Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver’s Heisman case is just getting started.

Oliver earned a pair of defensive awards for his performance against Rice. The true junior won the American Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week, and the national Lott IMPACT Defensive Player of the Week. He shared the AAC honor with Cincinnati linebacker Bryan Wright.

The junior had a tremendous opening game against Rice. He posted 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2 quarterback hurries in a 45-27 win over the Owls. His 13 tackles were the most tackles by a defensive lineman of the opening weekend.

Oliver led a defensive effort that helped hold Rice to just 3.4 yards per carry. He helped clear the way for new defensive lineman Isaiah Chambers to post three sacks in his Houston debut.

“When you got to… commit these two guys to [Oliver], it frees up someone as a single one,” Houston coach Major Applewhite said. “Defensive lines are always fun to watch. Once one starts getting his hands on, then the next one gets his, and then it is just a feeding frenzy. You like to see that kind of excitement and enthusiasm.”

Oliver was ranked the No. 1 player in America by several outlets in the preseason rankings, including Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports and ESPN. Dave Campbell’s named him the most important player in Texas. He’s a two-time first-team All-American with 152 tackles and 43 total tackles for loss in just 26 career games.