PHILADELPHIA – Eastern Illinois senior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was named the Sports Network National Offensive Player of the Week on Monday following his performance in the Panthers 57-24 win over nationally ranked Illinois State in the 102nd Mid-America Classic.

In addition to his Sports Network honors, Garoppolo was named the National Player of the Week by College Sports Journal and College Football Performance Awards.

Garoppolo set the EIU school record with seven touchdown passes in the win with six of the touchdown strikes coming in the first half when Garoppolo did most of his damage. The Panthers raced out to a 44-10 halftime lead with Garoppolo 22-of-36 for 438 yards. He finished the day 26-of-41 for 480 yards with his record setting touchdown pass coming at the start of the fourth quarter.

Garoppolo helped engineer a school record day on total offense as the Panthers finished with 739 yards of total offense. As an individual Garoppolo became the Panthers career leader in pass completions passing current New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. Garoppolo also passed Payton for second on the EIU career touchdown passes list as he now chases current Dallas Cowboys signal caller Tony Romo for the school and OVC record. Romo's mark is 85. Garoppolo now has 79.

The Panthers return to action this Saturday with a 6 p.m. kick off at Northern Illinois. The game will be carried on ESPN3 as the home opener for last year's Orange Bowl participants ranked No. 29 in this week's Associated Press poll. EIU is ranked No. 8 in this week's Sports Network poll released on Monday.

Garoppolo, a Walter Payton Award candidate this year, leads the nation in passing yards and touchdown passes while ranking second in the nation in total offense.