FWAA Duke News

This is the the Week 11 installment of the Football Writers Association of America's weekly Freshman Focus for the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year Award, Freshman Player of the Year and the 2024 FWAA Freshman All-America Team.

This is the the Week 5 installment of the Football Writers Association of America's weekly Freshman Focus for the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year Award, Freshman Player of the Year and the 2024 FWAA Freshman All-America Team.

The Football Writers Association of America has released a list of top candidates for the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year Award, Freshman Player of the Year and the 2024 FWAA Freshman All-America Team. The Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award, presented by Chris Doering Mortgage, goes to the best first-year coach (at his school) in FBS football. The recipients of the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year, the FWAA Freshman of the Year and a Spurrier Legends Coach awardee will be honored at a special reception on Feb 25 in Gainesville, Fla.

Duke is the first-ever winner of the Pop-Tarts Crazy Good Play of the Week. The winning play is quarterback Riley Leonard’s 44-yard go-ahead touchdown run in the second half of the Blue Devils’ 28-7 upset of then-No. x Clemson on Monday night.

In Deion Sanders' much-anticipated head coaching debut, the Colorado Buffaloes marched into Fort Worth and stunned last season's national runner-up and 17th-ranked TCU, 45-42, in a memorable opening week game. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the coach's son, connected with Dylan Edwards for a 46-yard catch and run touchdown on fourth down with 4:25 left to provide the margin of victory. For the remarkable effort coming off a 1-11 season, the Buffs are the season's first Cheez-It National Team of the Week, as selected by the All-America Committee of the Football Writers Association of America.

The Football Writers Association of America, in conjunction with the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced eight finalists for the 2022 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award on Tuesday. The award will have a first-time winner this season chosen from among a list of three repeat finalists from 2021, five former finalists overall, three coaches competing in this season’s College Football Playoff and five who are leading conference champions. Four of them will face other finalists in their bowl games.

Each week during the 2022 season, we will highlight the notable performances of first-year players and head coaches leading up to the selection of our annual Freshman All-America Team and the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year Award presented by Chris Doering Mortgage. Here are the top performances from Week 10, the weekend of Nov. 5:

The Clemson Tigers rushed their way back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to reward their sellout Homecoming crowd with a 27-21 win over No. 14 Syracuse, their 38th consecutive home win that set the Atlantic Coast Conference record. For also extending the FBS’ longest active win streak to 14 games and staying unbeaten, Clemson (8-0) earned the Cheez-It Bowl National Team of the Week honor for games of the weekend of Oct. 22, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.

A look at the top performances from freshman players and first-year head coaches in Week 5 of the 2022 college football season.

A look at the top performances from freshman players and first-year head coaches in Week 2 of the 2022 college football season.

Blue Devils stun Virginia Tech with stout defense

Blue Devils top rival UNC in thriller