Boiling an entire weekend of college football action down to the 10 most significant individual performances is no easy task, and any such list is ripe to be picked apart for snubs.
But each week the rest of this season we will put ourselves in those crosshairs to spotlight the most impactful performances.
To be clear, that is not simply who had the best raw stats. The weight of the game matters, the tangible impact on the outcome matters, narrative matters, etc. There will be notable omissions and huge stat lines that don’t make the cut, but good luck finding fault with any of the inclusions.
Here are our 10 game ball recipients for Week 8 (in alphabetical order) …
Louisville WR Chris Bell: Casual college football fans may not have realized before Friday night that Bell is one of the top playmakers in the sport, but they saw it in a spotlight performance as his 9 catches for 136 yards and 2 TDs helped Louisville stun then-No. 2 Miami at home, 24-21 in the biggest win of the week. It was the most catches, yards and touchdowns Miami had allowed to a receiver all season with only one other WR topping 100 yards vs. the Hurricanes this year. He turned a short catch into a 35-yard touchdown to give the Cardinals an early 14-0 lead, and he did the same thing in the fourth quarter on a 36-yard catch-and-run score to make it 24-13. It was Bell’s third straight game with at least 9 catches and at least 135 receiving yards (with 5 TDs in that span).
Alabama CB Zabien Brown: Alabama was up 16-7 late in the first half against then-No. 11 Tennessee, but the Vols were on the doorstep of the goal line with 9 seconds left on the clock. QB Joey Aguilar thought he had tight end Miles Kitselman open just in front of the end zone, but Brown had other ideas, jumping the route for an interception and taking it 99 yards the other way for a touchdown and 23-7 halftime lead. Tennessee never recovered as Alabama won 37-20. It was the second-longest pick-6 in program history, and Brown also had a career-high 7 tackles and allowed just 16 receiving yards on 6 targets over 57 coverage snaps.
UAB WR Iverson Hooks: The Blazers had just fired their coach six days earlier after a disappointing 2-4 start, so their 31-24 win over then-No. 22 Memphis was one of the biggest upsets of Saturday. And Hooks was a huge part of it, catching 11 passes for 172 yards and 3 TDs. It’s even more incredible considering the veteran wideout had never had a 100-yard game in his four-year college career.
Georgia Tech QB Haynes King: This is one where the numbers definitely don’t tell the story. Georgia Tech is one of the great stories of this college football season, off to the program’s first 7-0 start since 1966. The Yellow Jackets faced one of their toughest tests Saturday vs. a surging Duke team that many thought would end that undefeated season. How this game played out showed just how much Georgia Tech relies on King. It had just 64 yards and 0 offensive points in the first half, and then King put the team on his back after halftime, keying a couple field goal drives with big completions, leading a touchdown drive to go up 20-10 and then doing it himself with back-to-back runs of 32 and 28 yards for a game-sealing TD and 27-10 lead with 2:10 remaining. He led Georgia Tech with 14 carries for 120 yards and a TD and passed for 205 yards in the 27-18 win.
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love: Until things fell apart late for USC, the Trojans were pushing Notre Dame in what really amounted to a must-win game for the Fighting Irish’s College Football Playoff hopes. But Love couldn’t be stopped, rushing 24 times for a career-high 228 yards (9.5 per carry) and a TD plus 5 catches for 37 yards. That means he accounted for 60 percent of Notre Dame’s offensive yards in a 34-24 win.
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza: It wasn’t a big game per se, but Indiana showed zero let-up coming off that huge win at Oregon — in large part because its Heisman Trophy-contending QB was at his absolute best. Mendoza completed 24 of 28 passes for 332 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs in a 38-13 win over Michigan State.
Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia: No. 10-ranked Vandy is one of the best stories in college football, off to its first 6-1 start since 1950 and now with its highest national ranking since 1947 after a 31-24 win over former No. 10 LSU. Pavia is the engine that makes the Commodores go, like he did Saturday leading the team in rushing with 17 carries for 86 yards and 2 TDs while also passing for 160 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs. The best sequence was late in the third quarter when Vandy, protecting a thin 24-21 lead, opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 46. Pavia faked the handoff but immediately had a defensive end in his face well behind the line of scrimmage. No problem, he spun his way free and tossed a pass to RB Makhilyn Young for a 10-yard pickup. Four plays later, Pavia rushed for a 21-yard TD and 10-point lead.
Boise State RB Dylan Riley: Riley rushed for a career-high 201 yards and a TD, averaging 13.4 yards per carry, in helping the Broncos to their biggest win of the season, 56-31 over previously-unbeaten UNLV. While Boise State ultimately won comfortable, it was only up 21-17 late in the second quarter when Riley broke through the line and outran the defense for a 49-yard touchdown. He also had a 31-yard run to the 2 to set up the Broncos’ first TD and a 65-yard run to the 11 to set up their second TD.
Ohio State QB Julian Sayin: He vaulted himself toward the top of the Heisman Trophy race by completing 36 of 42 passes for 393 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs in a dominant 34-0 win at Wisconsin. This was the best game of the young QB’s career.
Georgia QB Gunner Stockton: In the biggest game of the week in college football, Stockton delivered the best performance of his college career, completing 26 of 31 passes for 289 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs and rushed for 59 yards and a TD in a 43-35 win over then-No. 5 Ole Miss. If there were questions about whether Stockton could lead Georgia to its top-end goals, they were assuaged in a major way Saturday.