Sept. 29, 2003

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State football nose guard Ronald Tupea was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week it was announced by the league office on Monday.

Tupea, a 6-2, 293, junior, had a break out game statistically in USU's 28-10 win against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. He recorded six tackles, including being involved in three sacks, while also recovering a fumble from his inside position. That recovery set up the lone touchdown of the second half.

Tupea, who is from Hunter High School in West Valley City, Utah, leads the team with 22 consecutive starts. He has made 13 tackles this season, with 4.5 coming behind the line of scrimmage.

He helped the Aggie defense hold Louisiana-Monore to just 10 points, the fewest USU has allowed in the last 37 games. The USU defense also limited Kevin Payne, who entered the game as the league's leading rusher, to just 41 yards.

Tupea has two fumble recoveries in his career and was named USU's top defensive lineman last year and shared the team's top freshman honor in 2001.

Other honorees for the league were Johnny Quinn of North Texas, who earned the offensive award, while Sean Comiskey of UL-Lafayette was the special teams honoree.

USU nominated tailback David Fiefia, who rushed for a career high 142 yards and two touchdowns for the offensive honor, while Ben Chaet was nominated for special teams after averaging 45.0 yards on eight punts. He had three 50-yard punts, including a career-long 63 yarder, while also placing three kicks inside the 20-yard line.

Utah State, now 1-3 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference, will travel to Albuquerque, N.M. to play New Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. The game can be heard on the Aggie radio network.