DALLAS (FWAA) – Florida State running back Dalvin Cook ran for career-high totals of 266 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 8 Seminoles to a 34-14 win over South Florida in Tallahassee. Cook’s second-best rushing effort in school history earned him the AutoNation FWAA Offensive Player of the Week.

Cook, a 5-11, 202-pound sophomore from Miami, carried 30 times for FSU’s top rushing mark since Greg Allen’s school-record 322 yards vs. Western Carolina in 1981. He is the first Seminole to go over 200 yards rushing since Sammie Smith gained 212 against Tulane in 1988. He averaged 8.9 yards per carry, scored on runs of 74, 24 and 37 yards, had other runs of 50 and 21 yards, had one touchdown called back on a holding penalty and was a toe out of bounds away from another.

“He and God have had a meeting,” Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher said. “He is blessed with great ability. But he works with that ability. He doesn’t waste that ability. He takes care of his body, takes care of his mind. He studies. He does all the things he’s supposed to do. I don’t care what back you say, they have great eyes. They see things before that happen and they get that feeling, how they cut, and then he’s a finisher. He has great speed to finish those runs, and he’s strong. You look at him now, I mean, you think those little guys are fast, but he’s at 205-, 210-pound guy that’s really big and strong, too, so he’s a combination of everything.”

Cook already has 422 rushing yards with at least 10 more games to play. His four best rushing totals have come in his last five games.

The FWAA National Defensive Player of the Week and National Team of the Week, both sponsored by AutoNation for the first time this year, have been determined collectively by a group of FWAA officers and the FWAA All-America Committee for several years. The AutoNation FWAA Offensive Player of the Week has been added this season. Nominations are taken from game performance all over the country each week and then those nominations are reviewed by the FWAA, which determines the actual recipients.

2015 AutoNation FWAA Offensive Players of the Week
• Week of Sept. 5: Derrick Henry, Alabama
• Week of Sept. 12: Dalvin Cook, Florida State