Eight quarterbacks named Manning Award Stars of the Week

NEW ORLEANS – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has named eight quarterbacks as its “Stars of the Week.” College football fans can now go to the Allstate Sugar Bowl Facebook page to vote for what they think was the best performance from this past weekend. When voting closes on Thursday at 11 a.m. (Central), the top vote-getter will be announced as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week.

VOTE HERE

The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that includes the candidates’ bowl performances in its balloting. Since the Manning Award started recognizing Stars of the Week in 2011, 464 different quarterbacks from 129 schools have been recognized. Sixty-seven players from 66 different schools were honored during the 2021 season.

This week’s eight Manning Award Stars of the Week are:

Holton Ahlers, East Carolina (30-of-36, 311 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, QBR: 92.3)
Ahlers, who adds a rushing touchdown, sparks the Pirates to an early 17-0 advantage as they take down UCF, 34-13, in a key AAC contest.

Sean Clifford, Penn State (23-of-31, 295 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 92.8)
Clifford passes for a pair of touchdowns in both the second and third quarters as the Nittany Lions cruise to a 45-17 Big Ten victory over Minnesota.

Jayden Daniels, LSU (21-of-28, 248 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 85.4)
Daniels also runs for 121 yards and three touchdowns as the Tigers rallied from an early 17-3 deficit to blow out No. 7 Ole Miss, 45-20, in an SEC home game.

Max Duggan, TCU (17-of-26, 280 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 71.2)
Duggan, who connects on a 55-yard TD strike late in the third quarter, helps the Horned Frogs overcome an 18-point deficit in a critical Big 12 win, 38-28 over No. 17 Kansas State.

Sam Hartman, Wake Forest (25-of-40, 313 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 78.7)
Hartman, who adds a rushing touchdown, moves into third place on the ACC passing TD list with 93 as he leads the Demon Deacons to a 43-15 ACC win over Boston College.

T.J. McMahon, Rice (16-of-27, 208 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 90.2)
McMahon also adds a 64-yard touchdown run as he keys the Owl offense in a thrilling 42-41 overtime victory over Louisiana Tech in a C-USA road game.

Bo Nix, Oregon (22-of-28, 283 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 96.3)
Nix, who also runs for 51 yards, tallies his second five-touchdown game of the season with three of the TDs coming in the second quarter as the Ducks pulled away from No. 9 UCLA in a 45-30 Pac-12 victory that extended their home-winning streak to a school-record 23 games.

Ben Wooldridge, Louisiana (21-of-34, 316 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 70.5)
Wooldridge connects on a career-best for passing yards while matching the school-record for touchdown passes as he leads the Ragin’ Cajuns to a season-high 522 yards of offense in a 38-18 Sun Belt win over Arkansas State.

While the Manning Award selected 30 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List, additional quarterbacks will be added to the Watch List later this week. Ten finalists will be selected and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 18 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 13 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with seven Manning Award honorees, while the Big 12 Conference (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III) has had five winners. The Atlantic Coast Conference (Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) has had four Manning Award winners. Alabama (Bryce Young and Jones) joins LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and Texas (McCoy and Vince Young) as the only schools with two different winners.

All the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.