Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman earns Manning Award Quarterback of the Week

NEW ORLEANS – Sam Hartman, a graduate student from the University of Notre Dame, has been selected as the week two Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. He earned the honor over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s social media voting contest.

Hartman completed 15-of-24 passes for 286 yards and four touchdowns as the Fighting Irish earned their first road win of the season with a 45-24 victory at N.C. State. The game was delayed nearly two hours by weather and lighting, with the Irish holding a 3-0 lead before Hartman delivered three touchdowns in the second half.

Hartman currently leads all active FBS players with a 37-game streak in which he is responsible for scoring at least one touchdown. He has 10 touchdown passes through the first three games of the season, which no other Notre Dame quarterback had accomplished, eclipsing the previous high of nine touchdowns by Jimmy Clausen (2009) and Brady Quinn (2006).

This weekend, Notre Dame and Central Michigan will meet as football opponents on Saturday afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium for the first time. The game will be televised on Peacock at 1:30 p.m. CST.

Hartman’s closest competitors in this week’s social media voting were Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Shedeur Sanders of Colorado. Ewers went 24-of-38 with 349 passing yards and three touchdowns against Alabama as the Longhorns earned their first road win over an AP top-three team since 1969, snapping the Crimson Tide’s 21-game home winning streak. Sanders completed 31-of-42 passes for 393 yards and two touchdowns and added a rushing score to lead the Buffaloes to 23 second-half points as they pulled away from Nebraska for a 36-14 victory at home.

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.