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Manning Match-Up Week Two - September 12 Tuesday, September 8, 2009
 Four games this week feature Manning Award Watch Listers facing each other, but the selection for this week's Manning Match-Up is Houston playing at Oklahoma State (2:30 p.m. CT, FSN). Oklahoma State features highly-touted Zac Robinson at quarterback, but Houston counters with under-exposed potential breakout star Case Keenum calling the signals. Robinson threw for over 3,000 yards with 25 touchdowns last year. In Saturday's season-opener, his numbers may not have been eye-popping (11-of-22 for 135 yards and two touchdowns), but the result was - the Cowboys upended SEC power Georgia, 24-10, in a key inter-conference showdown. After the big win in the opener, Robinson and the Cowboys would be best off not over-looking Conference USA foe Houston. The Cougars are led by Keenum and his video-game numbers - he threw for over 5,000 yards and 44 touchdowns in 2008. He kicked off the 2009 season by simply tallying 359 yards and four touchdowns in a rout of Northwestern State from the FCS. Houston is considered a potential BCS buster and a win over Big 12 power Oklahoma State would put the Cougars solidly in the picture with Boise State and BYU. Manning Match-Ups, Week 2Houston (Case Keenum) at Oklahoma State (Zac Robinson), 2:30 p.m. CT, FSN Iowa (Ricky Stanzi) at Iowa State (Austen Arnaud), 11:05 a.m. CT, FSN Troy (Levi Brown) at Florida (Tim Tebow), 11:21 a.m. CT, ESPN-GP Kansas (Todd Reesing) at UTEP (Trevor Vittatoe), 6:30 p.m. CT, CBSC Manning Award Stars of the Week:From the players selected to the preseason Watch List for the Manning Award, here are some of the standouts stars from the opening weekend: Daryll Clark, Penn State 29-of-40, 253 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT in dominant performance over Akron Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame 15-of-18, 315 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT in shutout victory over Nevada Max Hall, BYU 26-of-38, 329 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INT in shocking upset of Oklahoma Jacoby Harris, Miami 21-of-34, 386 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INT in key intrastate/ACCC win over Florida State Jerrod Johnson, Texas A&M 31-of-41, 349 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT in blowout of New Mexico Tony Pike, Cincinnati 27-of-34, 362 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT in convincing rout of Rutgers in Big East opener Tyler Sheehan, Bowling Green 32-of-44, 339 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT in surprisingly routine victory over solid Troy Manning Award Players to Watch:The Manning Award Watch List will be revised in mid-October. Here's a look at first-week numbers from five quarterbacks making a bid to join the Watch List: Matt Barkley, USC 15-of-19, 233 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT in debut for true freshman against San Jose State Jonathan Crompton, Tennessee 21-of-28, 233 yards, 5 TDs, 2 INT in rout of Western Kentucky Blaine Gabbert, Missouri 25-of-33, 319 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT in impressive 37-9 win over Illinois Kevin Riley, Cal 17-of-26, 298 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT in impressive revenge win over Maryland Joe Webb, UAB 12-of-15, 221 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT with 194 rushing yards (2 TDs) in win over Rice The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes into consideration the candidates' bowl performances. While the preseason Watch List includes just 38 quarterbacks, every quarterback in the nation remains eligible for the honor. Additional quarterbacks may be added to the Watch List after the start of the season. Ten finalists will be determined by a selected panel of national media covering college football, as well as each of the Mannings. That list will be released on Monday, Nov. 30. The winner will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 14. 2009-10 Manning Award Watch List Photo Gallery The first five winners of the Manning Award reads like a Who's Who list at the quarterback position. USC's Matt Leinart was the inaugural winner of the award in 2005, followed by Texas' Vince Young in 2006. Both went on to be top 10 NFL draft picks. In 2007, LSU's JaMarcus Russell earned the award and was the NFL's No. 1 draft pick. Boston College's Matt Ryan claimed the award in 2008 and was drafted No. 3, quickly becoming the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. Last year's winner was Florida's Tim Tebow, who will bid to become the first repeat winner this season. -www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
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