NEW ORLEANS (September 8, 2022) – Stetson Bennett, the national championship winning quarterback from the University of Georgia, has been selected as the 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.
 
Facebook Voting Results
 
Bennett, a sixth-year senior for the second-ranked Bulldogs, was nearly flawless in Georgia's dominant 49-3 victory over No. 11 Oregon in Atlanta. He completed 25-of-31 passes for 268 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while also adding a rushing score. He also helped the Bulldogs go 8-of-8 on third-down efforts while playing just over three quarters on route to his 15th career win. In addition to being selected as a Manning Star, he was the Walter Camp National Player of the Week.
 
Bennett and the Bulldogs return to action on Saturday when they host Samford for their home opener. The game is scheduled for a Noon (Central) kickoff and will be televised by ESPN2.
 
The closest competition for Bennett and his Bulldog supporters in the Facebook voting contest came from SEC rival Will Rogers from Mississippi State and FBS newcomer Todd Centeio from James Madison. Rogers completed 38-of-49 passes for 450 yards, his sixth career 400-yard game, and five touchdowns as the Bulldogs rolled to a 49-23 victory over Memphis. Centeio made the Dukes' debut at the FBS level a memorable one as he completed 21-of-33 passes for 287 yards and six touchdowns while running for 110 yards in a 44-7 victory over Middle Tennessee.
 
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. Ten finalists will be selected 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 (Young, Joe Burrow, 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 (Young and Jones) joins LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and 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.