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Slaton nominated for the award for the first time in his career ATLANTA, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The national player of the week nominations are in and the polls are open. Mountaineer fans can cast their votes for West Virginia running back Steve Slaton for the Cingular Wireless/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week, the only major college football honor determined exclusively by fans. Slaton was nominated for the first time in his career after 31 carries, for a career-high 188 yards and six touchdowns in the Mountaineers' triple over-time win over Louisville. Slaton is one of four candidates for the All-America Player of the Week, who are selected by a panel of ABC Sports and ESPN college football analysts. The other finalists are: University of Texas quarterback Vince Young, who was nominated for the award for the second time this season after recording a career-high 336 yards, including 58 rushing yards and five touchdowns -- passing for two and rushing for three more -- in the Longhorns' 42-17 win over Colorado; Texas Tech quarterback Cody Hodges, who recorded 643 yards -- the 4th highest total in Division 1-A history -- and passed for five touchdowns in the Red Raiders' 59-20 win over Kansas State; and USC running back Reggie Bush, was nominated for the award after 15 carries for 160 yards and three touchdowns -- marking his 5th straight 100-yard rushing game -- in the Trojans' last second win over Notre Dame. Bush's nomination also makes the fourth USC player nominated this season. Previous Cingular/All-America Player of the Week winners this season include Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley, Texas quarterback Vince Young and Texas A&M quarterback Reggie McNeal, Minnesota running back Laurence Maroney, Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, and UCLA running back Maurice Drew. Who will be this week's winner now rests solely in the hands of college football fans nationwide. Fans have until Wednesday, October 19 at 11:59 p.m. EDT to submit their votes via wireless text messaging.(*) The winner will be announced October 20 in the first half of the ESPN Thursday Night College Football Game between Virginia Tech and Maryland. Fans can learn more about this week's nominees online at http://www.abcsportsallamerica.com/ or at http://www.cingularallamerica.com/. Here's how fans can register to vote for the Cingular/ABC Sports All- America Player of the Week this week and every week throughout the 2005 season: -- Text "VOTE" to "87654" on your wireless phone -- Follow the prompt to vote for your All-America selection -- Cingular/ABC Sports Player of the Week candidates will be automatically sent out via text messaging each week Each time fans vote, they are entered into a sweepstakes to win a trip to the Bowl Championship Series game of their choice. Fans can vote as often as they like. In December, fans will get a chance to say who the best player in the nation is by voting for the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Year. The selection process will culminate in December in a one-hour special on ABC Sports when the Cingular/ABC Sports Player of the Year and the Football Writers Association of America All-America team will be announced. Last year, Texas running back and Chicago Bears first round draft pick Cedric Benson was selected by fans as the Player of the Year. *Other wireless carriers must opt-in for their subscribers to participate ABOUT CINGULAR WIRELESS Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 51.6 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS), has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(SM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(R), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/. Get Cingular Wireless press releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at http://cingular.mediaroom.com/. DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless CONTACT: Sarah Didier of Career Sports & Entertainment, +1-770-226-5550, or +1-770-617-8737, or , or Clay Owen of Cingular Wireless, +1-404-236-6153, or both for Cingular Wireless Web site: http://www.cingular.com/ http://cingular.mediaroom.com/ http://www.abcsportsallamerica.com/ http://www.cingularallamerica.com/

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