week: Mississippi's Chambliss accounted for 3 TDs, 363 yards passing against LSU

The Associated Press

Sep 21, 2026


The Associated Press national player of the week in football for Week 3 of the season:

Chambliss passed for 363 yards and two touchdowns and ran for the tiebreaking score in the fourth quarter in the Rebels' 32-24 victory over Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers in the most anticipated game of the season to date.

Chambliss threw touchdowns of 21 and 20 yards to lead his team to a 24-7 halftime advantage. After LSU rallied to tie the game, Chambliss engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive without the services of top running back Kewan Lacy, who left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. Chambliss faked a handoff and ran 14 yards against the grain, outracing LSU safety Ty Benefield to the left pylon. The Rebels added a 2-point conversion.

Chambliss was 33 of 48 passing for 363 yards and recorded his 16th consecutive game with at least one touchdown pass, tying Eli Manning for the third-longest streak in program history.

Louisville RB Keyjuan Brown ran 10 times for a career-high 163 yards and a pair of long touchdowns in the Cardinals' 41-31 victory over SMU. He scored on a 58-yard run in the third quarter, and his 53-yarder early in the fourth quarter gave the Cardinals the lead for good.

Brown is the third player in Louisville history to rush for at least 160 yards on 10 or fewer carries, following Lenny Lyles (twice in 1957) and Malik Williams (2017).

Vanderbilt edge Miles Capers forced CJ Bailey’s fumble in the end zone in the Commodores’ improbable 35-31 victory over N.C. State. It was his fifth forced fumble in 24 games. He finished with three tackles, including one for loss; Iowa State RB Aiden Flora ran for 179 of his career-high 194 yards in the first half and returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown in a 55-7 win over Bowling Green; Alabama QB Keelon Russell threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score as the Crimson Tide overcame a 15-point deficit to beat Florida State 50-36; Toledo QB John Alan Richter threw for 429 yards and four touchdowns as the Rockets erased a 14-point deficit late in regulation to beat Temple 49-48 in overtime; West Virginia QB Michael Hawkins Jr. accounted for 313 yards of total offense and five touchdowns in a 38-27 win over Virginia; BYU RB LJ Martin rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yard run on the second play of the game, in 41-23 win over Colorado State.

— Miami's Darian Mensah is out to the best three-game start in terms of passing accuracy since at least 2000, according to Sportradar. He has completed 89.9% of his attempts (71 of 79) and is ahead of pace to break the Bowl Subdivision season record of 77.4% by Oregon's Bo Nix in 2023. Nix was at 84% through three games that year.

— Duke's Nate Sheppard not only leads the nation with 176 rushing yards per game, he also is tied with West Virginia's Cam Cook for most carries per game with 27.3. That's the most carries per game since Illinois' Chase Brown averaged the same number in 2022.

— Iowa is averaging an FBS-leading 8.46 yards per carry on first down, up from 4.77 in 2025.

— New Mexico leads the nation with 11 takeaways and is among six teams that have not committed a turnover.

— Kansas State is the only team yet to allow a sack.

— Syracuse is averaging 12 penalties per game, nearly double its 6.2 per game in 2025.

___

AP voters: Aaron Beard, Pat Graham, Mark Long, John Marshall, Michael Marot, Steve Megargee, Eric Olson, Eddie Pells.

___

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

Players Mentioned

More CFB News

CFB 2026 Leaders

CFB 2026 Rankings

CFB 2026 Standings

Pac-12WLPCT
1
7
1
.875
2
5
3
.625
3
4
5
.444
4
4
4
.500
5
5
3
.625
6
3
5
.375
7
3
5
.375
8
1
8
.111
Big 10WLPCT
1
8
0
1.000
2
8
1
.889
3
6
2
.750
4
7
2
.778
5
5
3
.625
6
5
3
.625
7
6
2
.750
8
5
3
.625
9
6
2
.750
10
5
3
.625
11
5
3
.625
12
5
3
.625
13
5
3
.625
14
3
5
.375
15
4
4
.500
16
2
6
.250
17
2
6
.250
18
2
6
.250
SoutheasternWLPCT
1
7
1
.875
2
7
1
.875
3
6
2
.750
4
6
2
.750
5
6
2
.750
6
6
2
.750
7
6
2
.750
8
6
2
.750
9
5
3
.625
10
5
3
.625
11
4
4
.500
12
4
4
.500
13
4
4
.500
14
4
4
.500
15
3
5
.375
16
3
5
.375
Conference USAWLPCT
1
7
1
.875
2
6
2
.750
3
4
4
.500
4
3
5
.375
5
4
4
.500
6
3
5
.375
7
3
5
.375
8
3
5
.375
9
2
6
.250
10
1
7
.125
Sun BeltWLPCT
1
6
2
.750
2
5
3
.625
3
4
4
.500
4
7
2
.778
5
5
3
.625
6
4
4
.500
7
4
4
.500
8
3
5
.375
9
4
4
.500
10
4
4
.500
11
3
5
.375
12
5
3
.625
13
1
7
.125
14
2
7
.222
Atlantic CoastWLPCT
1
8
0
1.000
2
7
1
.875
3
5
3
.625
4
6
2
.750
5
6
2
.750
6
6
2
.750
7
5
3
.625
8
6
3
.667
9
4
4
.500
10
4
4
.500
11
4
4
.500
12
4
5
.444
13
3
6
.333
14
4
4
.500
15
4
5
.444
16
3
5
.375
17
2
6
.250
Mountain WestWLPCT
1
7
1
.875
2
5
3
.625
3
5
3
.625
4
7
2
.778
5
6
2
.750
6
3
5
.375
7
4
5
.444
8
2
6
.250
9
1
7
.125
10
0
8
.000
IndependentWLPCT
1
7
1
.875
2
4
4
.500
Mid-AmericanWLPCT
1
6
2
.750
2
6
3
.667
3
5
3
.625
4
6
2
.750
5
5
3
.625
6
4
5
.444
7
3
5
.375
8
3
6
.333
9
2
7
.222
10
4
4
.500
11
3
5
.375
12
2
7
.222
13
1
7
.125
American AthleticWLPCT
1
7
1
.875
2
6
2
.750
3
7
2
.778
4
5
3
.625
5
6
2
.750
6
4
4
.500
7
5
3
.625
8
4
4
.500
9
4
4
.500
10
1
7
.125
11
4
4
.500
12
2
6
.250
13
2
6
.250
14
1
7
.125
Big 12WLPCT
1
8
0
1.000
2
7
1
.875
3
7
1
.875
4
6
2
.750
5
6
2
.750
6
5
3
.625
7
5
3
.625
8
5
3
.625
9
4
4
.500
10
4
4
.500
11
5
3
.625
12
4
4
.500
13
4
4
.500
14
3
5
.375
15
4
4
.500
16
3
5
.375

CFB 2026 Scores & Schedule

Scores

DATEMATCHUPSCORE
Sat
10/10
@
21-17
Sat
10/10
@
38-14
Sat
10/10
@
17-20
Sat
10/10
@
10-3
Sat
10/10
@
20-19

Schedule

DATEMATCHUPTIME (ET)
Tue
11/3
@
7:00 PM
Tue
11/3
@
8:00 PM
Wed
11/4
@
7:00 PM
Wed
11/4
@
7:00 PM
Wed
11/4
@
7:30 PM