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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Mountain West Conference announced this morning that University of New Mexico junior linebacker Billy Strother (Evansville, Ind.) has been named Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week following last weekend’s performance vs. San Diego State. This is the first player of the week award for Strother, who joins fellow linebacker Charles Moss as the second Lobo to earn the defensive honor this season.
Strother’s play was a key in New Mexico’s 15-8 win over San Diego State. With SDSU facing a fourth-and-2 from the New Mexico six, Strother broke-up a pass intended for Ron Davenport with seven seconds left to preserve the Lobo victory. He also combined with safety Brandon Ratcliff to sack Aztec quarterback Adam Hall for a safety with 3:22 left in the game. Strother also was in on five tackles (four solo), two forloss, forced a fumble and blocked a punt. UNM was able to get its first points of the day and erase a 5-0 deficit following the blocked punt.
New Mexico has now had four athletes earn MWC Player of the Week honors this season. Junior Dwight Counter was named Special Teams POW on Sep. 2, Moss earned defensive honors on Sep. 9 and senior quarterback Justin Millea was named offensive player of the week on Oct. 14. Y