Kevin Jennings Named Manning Award Star Of The Week

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Kevin Jennings Named Manning Award Star Of The Week

NEW ORLEANS (SMU) – SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings has been tabbed as a Manning Award Star of the Week, the Allstate Sugar Bowl announced on Monday.

The award recognizes eight quarterbacks as its "Stars of the Week." 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.

During the victory over Virginia on the road last week, Jennings accumulated 323 yards through the air with two touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown. The sophomore has had at least 250 passing yards in every ACC game this season, and he has eclipsed 300 yards three times this year.

In the second quarter, Jennings completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Hudson to put SMU ahead by 14. His rushing score came early in the fourth from one yard out and later in the quarter he found Matthew Hibner for a 16-yard touchdown to extend the Mustang lead further.

Since being named the starter prior to the TCU game, Jennings has led the Mustangs to eight consecutive wins, with all eight being over power-conference opponents and seven being ACC matchups. SMU has averaged over 41 points per game during the winning streak.

The Oak Cliff native has also helped lead SMU to a historic 10-1 start overall and 7-0 in the ACC, including a conference championship game berth. The Mustangs are ranked ninth in the AP and Coaches poll this week, the programs highest ranking since 1985.

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.

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.

Ninth-ranked SMU returns home to face Cal for its final regular-season contest on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Ford Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2.