After tossing five touchdowns and completing 83.7 percent of his passes in Missouri’s 52-12 win over the UConn Huskies on Saturday evening, Tigers quarterback Drew Lock was named a Manning Award Star of the Week Monday morning.
The honor marks the second-consecutive week in which the junior gunslinger has been recognized by the Manning Award committee as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. He was named to the list on Oct. 23 thanks to his six-touchdown performance against Idaho on Homecoming.
Other notable quarterbacks around the nation to receive the honor this week were Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett and Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate.
Few quarterbacks in college football had a better October than Lock, and his production on Saturday topped off what was easily the best month of his career. Over four games in October, Lock threw for 1,452 yards with 18 touchdowns while completing 66.4 percent of his passes. In each of the four games, Lock completed at least one touchdown of over 60 yards.
After Saturday’s game, head coach Barry Odom spoke about the improvements Lock has made to his game and the jump he has made over the past month.
“Right now he’s on a different level with the things he’s done the last four weeks,” Odom said. “He also understands he’s only good as his next performance.”
Lock’s impressive October has launched him to the top tier of several offensive statistics and has made the junior one of the top quarterbacks in the nation by the numbers.
His 28 touchdowns on the year leave him tied with West Virginia quarterback Will Grier for the most in college football, and his 2,567 yards and 167.8 quarterback rating are good for 11th and ninth, respectively in the two statistics.
With four games remaining in the season, Lock is on pace to smash Chase Daniel’s single-season Missouri touchdown record, which Daniel set in 2008 when he threw 39.
The spike in Lock’s production has coincided with a turnaround in the Tigers’ season. After a 1-5 start, Missouri has earned wins in its last two games to bring its record to 3-5. In order to make a bowl game, the Tigers will still need to go 3-1 in their final four games to reach six wins and receive a bid.
Missouri’s quest to reach six wins continues this Saturday when the Florida Gators literally and metaphorically limp to Columbia. Florida lost its star running back Malik Davis to a knee injury in its loss to Georgia on Saturday and on Sunday fired head coach Jim McElwain after he failed to provide evidence of death threats he alleged his team and his family had received as a result of the Gators’ weak performances. The Tigers and Gators will kick off on Saturday at 11 a.m.
_Edited by Joe Noser | jnoser@themaneater.com_
