Manningham Repeats as Big Ten Player of the Week
9/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- For the second week, the Big Ten Conference announced that University of Michigan sophomore wide receiver Mario Manningham (Warren, Ohio/Warren G. Harding HS) has been named the league's Offensive Player of the Week for football. Manningham received the award for his performance in the Sept. 23 win over Wisconsin.
Manningham
Manningham had a career-best seven receptions for 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns catches in the conference-opening 27-13 win over Wisconsin. He caught a 24-yard scoring pass from junior quarterback Chad Henne (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson HS) early in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7, and his 38-yard TD in the third quarter snapped a 10-10, giving him the "winning" score for the second straight week. He has three career TDs vs. Wisconsin, and two of his three 100-yard receiving games have come against the Badgers (106 yards in Madison on Sept. 24, 2005).
Manningham has scored five touchdowns in the past two games with back-to-back 100-yard receiving games (career-best 137 yards at Notre Dame). For the season, Manningham leads the Wolverines with 16 receptions for 321 yards and six touchdowns and he is averaging 20.1 yards per catch. The back-to-back 100-yard games are the first for a U-M receiver since Braylon Edwards had 172 vs. Ohio State and 109 vs. Texas in the Rose Bowl in his final two games in the 2004 season.
Manningham is the first repeat winner of the conference player of the week award in 2006. The last player to earn the award in back-to-back weeks was Northwestern quarterback Brett Basanez last year (Oct. 10 and 17). The only Wolverine to accomplish the feat on consecutive weeks is 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard (Sept. 9 and Sept. 19, 1991).
Manningham looks to help the Wolverines regain possession of the Little Brown Jug on Saturday night (Sept. 30) at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. Michigan and Minnesota will play a nationally televised game on ESPN in primetime at 7 p.m. CDT (8 p.m. EDT).
Media Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
