UCF’s McKenzie Milton earns Manning Award Quarterback of the Week

McKenzie Milton, a sophomore from the University of Central Florida, has been selected as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. He earns the win over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Facebook contest.

Facebook Voting

Milton completed 16-of-23 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns to lead the undefeated Knights to their seventh game of 40 or more points in a 45-19 American Athletic Conference road win over Temple. He added a rushing touchdown to give him a career-best five overall touchdowns in less than three quarters of action and was named the AAC Offensive Player of the Week. It marked the third Player of the Week honor for Milton this season, the most of any offensive player in the AAC.

The Kapolei, Hawaii, native has 36 career touchdowns in just two seasons landing him eighth on UCF’s career touchdown passing chart. Milton is among the nation’s passing leaders ranking second in completion percentage and passing efficiency, and eighth in total offense.

Milton and 15^th-ranked UCF will look to remain undefeated as they conclude the regular season this Friday when the Knights host South Florida at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. This week’s matchup pits the AAC’s No. 1 Offense against its No. 2 Defense and its No. 1 Defense against its No. 2 Offense.

In a very close race, Milton’s top competitors this week were Mason Fine of North Texas and Riley Ferguson of Memphis. Fine completed 24-of-36 passes for 386 yards and four touchdowns, his fifth 300-yard game of the year, as he led the Mean Green 46 yards while converting a pair of third downs to set up the game-winning field goal with five seconds to go in a 52-49 win over Army. Ferguson completed 21-of-27 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns, while also running for three touchdowns, as the Tigers scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to clinch the AAC West Division title with a 66-45 win over SMU.

The 10 finalists for the honor will be announced on Thursday, November 30 and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Manning Award

In its first 13 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 11 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) lead the way with four Manning Award wins each, while Texas is the only school with two different winners (Colt McCoy and Vince Young).

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.

In addition to the Manning Award’s yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty-one players from 59 different schools were honored during the 2016 season.