Sept. 25, 2006

OFFENSE:
Mario Manningham, Michigan 
SO, WR, Warren, Ohio/Harding
Manningham hauled in a career-best seven passes for 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Wisconsin to join former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard as just the second Michigan standout in school history to claim back-to-back Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week accolades. Manningham established career highs with 137 yards and three touchdown receptions the previous weekend at Notre Dame to pick up his first weekly conference laurel. The sophomore wideout followed that performance with a second-straight 100-yard effort on Saturday, the third of his career. He is the first Wolverine to record consecutive 100-yard receiving outings since Braylon Edwards in 2004. Against the Badgers, Manningham caught a 24-yard scoring strike to pull Michigan into a 7-7 tie in the second quarter and put the Wolverines ahead to stay, 17-10, with a 38-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. The last Big Ten player to claim consecutive offensive weekly accolades was Northwestern's Brett Basanez, who was honored on Oct. 10 and 17, 2005, on his way to a share of the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award. Howard is the only other Wolverine to accomplish the feat after being honored on Sept. 9 and 16, 1991, the same season he went on to win the Heisman Trophy.

DEFENSE:
Anthony Spencer, Purdue 
SR, DE, Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Luers
Spencer set career highs with 10 total tackle, nine solo stops and three tackles for loss, including a pair of sacks, while adding a fumble forced and recovered to lead Purdue to a victory over Minnesota in the Big Ten opener. The senior defensive end tied for the team lead in tackles against the Gophers and increased his career numbers to 15.5 sacks, climbing to ninth in the Boilermakers record book. He also forced his second fumble this season and the eighth of his career, after posting three forced fumbles in each of the last two seasons. Spencer leads the conference and ranks among the top six nationally this season with 2.25 tackles for loss per outing (nine total tackles for loss; fourth in the country) and 1.25 sacks per game (five total sacks; tied for 6th nationally). This marks the first weekly conference honor of his career.

CO-SPECIAL TEAMS:
Jeremy Kapinos, Penn State 
SR, P, Springfield, Va./West Springfield
Kapinos placed three of his six punts inside the 20-yard line at top-ranked Ohio State and still averaged 50.5 yards per boot, which is tied for the fifth-highest average in school history. The senior punter recorded his three longest punts of the year with efforts of 52, 58 and 68 yards, as the 68-yard shot came from his own endzone and was the third-longest kick of his career. His first two punts of the game went 52 and 58 yards to put the host Buckeyes on their own 19- and five-yard lines and his third punt went 40 yards and pinned OSU on its seven-yard line. Kapinos has now collected Big Ten weekly accolades in each of the last three seasons after being honored on Oct. 30, 2004 and Sept. 5, 2005.

Ken DeBauche, Wisconsin 
JR, P, Suamico, Wis./Bay Port
DeBauche shattered the school record with 514 total punting yards against Michigan while recording a career-best 11 boots for an average of 46.7 yards per kick. His 514-yard effort ranks 10th in Big Ten history and is the best performance by a conference punter since 1995, when Illinois' Brett Larsen racked up 551 yards on 13 punts against Arizona. The junior punter broke the previous Badgers record of 500 punting yards set by Brad Brekke against Miami on Sept. 9, 1989. DeBauche's 11 attempts were one shy of the program record held by three players. The 2005 first-team All-Big Ten selection picks up the second weekly conference laurel of his career after winning the special teams award on Sept. 19, 2005.