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 follow the Manning Award on social media (@ManningAward) to vote for what they think was the best performance from this past weekend. When voting closes on Thursday at 9 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, 491 different quarterbacks from 132 schools have been recognized. Sixty players from 58 different schools were honored during the 2022 season.

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

Byrum Brown, USF (22-of-29, 435 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 83.5)
Brown, who also rushes for 82 yards and a touchdown and catches a two-point conversion pass, tallies the second-most passing yards and total yards in USF history (and the most total yards in the FBS this year)  as he leads the Bulls to a 42-29 AAC victory over Rice.

Ben Bryant, Northwestern (33-of-49, 396 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 67.6)
Bryant, who connects on an 80-yard TD in the second quarter, leads the Wildcats to 21 fourth-quarter points, including an 11-yard TD pass with two seconds remaining, to force overtime where he adds a game-winning 25-yard touchdown pass in a thrilling 37-34 Big Ten win over Minnesota.

Jordan McCloud, James Madison (23-of-34, 364 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INT, QBR: 66.9)
McCloud, who adds a pair of rushing touchdowns, completes a 74-yard TD pass with 5:52 remaining to lift the Dukes to a 45-38 road win over Utah State.

Bo Nix, Oregon (28-of-33, 276 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 75.7)
Nix, who finishes with the third-best completion percentage in school history and also runs for an 11-yard touchdown, completes his first 11 passes as he leads the Ducks to 35 first-half points in a 42-6 Pac-12 victory over previously-undefeated Colorado.

Jack Plummer, Louisville (18-of-21, 388 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 94.0)
Plummer, who also runs for a touchdown, completes 15 straight passes at one stretch as he leads the Cardinals to touchdowns on their first seven possessions to remain undefeated with a 56-28 ACC road win at Boston College.

Jaylen Raynor, Arkansas State (11-of-21, 233 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 82.8)
Raynor, a true freshman making his first career start, also runs for 97 yards and two scores, including a 62-yard touchdown dash with 2:28 to go to clinch a 44-37 Sun Belt victory over Southern Miss.

Jordan Travis, Florida State (21-of-37, 289 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 87.2)
Travis, who also runs for a touchdown, caps his afternoon with a 24-yard TD pass in overtime to lift the Seminoles to a 31-24 ACC road victory over Clemson – the win snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Tigers.

Cameron Ward, Washington State (28-of-34, 404 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 93.0)
Ward, who also runs for a touchdown while completing 19-of-20 first-half passes, opens his day with a 63-yard TD pass on the second play of the game as he leads the Cougars to a 38-35 Pac-12 win over No. 14 Oregon State.

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

In its first 19 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 14 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with eight 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), LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield), and Texas (McCoy and Vince Young) have each produced a pair of Manning Award 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.