Cade Klubnik named among Manning Award stars of the week

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The Allstate Sugar Bowl announced Monday that quarterback Cade Klubnik has been named among its Manning Award Stars of the Week for his performance in Clemson’s 49-14 win at Wake Forest.

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. After voting closes on Wednesday at 9 a.m. (Central), the top vote-getter will be announced as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week.

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, 546 different quarterbacks from 134 schools have been recognized. Sixty-six players were honored during the 2023 season and 39 quarterbacks have been recognized so far in 2024.

This week’s eight Manning Award Stars of the Week are:

Luke Altmyer, Illinois (20-of-34, 439 total yards, 4 TDs, QBR: 91.8)

Altmyer, who set a career-best with 379 passing yards, spearheaded the game-tying drive in the final 42 seconds of regulation with a pair of long completions to force overtime and then connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime to lift the Illini to a 50-49 Big Ten win over Purdue.

Evan Bullock, Louisiana Tech (18-of-25, 279 total yards, 6 TDs, QBR: 90.3)

Bullock, a freshman making his second career start, connected on touchdown passes on four straight drives to open the game and then tossed a 75-yard scoring pass early in the third quarter as the Bulldogs rolled to a 48-21 CUSA victory over Middle Tennessee on Thursday night.

Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (23-of-34, 373 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 95.9)

Gabriel shined in a critical Big Ten showdown, connecting on five passes of 25-plus yards, including a 48-yard touchdown pass, while adding a key 27-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter before directing the Ducks to the go-ahead field goal with 1:47 to go in a 32-21 home win over No. 2 Ohio State.

Cade Klubnik, Clemson (31-of-41, 339 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 88.2)

Klubnik, who tallied his 5,000th career passing yard and also moved into seventh all-time at Clemson in passing touchdowns (38), led the Tigers to TDs on four straight second-quarter drives as he directed Clemson to a 49-14 ACC road win over Wake Forest.

Riley Leonard, Notre Dame (16-of-22, 260 total yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 94.6)

Leonard, who only played three quarters, recorded his fourth straight game with three or more touchdowns as he led the Fighting Irish to a 49-7 win over Stanford.

Jordan McCloud, Texas State (24-of-29, 349 total yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 90.8)

McCloud, who completed all seven of his third- and fourth-down passes for 81 yards, connected on a 53-yard touchdown pass and ran for a five-yard score in the first quarter as the Bobcats ran away from Arkansas State for a 41-9 Sun Belt victory.

Garrett Nussmeier, LSU (22-of-51, 353 total yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs, QBR: 72.9)

Nussmeier, who notched his fifth 300-yard game of the season, delivered a 23-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime where he connected on the game-winning 25-yard TD strike in a 29-26 SEC win over No. 9 Ole Miss.

E.J. Warner, Rice (25-of-39, 349 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 71.5)

Warner, who tallied a season-best 347 passing yards, completed 5-of-7 passes in the final two minutes capped by an 18-yard touchdown strike with four seconds to go to lead the Owls to a 29-27 AAC win over UTSA.

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.

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