Week 5 Stats: 20-28 completions, 71.4 passing completion percentage, 296 passing yards, 4 passing touchdowns, 1 interception, go-ahead touchdown following a 72-yard drive with 1:25 left in regulation
Haggard’s clutch — and career — performance against visiting Norfolk State on Saturday piloted the sophomore quarterback to his second NEC/Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office Offensive Player of the Week honor in as many weeks. Throwing for a career-high 296 yards and four touchdowns, the Floridian, who completed a season-best 71.4 percent of his passes, led the Colonials to the thrilling 33-31 victory over the Spartans with a late game-winning touchdown pass. Throwing for two touchdowns in the opening quarter, Haggard helped put Robert Morris up by a 27-10 count with 11:34 left in the third with his second strike of the game to redshirt sophomore Jaqai Carter, a 22-yard pass that capped a seven-play, 71-yard drive. He then went on to stop the bleeding on a 21-0 Spartans’ run that put the visitors up by a 31-27 count by delivering a 10-yard strike to Carter with 1:25 remaining. During that game-clinching run, which featured five plays over a 1:56 stretch, Haggard accounted for 63 of the Colonials’ 72 yards, all of which came through the air. Surpassing 1,000 passing yards on the season following Saturday’s big outing, Haggard leads the circuit with 12 touchdown passes and a 144.0 passing efficiency, while his 213.6 yards per game and 1,068 total yards are both good for second in the conference. He is the first Colonial to earn NEC Offensive Player of the Week in consecutive weeks since Myles Russ did so in the 2010 campaign.