Tulane's Jake Retzlaff Named A Manning Award Star of the Week
Tulane signal caller Jake Retzlaff has been named one of eight quarterbacks as a Star of the Week for the second time this season by the Manning Award, the Allstate Sugar Bowl announced on Monday.
Retzlaff completed 26 of 36 passes for 347 yards and two touchdowns including leading the team on the game-winning score in the final minute of the 26-19 victory over ECU on Oct. 9. His 26 completed passes were the most for the team since Michael Pratt completed 27 against the Pirates during the 2022 season. The 347 yards passing thrown for were the most for the program in a game since Pratt threw for 394 yards against UCF during the 2022 American Championship Game.
Retzlaff was also recognized early this season as a Manning Star of the Week on Sept. 2 following Tulane’s 23-3 victory over Northwestern to start the season.
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. When voting closes on Thursday at 9 a.m. (Central), the top vote-getter will be announced as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week.
The Manning Award by the Allstate Sugar Bowl
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, 570 different quarterbacks from 135 schools have been recognized. Seventy-four players were honored during the 2024 season.
This week’s other seven Manning Award Stars of the Week are: Byrum Brown (South Florida), Anthony Colandrea (UNLV), Blake Horvath (Navy), Tucker Kilcrease (Troy), Ty Simpson (Alabama), Demond Williams (Washington), and Dexter Williams II (Kennesaw State)
While the Manning Award selected 27 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 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.
Courtesy of Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.