University of Louisville’s Micale Cunningham named Manning Award Quarterback of the Week

NEW ORLEANS – Micale Cunningham, a sophomore from the University of Louisville, has been selected as the week-13 Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. He earns the honor over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Facebook contest. Cunningham is the first Louisville quarterback to win the weekly honor; he is also the first ACC quarterback to earn Manning Award Quarterback of the Week recognition this season.

Cunningham completed 11-of-20 passes for 238 yards and career-record five touchdowns with one interception as the Cardinals topped Syracuse 56-34. His five touchdowns included a career-long 90-yard pass. He also had 8 rushes for 60 yards a touchdown. Cunningham accounted for 4 touchdowns in the first half and two in the second half. His last touchdown pass came with 1:24 remaining in the fourth and stifled a late Syracuse rally. The Montgomery, Ala., native was also named the Atlantic Coast Conference Quarterback of the Week.

The win improves Louisville’s record to 7-4, 5-3 in the ACC. Heading into rivalry week, the Cardinals will travel to Lexington on Saturday to face in-state foe Kentucky in a battle for state bragging rights. The game will air on the SEC Network at 11:00 a.m. CT.

Cunningham won this week’s competition over Washington State’s Anthony Gordon and Malcom Perry of Navy. Gordon completed 50-of-70 passing for 606 yards and six touchdowns, setting a career high in passing yards and a PAC-12 record for single-season touchdown passes with 45. He led the Cougars to a one-point 54-53 last-minute victory over Oregon State. Perry completed 9-of-15 passes for 162 yards and one touchdown, also rushing for 195 yards and two touchdowns in Navy’s 35-28 upset over SMU.

The Manning Award selected 30 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List and then added 16 quarterbacks in midseason. The 10 finalists for the honor will be announced on Thursday, December 5, and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 15 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 12 different schools and from four different conferences. The Big 12 Conference (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III) leads the way with five Manning Award honorees, while 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) have four Manning Award winners each. Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) joins Texas (McCoy and 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.

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 players from 59 different schools were honored during the 2018 season.