NEW ORLEANS (September 5, 2023) – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has named eight quarterbacks as its "Stars of the Week." College football fans can follow the Manning Award on social media (@ManningAward) to vote for what they think was the best performance from this past weekend. When voting closes on Thursday at 9 a.m. (Central), the top vote-getter will be announced as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week.
 
VOTE HERE!
 
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that includes the candidates' bowl performances in its balloting. Since the Manning Award started recognizing Stars of the Week in 2011, 491 different quarterbacks from 132 schools have been recognized. Sixty players from 58 different schools were honored during the 2022 season.
 
This week's eight Manning Award Stars of the Week are:
 
Drew Allar, Penn State (21-of-29, 325 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 86.0)
Allar, who became the first Penn State quarterback to throw for 300 yards in his first start since 2003, helped the Nittany Lions break open a tight game at the half as they rolled to a 38-15 home victory over West Virginia.
 
TJ Finley, Texas State (22-of-30, 298 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 96.2)
Finley, who also runs for a touchdown, makes his debut for Texas State and leads them to a 42-31 road win over Baylor – the Bobcats first-ever win over a team from a Power Five conference.
 
Mikey Keene, Fresno State (31-of-44, 366 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 88.3)
Keene, who registers a career-best for passing yardage, caps his afternoon with a 22-yard TD pass with 59 seconds to go to lift the Bulldogs to a 39-35 road victory over Purdue, their first road win over a Big Ten team since 2009.
 
Michael Pratt, Tulane (14-of-15, 294 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 96.5)
Pratt, who matches the Tulane record for career TD passes with 72, has a near-perfect performance, connecting on TD strikes of 47, 47, and 48 yards, as he leads the Green Wave to a 37-17 win over South Alabama, a 10-win team from a year ago.
 
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (38-of-47, 510 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 90.6)
Sanders, who sets the school passing yardage record in his debut, connects on four TD passes, including a 46-yard TD connection with 4:25 to go, as he leads Colorado to a thrilling 45-42 road upset of No. 17 TCU.
 
Jordan Travis, Florida State (23-of-31, 342 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT, QBR: 94.7)
Travis, who also adds a rushing touchdown, completes 11-of-13 second-half passes as he leads the Seminoles to 31 unanswered points to open the second half in a 45-24 blowout of No. 5 LSU.
 
Michael Penix Jr., Washington (29-of-40, 450 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 91.3)
Penix, who matches his career-high for TD passes, throws four second-quarter TD passes as the Huskies run away from Boise State, 56-19.
 
DJ Uiagalelei, Oregon State (20-of-25, 239 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 92.9)
Uiagalelei makes his debut for Oregon State and matches his career-best with five TDs (three passing, two running) as the Beavers cruise to a 42-17 road win over San Jose State.
 
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 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.