Sugar Bowl

The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced 10 finalists for the 2016 award on Wednesday, November 30. The winner will be announced after the bowls in January and will be honored at a ceremony in New Orleans. The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes the candidates’ bowl performances into consideration in its balloting.

2016 MANNING AWARD FINALISTS

Name	Cl.	School	QBR	C	A	Pct.	Yards	TDs	INT	Wins	Rushing
J.T. Barrett	Jr.	Ohio State	70.5	214	346	61.9	2,428	24	5	11	847 yds, 9 TDs
Jake Browning	So.	Washington	85.6	214	329	65.0	3,162	40	7	11	64 yds, 4 TDs
Sam Darnold	Fr.	USC	86.8	213	313	68.1	2,633	26	8	8	NA
Luke Falk	Jr.	Washington State	74.9	413	582	71.0	4,204	37	10	8	NA
Jalen Hurts	Fr.	Alabama	75.5	209	317	65.9	2,454	21	9	12	840 yds, 12 TDs
Lamar Jackson	So.	Louisville	86.7	220	382	57.6	3,390	30	9	9	1538 yds, 21 TDs
Patrick Mahomes II	Jr.	Texas Tech	83.7	388	591	65.7	5,052	41	10	5	285 yds, 12 TDs
Baker Mayfield	Jr.	Oklahoma	91.1	222	311	71.4	3,381	35	8	9	138 yds, 6 TDs
Zach Terrell	Sr.	Western Michigan	84.5	228	318	71.7	3,086	30	1	12	222 yds, 6 TDs
Deshaun Watson	Jr.	Clemson	80.5	306	453	67.6	3,626	34	14	11	444 yds, 4 TDs

“It’s been another great year for quarterbacks in college football,” said Archie Manning. “We have an excellent mix of players from around the country and quite a few young players who we will look forward to watching in future seasons. But for now we still have the chance to study these top quarterbacks in the biggest games of the year – the conference championships, the bowl games and the playoff games. I’d also like to thank our voting panel for the time and effort they put into selecting the best in the country for this honor.”

Statistically, the group of finalists excels in nearly every category as they average over 3,300 yards passing and over 31 touchdowns. The group has thrown nearly four times as many touchdown passes as interceptions. In addition, four of the finalists ran for over 400 yards on the year with six of them tallying six or more rushing touchdowns. Five of the 10 led their teams to double digits in victories, while nine have led their teams to bowl eligibility. Four of this year’s Manning Award finalists will be competing in conference championship games this weekend.

This year’s group includes two returning finalists from last year (Baker Mayfield and last year’s winner Deshaun Watson), as well as one finalist from 2014 (J.T. Barrett). The list is led by five juniors, but it also includes two sophomores and two freshmen – the most underclassmen finalists in the award’s history. The finalists come from six different conferences, including the Pac-12 with three representatives and the ACC and Big 12 with two each.

In its first 12 years, the Manning Award has recognized many of the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 11 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference leads the way with four Manning Award winners (Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell, Tim Tebow), while Texas is the only school with two winners (Colt McCoy and Vince Young). Watson was the third winner from the Atlantic Coast Conference, joining Matt Ryan (Boston College, 2007) and Jameis Winston (Florida State, 2013).

All of 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.

In addition to the Manning Award’s yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty-one players from 59 different schools were honored during the 2016 season.