Abdullah, a senior, rushed for a career-high 172 yards with 2 touchdowns, including an 85-yarder, in No. 11 James Madison's 31-20 CAA Football victory against Maine on ASN.
He and teammate Cardon Johnson are both averaging more than 100 yards per game for the No. 2 rushing offense in FCS. Abdullah outdistanced three other nominees with 54% of of more than 12,000 votes cast at americansportsnet.com.
Central Arkansas junior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand (above) passed for 270 yards and the game-winning touchdown for Central Arkansas' second victory against an FBS opponent. Hildebrand hit Brandon Cox on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 6:26 remaining in the fourth quarter to beat Arkansas State, 28-23.
Lehigh senior quarterback Nick Shafnisky topped himself a week after earning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors. He passed for a career-high 461 yards with 4 touchdowns in Lehigh's 42-28 victory against Princeton. He completed a career-high 29 of 36 passes, the 4 TDs matched his career high and the 461 yards were third in school history. That earned him STATS FCS National Offensive Player of the Week honors.
The final tally at americansportsnet.com:
Photo credits: Khalid Abdullah courtesy Cathy Kushner/JMU Athletics Communications; Derrick Craine courtesy Dale Rutemeyer/UTC Athletics; Hayden Hildebrand courtesy Central Arkansas Athletics; Nick Shafnisky courtesy Lehigh Athletics