NEW ORLEANS (November 16, 2023) – John Rhys Plumlee of UCF has been voted as the week 11 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 online voting contest.

Plumlee completed 11-of-18 passes for 373 yards and threw three touchdowns in a shocking 45-3 upset of No. 15 ranked Oklahoma State in a Big 12 matchup. In the second quarter, the Knights built a 24-0 advantage after the Mississippi native connected on a 75-yard touchdown pass. This was one of many of Plumlee's passes that helped him register season bests for passing yards (299) and total touchdowns.

UCF is 5-5 overall and 2-5 in Big 12 play. Plumlee leads the Knights to Lubbock, Texas, this weekend to take on Texas Tech in another Big 12 battle. The game will be aired this Saturday on FS2 at 5 p.m. (EST).

Plumlee's closest competitors in this week's online voting were Will Howard of Kansas State and Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel. Howard completed 19-of-29 passes and four touchdowns as led the Wildcats to a dominant 59-25 Big 12 victory over Baylor while setting the K-State record for career touchdown passes (45). Gabriel completed 23-of-36 passes for 423 total yards and a school-record eight touchdowns (five passing, three rushing) as the Sooners defeated West Virginia 59-20.

The Manning Award selected 30 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List and then added 15 midseason additions to the Watch List on October 19th. Finalists will be named on November 30, and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 19 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 14 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with eight 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 (Bryce Young and Jones), LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield), and Texas (McCoy and Vince Young) have each produced a pair of Manning Award 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.