Manning Award Watch List 2015: Full List Released

As the 2015 college football season approaches, some of the nation's best teams and players begin to get dissected from all angles as they prepare to compete in the second-ever College Football Playoff. 

For many teams, they are only as good as their quarterback, the leading man who has to endure pressure from not only opposing defenses, but from the national spotlight. The Allstate Sugar Bowl announced its watch list for the Manning Award on Wednesday as it honors some of the NCAA's top players under center.

Here is a complete list of the 30 candidates, per SportsNOLA.com:    

Player	School	Class
Brandon Allen	Arkansas	Sr.
Tommy Armstrong	Nebraska	Jr.
Trevone Boykin	TCU	Sr.
Jacoby Brissett	N.C. State	Sr.
Connor Cook	Michigan State	Sr.
Joshua Dobbs	Tennessee	Jr.
Brandon Doughty	Western Kentucky	Sr.
Kevin Ellison	Georgia Southern	Jr.
Blake Frohnapfel	UMass	Sr.
Jared Goff	California	Jr.
Joe Gray	San Jose State	Sr.
Christian Hackenberg	Penn State	Jr.
Taysom Hill	BYU	Sr.
Kevin Hogan	Stanford	Sr.
Brad Kaaya	Miami	So.
Cody Kessler	USC	Sr.
Gunner Kiel	Cincinnati	Jr.
Fredi Knighten	Arkansas State	Sr.
Joe Licata	Buffalo	Sr.
Paxton Lynch	Memphis	Jr.
Maty Mauk	Missouri	Jr.
Dak Prescott	Mississippi State	Sr.
Keenan Reynolds	Navy	Sr.
Sam B. Richardson	Iowa State	Sr.
Anu Solomon	Arizona	So.
Zach Terrell	Western Michigan	Jr.
Justin Thomas	Georgia Tech	Jr.
P.J. Walker	Temple	Jr.
Deshaun Watson	Clemson	So.
Marquise Williams	North Carolina	Sr.

The Manning Award was created in 2004 to honor one of the greatest football families ever in Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It recognizes the best quarterback in the nation while taking his bowl performance into consideration. This is why the voting panel gives out the award after the national championship game.

One of the names that can develop into a favorite is Mississippi State's Dak Prescott, who was a top-20 passer last season with 3,449 yards while leading the Bulldogs to a meteoric rise to No. 1 for four weeks after starting the season unranked. 

Prescott led Mississippi State to three consecutive victories over ranked teams in No. 8 LSU, No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 2 Auburn before the Bulldogs lost three of their last four games, including a 49-34 loss to Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. 

It is also safe to assume the starting quarterback of the defending national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, will be in the mix for the award when the team names a starter, whether it be Cardale Jones, Braxton Miller or J.T. Barrett.

But with plenty of talent—such as Michigan State's Connor Cook and the nation's leading passer last season, Western Kentucky's Brandon Doughty—the Sugar Bowl will have quite the tough decision to make come January.

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.