Washington State’s Anthony Gordon earns Manning Award Quarterback of the Week

Anthony Gordon, a senior from Washington State University, has been selected as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week for the opening week of the season. He earns the win over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Facebook contest. Gordon is the fifth different Washington State quarterback to earn the honor, which began in 2011, more than any other school.

Facebook Voting

Gordon, a senior making his first career start, completed his first 15 passes and added three touchdown strikes of over 40 yards as the Cougars rolled to a 58-7 win over New Mexico State.

The Pacifica, Calif., native was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week as he went 29-of-35 for 420 yards with five touchdown passes, matching Luke Falk<https://wsucougars.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3660> for the most touchdown passes in a first start (5, at Oregon State, 2014). Gordon’s five touchdowns are tied for the national lead and his 82.9 completion percentage leads the Pac-12 and is fourth-best in the country.

No. 22 Washington State hosts Northern Colorado Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

Gordon’s top competitors this week were Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts and Hank Bachmeier of Boise State. Hurts completed 20-of-23 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 176 yards (second-most in school history for a QB) and three touchdowns to finish with 508 yards of offense as the Sooners topped Houston, 49-31. Bachmeier, a true freshman, threw for 407 yards, including completing 8-of-12 passes for 136 yards on third down, as he helped the Broncos erase an 18-point deficit in a 36-31 win over Florida State on the road.

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. The 10 finalists for the honor will be announced on Thursday, November 28 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.