NEW ORLEANS (November 13, 2024) – Fans have selected Fernando Mendoza of Cal 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 online fan voting contest. This is his second win of the season.
 
Mendoza, a sophomore from Miami, Fla., led the Golden Bears to their first ACC victory with a 46-36 win over Wake Forest. He set career-bests for completions, attempts and passing yards as he completed 40-of-56 passes for 385 yards and two touchdowns. He added a career-best 51 rushing yards with another score, giving him 436 total yards.
 
In addition to the Manning Award honor, Mendoza also earned his second ACC Quarterback of the Week honor.

Cal (5-4, 1-4 ACC) will host Syracuse on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT on The CW Network.
  
The other Manning Award Stars of the Week were Quinn Ewers (Texas), Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), Katin Houser (East Carolina), Skyler Locklear (UTEP), Jalen Milroe (Alabama), and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado).
 
The Manning Award selected 29 quarterbacks for its Watch List in the preseason and added an additional 14 quarterbacks on October 24. Finalists will be selected in early December and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 20 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 (Jayden Daniels, Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with nine 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. LSU (Daniels, Burrow, and Russell) now leads the way with three honorees, while Alabama (Bryce Young and Jones), 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.
 
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-