Make room in the trophy case: K.J. Costello adds another national award

The awards keep flying in for K.J. Costello, the new Mississippi State quarterback who led the upset of LSU last week.

This time, it’s the Davey O’Brien award who gave Costello its National Quarterback of the Week honor.

Previously, Costello was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, and the Walter Camp FBS National Offensive Player of the Week.

Costello helped State to a 44-34 win on the road against defending national champion No. 6 LSU. Under coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, he threw for 623 yards, which broke the MSU and SEC single-game passing yards record. His 623 yards also ranks 11th in NCAA history.

Costello completed 36 passes on 60 attempts, which were also MSU school records. He matched the program record with five passing touchdowns. Costello completed 15 passes of 20 yards or more and connected with 10 different receivers during the game.

On third downs, Costello was 7-of-11 passing for 194 yards. He also added three touchdowns, including a 24-yard TD pass to Osirus Mitchell with 3:39 left in the game.

Costello also helped three Bulldogs to career-high receiving days. Mitchell finished with 183 yards and two touchdowns on seven receptions. Kylin Hill and JaVonta Payton both set career highs in catches and yardage. Hill tallied eight receptions for 158 yards and one score, while Payton caught six passes for 122 yards.

Congratulations to @kj_costello of @HailStateFB, the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week! #DaveyQBs

💪 MSU and @SEC record 623 passing yards
👏 MSU record-tying 5 TD passes
🙌 MSU record 36 completions

📰 https://t.co/WsXUzwpW4g pic.twitter.com/R58cKHZT3d

— Davey O’Brien (@daveyobrien) September 30, 2020

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.