FWAA San Diego State News

Two game-changing plays by linebacker Cameron Cooper, one which provided a score and another that took away a opponent's potential score, led to San Diego State’s 31-29 win over Texas State in both teams’ Pac-12 Conference openers Saturday. For his field goal block and fourth-quarter pick-six, Cooper was selected as the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for the weekend of Oct. 3 by the Football Writers Association of America.

Each week during the 2026 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 5, the weekend of Oct. 3.

The Football Writers Association of America released its 2025 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List today, selecting three returning FWAA All-Americans among 60 defensive standouts as contenders for the national defensive player of the year. The list contains players from 41 different schools in eight Division I FBS conferences plus Independents.

Five first-time recipients are included in the 11th Annual Super 11 Awards, which the Football Writers Association of America gives out annually to the best performing sports information departments in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The awards announced this week are for the 2019 season.

The Football Writers Association of America has announced its third "Super 11" field of sports information departments which were deemed the best in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision during the 2011 season.