NEW ORLEANS (November 30, 2022) – Diego Pavia, a junior from New Mexico State University, has been selected as the 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 Facebook contest. He becomes the first Aggie quarterback to earn the honor since it was established in 2011.
Facebook Voting
Pavia accounted for six touchdowns in the Aggies blowout win over heavily-favored Liberty this past weekend. In the 49-14 win, he went 16-of-21 for 214 yards and three touchdowns through the air while adding another 125 yards and three more scores on the ground.
The Albuquerque, N.M., native registered career-highs in nearly every category (and season-highs for the Aggies), and became the first Aggie since 2011 to throw and rush for more than 100 yards in a contest.
Coming off the historic win over Liberty, the Aggies have added a 12th football game to the slate, with Valparaiso joining the schedule (their San Jose State game earlier in the season was canceled). NM State and Valparaiso will kick off at 1 p.m. MT at Aggie Memorial Stadium with the Aggies aiming for their sixth win and bowl eligibility. The Aggie seniors will also be recognized ahead of Saturday's game as a part of Senior Day.
Pavia's closest competition in this week's Facebook voting contest came from Texas Tech's Tyler Shough and Brady Cook of Missouri. Shough completed 31-of-50 passes for 436 yards and two touchdowns in a 51-48 OT Big 12 win over Oklahoma. He connected on a 15-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to help the Red Raiders take their first lead after trailing by 18, and then directed a 50-yard drive to close regulation with a game-tying field goal before getting his team in place for the game-winning field goal.
Cook completed 16-of-26 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown, while also running for a career-high 138 yards and a touchdown to set a career best for total yards (380), as the Tigers held off Arkansas, 29-27, for a key SEC victory that makes them bowl eligible.
While the Manning Award selected 30 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List and then made 12 midseason additions in October, all quarterbacks remain eligible for the honor. Ten finalists will be announced this week and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.
In its first 18 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 13 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with seven 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 (B. Young and Jones) joins LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and Texas (McCoy and V. 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.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
