NEW ORLEANS — UTSA sophomore Owen McCown has been named the Manning Award QB of the Week for his performance in the season-opening victory over Kennesaw State.
McCown earned the weekly honor in the Allstate Sugar Bowl's online fan voting contest after being named on Tuesday as one of eight Manning Award Stars of the Week along with Drew Allar (Penn State), Carson Beck (Georgia), Josh Hoover (TCU), Kyle McCord (Syracuse), Chandler Morris (North Texas), Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) and Cam Ward (Miami).
A product of Rusk High School, McCown completed 28 of 38 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for another score to help lead the Roadrunners to a 28-16 win against the Owls last Saturday at the Alamodome. He became the third UTSA quarterback to throw for 300-plus yards in a season opener and his 340 yards surpassed Frank Harris’ previous school standard for passing yards in the first game of a season of 337 in the 2022 lid-lifter versus Houston.
McCown, who also was an American Athletic Conference Honorable Mention Player of the Week pick on Monday, connected with 10 different receivers, led by Devin McCuin, who caught 11 passes for 79 yards and two TDs. He guided the Roadrunners to three first-half scoring drives to help stake them to a 21-3 lead that they never relinquished in winning for the ninth time in the last 10 games.
McCown joins Frank Harris, who won the award on Oct. 14, 2021, as Roadrunners who have been named Manning Award QB of the Week.
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. For more information, please visit https://allstatesugarbowl.org/index.aspx.
The Roadrunners will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 7, when they face Texas State in the I-35 Showdown. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at UFCU Stadium in San Marcos and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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