NEW ORLEANS (November 5, 2025) – Fans have selected James Madison's Alonza Barnett III 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.
 
Barnett completed 12-of-18 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns, including a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the second half, as the Dukes ran away from Texas State, 52-20, in a Sun Belt road game. He also ran for 98 yards and a touchdown marking his second straight game with 350 total yards and five total touchdowns.
 
The Whitsett, N.C., native, who was recently added to the Manning Award Watch List, was also selected as the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the win over the Bobcats. This marks Barnett's fourth Sun Belt weekly award and his second time earning the honor in consecutive games.
 
The Dukes, who sit atop the Sun Belt with a perfect 5-0 league mark (7-1 overall), head to Marshall for another conference matchup this Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2. 
 
The other Manning Award Stars of the Week were CJ Bailey (NC State), Walker Eget (San José State), Kevin Jennings (SMU), Arch Manning (Texas), Owen McCown (UTSA), Darian Mensah (Duke), and Jeff Sims (Arizona State).
 
In its first 21 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 15 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) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (Cam Ward, Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) have each had five 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.