Utah CFB Defensive Awards: Week Six

College Football isn't known for being a balanced, stabilized sport.

This was incredibly apparent after this weekends results finalized.

7 teams in the top 25 bit the dust, 5 of them were in the top 11 of the AP poll.

A lot of seemingly untouchable teams were dumped by mostly unranked supposed “nobodies” of the sport.

Alabama dropping to Vanderbilt, USC succumbing to Minnesota, take your pick because the losses were big, surprising and multiple, making this one of the best sports around for unprecedented drama.

Here in Utah the drama wasn't as prevalent as the two power four schools (Utah, BYU) were on bye weeks, watching everything unfurl from the comfort of their homes.

Both squads benefited from the shenanigans of a wild week with undefeated BYU rising 3 spots to #14 in the polls and Utah landing at #16, two spots up from last weeks placeholder.

As great as that was, no game means no defensive performance and no defensive performance means no defensive awards for those two teams in our weekly awards show.

This means we have only four games as opposed to the usual six to choose from when we pick our premier playmakers of the week from Utah.

Those games are:

Utah State losing in Boise, 62-30, in a Mountain West battle.

Weber State pulling off the big overtime road upset of FCS #9 Montana on the road to the tune of 55-48.

Another overtime thriller, this time going against the Utah team, was Southern Utah missing a PAT at the end to give FCS #14 Tarleton State a 38-37 win in Cedar City.

Utah Tech traveled to Florence to take on the North Alabama Lions in what was a 60-14 loss for the Trailblazers.

With these games in mind lets hand out our defensive awards, but first a quick reminder on what we award:

BEST PASS RUSHER

BEST BALL HAWK

TFL MASTER

BEST TACKLER

Reminder: We are naming the top defensive efforts from the following groups at the D1 level in Utah and Utah only.

Here we go.

PASS RUSHER: THREE WAY TIE

A grand total of 4 sacks took place this previous weekend that were in favor of the Utah teams.

Only two of the 4 teams recorded sacks with Weber State and Utah State both having two apiece.

As you can imagine it makes the picking a little difficult when the 4 sacks were divvied out over 4 individual players and two teams.

With no one having more sacks than anyone else for a Utah school I have to dive deeper than “total amount of sacks”.

The 4 names to record a sack were Carl Nesmith and Lawrence Falatea for Utah State next to Garret Beck and Kemari Munier-Bailey for Weber State.

Carl Nesmith’s sack accounted for the biggest loss of yards pushing Boise State back 8 yards.

Lawrence Falatea however was the only player to record both a sack and a quarterback hurry.

But then Garret Beck was the only player to have a sack and more than 2 tackles, with 8 total tackles on the night.

All three players have a solid case and because I’m disguising laziness with generosity, I’ll allow all three to co-share the award this week.

BALL HAWK: DJ GRAHAM II, UTAH STATE

Another category wherein the overall statistics aren't overly alarming.

Multiple names had pass breakups this week such as JD Drew from Utah State, Montae Pate and Matt Herron with Weber State, LaCarea Pleasant-Johnson and Jayden Robertson at SUU and lastly, Quincy Lejay out of Utah Tech.

But nobody had more than one breakup, making us take a look at the heaviest hitting stat for a secondary: Interceptions.

And that made things pretty simplistic as only one player for a Utah college forced a turnover through the air.

Aggies cornerback DJ Graham II hauled in a diving interception off the hands of Broncos backup QB Malachi Nelson late in the 3^rd quarter accounting for the only Utah D1 College interception of the week.

The interception warrants the award alone, but is important to recognize Graham also had a pass breakup wiped from the stat books after a Boise State holding call negated the play.

With those details in mind, DJ Graham II takes it home this week.

TACKLE FOR LOSS: GEORGE RAMIREZ, SOUTHERN UTAH

All 4 Utah teams that took the field in week six had at least a team total of 4 tackles for loss if not more.

Carl Nesmith had an 8 yard loss tackle for Utah State.

Trailblazers defensive lineman Uilo Angilau recorded a tackle for loss that sent the opposition ten yards back

Yet for individual efforts only two players had more than 1 tackle for loss.

The first was Utah Tech’s John Sniffen who recorded two tackles for loss in North Alabama creating 5 yards in losses to the Lions.

Sniffen had 4 total tackles, 2 solo and 2 assisted.

Going from the St. George squad to the one in Cedar City, George Ramirez put on a show for the hometown faithful against Tarleton State.

Ramirez snuck into the Texans backfield three times, a state high, as a part of his 13 total tackles.

9 of those tackles were entirely solo and Ramirez also just so happened to force a fumble along the way.

The leader in tackles for loss in the state with 13 total tackles and a forced fumble is an award worthy resume for Ramirez.

TACKLER: IKE LARSEN, UTAH STATE

As a team, Weber State would run away with this award.

The Wildcats saw 4 different players (Jalon Rock, Trevian Tribble, Garrett Beck, Montae Pate) record 8 tackles in an impressive display of versatility.

As an individual however, guys like Ike Larsen (USU), Kohner Cullimore (SUU), and Brevin Hamblin (UTU) are all at the top of the list.

Southern Utah’s George Ramirez, the previously announced winner of the TFL award, had the most tackles in the state at 13 and would be a heavily favored candidate as well if it wasn't for already winning an award.

His teammate Kohner Cullimore had 9 takedowns, 3 being solo.

Brevin Hamblin recorded 10 tackles, splitting his solo efforts and assisted tackles at 5 each during Utah Tech’s trip to North Alabama.

Ike Larsen, the star safety out of Utah State joined Hamblin with ten tackles, but did a bit more as an individual.

Larsen had 9 solo tackles in Boise, and added a tackle for loss, something no other candidate had.

The more individual effort gives the Aggies safety another award.

That will do it for Week Six, join us next time when all six teams retake the gridiron.