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:

Chase Cunningham, Middle Tennessee (16-of-25, 408 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 91.9)
Cunningham, who registers his career-best for passing yards, connects on a trio of long TD strikes (69 yards, 71 yards and 98 yards) as well as another 89-yard pass to lead the Blue Raiders to a shocking 45-31 road win over No. 25 Miami – Middle Tennessee’s first win in 21 games against ranked opponents.

Jalon Daniels, Kansas (19-of-23, 324 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 98.3)
Daniels also runs for a game-high 83 yards and a touchdown as the Jayhawks take down previously undefeated Duke in a 35-27 thriller in Lawrence – the win lifts Kansas to 4-0 for the first time since 2009.

Jaren Hall, BYU (26-of-32, 337 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 91.1)
Hall, who goes over 4,000 career passing yards, sets a career-best mark for completion percentage (81.3%) as he leads the Cougars to a 38-24 home win over Wyoming.

Hendon Hooker, Tennessee (22-of-28, 349 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 96.9)
Hooker, who also runs for 112 yards and another touchdown, sets his career mark with 461 total yards as he helps the Volunteers improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2016 with a 38-33 SEC East victory over Florida.

Adrian Martinez, Kansas State (21-of-34, 234 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, QBR: 91.5)
Martinez, who also runs for 148 yards and four touchdowns, tallies two of his rushing TDs in the fourth quarter including the game-clinching burst with 1:58 to go as the Wildcats shock No. 6 Oklahoma, 41-34, in a Big 12 road game.

Bo Nix, Oregon (33-of-44, 428 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 87.5)
Nix, who tallies his career-high for passing yards, leads the Oregon offense to 22 fourth-quarter points, connecting on a 50-yard TD pass with 1:29 to go, followed by running for the successful two-point conversion, to put the Ducks on top for good in a 44-41 Pac-12 road win over Washington State.

Donovan Smith, Texas Tech (38-of-56, 331 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 75.5)
Smith connects on a game-tying 19-yard TD midway through the fourth quarter, then sets up a critical field goal in the final minute of regulation before directing the Red Raiders into position for the game-winning field goal in overtime of a thrilling 37-34 upset of Big 12 rival Texas.

D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson (26-of-41, 371 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 87.2)
Uiagalelei, who also runs for 52 yards, sets his career mark for touchdown passes, including a pair of touchdown passes in overtime as the Tigers rally to take down No. 21 Wake Forest in an ACC road game.

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 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.