NEW ORLEANS (September 18, 2024) – Fans have selected Kurtis Rourke from Indiana 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.
 
Rourke, a senior from Oakville, Ontario, completed 25-of-33 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-13 win over UCLA. It was the Hoosiers' largest Big Ten road win since a 31-point margin in 2001 at Wisconsin (63-32) and their largest margin of victory in a Big Ten game since 2019 when they beat Northwestern 34-3.
 
Following the performance, Rourke was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, the first Indiana player to earn the honor since 2020 and the first Hoosier quarterback to be recognized since 2015. His four touchdown passes were the most for an Indiana QB since 2020 and it was his 10th career game with three-or-more touchdown passes.
 
On Saturday, Rourke and the Hoosiers will host their final non-conference game of the regular season against Charlotte. The game will air on the Big Ten Network at 11 a.m. CT.
 
The other Manning Award Stars of the Week were Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State), Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), Tucker Gleason (Toledo), K.J. Jefferson (UCF), Jalen Milroe (Alabama), Christian Veilleux (Georgia State), and Caden Veltkamp (Western Kentucky).
 
While the Manning Award selected 29 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List, additional quarterbacks are expected to be added to the Watch List later in the season. 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.