WSU’S Taylor Honored

Nian Taylor is the Pacific-10 Conference offensive football player of the week.

Taylor, the Washington State senior wide receiver from Riverside, Calif., had eight receptions for 254 yards and touchdowns of 10, 20 and 97 yards in Saturday’s 24-16 win over Idaho.

The defensive player is Marcus Bell of Arizona, who had a team-high 11 tackles, five of them for loss, in a 35-11 win over Iowa.

Kevin Miller, the special teams player, kicked the game-winning field goal in Stanford’s 37-34 upset of North Carolina.

Vandals change QBs again

For the third time in four games, Idaho will have a new starting quarterback. John Welsh, a redshirt freshman, will start Saturday against Louisiana State, coach Chris Tormey said.

Welsh follows Ed Dean, who started the first and third games, and Greg Robertson, who started the second, but suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out a couple more games.

Welsh saw some relief duty against WSU last Saturday and finished up after Dean was knocked out.

“John will start … and we plan on playing them both,” Tormey said. “John does some good things and he deserves the opportunity to show what he can do. He did some good things Saturday, he just needs to make some better decisions.”

Big Sky divides award

Weber State running back Morgan Welch and Cal State Northridge quarterback Marcus Brady are the Big Sky Conference co-offensive players of the week.

Brady, a freshman, completed 20 of 26 passes for 236 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions as the Matadors beat 13th ranked Northern Arizona 41-10. Welch, a junior, rushed for a career-high 254 yards on 34 carries in Weber State’s 6-3 win over Idaho State.

Northridge cornerback Chazz Moore is the defensive player of the week and Montana State punt return specialist Oscar Caballero the top special teams player.